“I will say yes to every favor, request, suggestion and invitation. I will swear to say yes where once I would say no.” – Danny Wallace

“No!” is a wonderful word.

It’s powerful, it’s universally understood, and it stops everything in its tracks. By saying no, you’re instantly slamming the door and holding it shut, ensuring nothing else gets through.

But how many of us say “No!” way too often?

You see, “No” really holds us back in life. It closes us off to many of life’s wonderful experiences, and causes us to resist what happens around us.

When we say no, we’re swimming against the current. When we say yes, we’re swimming with the current.

Which do you think is easiest? Which produces less stress? Which is faster, and more enjoyable?

We say “NO!” to life’s funny randomness, when a passing bus splashes rainwater all over our new jeans. We shout “NO!” to our emotions, resisting and fighting grief, when our pet rat passes away. We yell “NO!” when we don’t get that promotion, which we’d been working so hard to achieve.

Long story short: we say NO to everything, too often.

We fight against what happens to us in life, rather than allowing it to be as it is. We resist it, rather than accepting it. We say “No!” rather than saying “Yes” – or even just “Okay.”

By saying “Yes!” more to life, we go with the flow. Things become more enjoyable and positive, less stressful and anxious, and often the situation turns out for the better regardless.

So, SAY YES MORE.

And what about saying “Yes!” more socially too? Say “Yes!” when you’re invited to that party. Say “Yes!” when you’re asked if you’d like lunch with the boys. Say “Yes!” when you’ve asked to go on that speed dating night, which you wouldn’t normally even consider.

(That’s what Danny Wallace did in his great comedy cum self-help book, Yes Man. He said yes more. It changed his life.)

So, if you’d like to flow more with the current of life… If you’d like to inject a little more excitement into your day… If you’d like to enjoy the random twist and turns of fate…

Then SAY YES MORE.

The Australians call it a “bias for yes.” The Spanish say “Si a todo.” Buddhists describe it as flowing with the river of life. In this book, we simply say yes more.

Try it out, even if just for a week. It’ll change your world.

Say yes more – and you will be happy.

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The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
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“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” – Meister Eckhardt

We live in a fast-paced, microwave, drive-thru, Buy-It-Now society.

It’s a society that has forgotten to be truly grateful for the things around it. We only tend to be grateful for things when we no longer have them.

Think of the sense of relief you gain when you just get over an illness, and are so thankful that your turbulent tummy has now settled. Consider how appreciative you are when those tests come back clear. Or when the speeding camera doesn’t flash. Or when you finally find your lost child in the supermarket.

These are the moments in life when we realize how blessed we truly are.

Yet how many of us truly appreciate that on a day-to-day basis?

My guess is very few of us. We only become grateful of things when we think we don’t have them.

But here’s the thing: by counting our blessings every day, in a very literal way, we become happier people. Research across the globe in countless studies has proven this over and over again.

So, when was the last time YOU were truly grateful?

Think of all the wonderful things you have to be grateful for right now. It could be your family. Or your health. Maybe your home. Your friends. Your brain. Your heart. Your spirit. Even your DVD collection.

We’ve all got amazing things in our own lives that make us smile with joy. Things that bring a secret, loving tear to our eyes.

And if we can only learn to count these blessings every day, we’ll discover a true happiness and greater appreciation of the beautiful world we surround ourselves with.

So, if you can, make that part of your daily ritual. Count your blessings, briefly in the morning, and briefly at night. Then smile at the world for sending such great things your way.

Be grateful – and you will be happy.

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The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
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“Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.” – Helen Keller

Oh, come on. Admit it.

We all do it every single day.

Everybody enjoys wallowing in a little self-pity. It feels great to remind ourselves how terrible the world is. How we’ve not been given the right opportunities. How people are against us. How life has been a real struggle this past year.

Right?

But here’s a true secret to happiness. And it’s probably the biggest, easiest and quickest happiness secret you’ll stumble across. Ever.

If you want to be happy – just stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Self-pity, you see, is the worst kind of emotion. It eats up everything around, except itself. Soon, self-pity is all that exists, and you’re left feeling sorry for how poorly life has been treating you.

We’ve all felt like that, right?

Maybe you feel like life has dealt you a bad hand. Perhaps you’ve lost money, family or health. It could be that you’ve missed out on so many opportunities that others have been easily granted – and you think that fate really HAS been unfair to you.

And that viewpoint might even be 100% correct.

But STOP feeling sorry for yourself.

It’s not going to help the situation. It’ll only help you to wallow in a state of apathy, playing the victim. The kind of person that things happen to, but that can’t do anything about it. By stopping feeling sorry for yourself, you can actually get on and DO something about it.

Trust me on this one. This is the biggest ever technique for putting a smile onto your face.

If you want to be happy – stop feeling sorry for yourself.

You could close this book right now and you’d already hold the wisdom of ten thousand self-development courses, and double that number of self-help gurus.

And it’s so simple. In fact, it’s worth repeating (and rewording) one more time:

Stop feeling sorry for yourself – and you will be happy.

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How exciting to start a race without a clear direction to the finish line. As I blasted across the starting line, my heart racing and senses on high alert, my fellow hashers and I looked like a bunch of blood hounds desperately searching for clues and signs to follow. Always working as a team I could  hear someone yell “On, On” meaning they had found  “True Trail” and were heading in the correct direction.  When I found the marks of True Trail I was at once excited and reassured that I was finally on the correct path. There were no guarantees for success. Many would find their way, some would arrive faster than others, and a few remained lost until we sent out search teams. I have been lead through shopping malls, flea markets, across golf courses, up hills, and down many blind alleys.

In the end it was never about who came in first or last, but about the thrill of the adventure, following our intuition, working with team mates, laughing, cursing, and always smiling over finding the elusive True Trail or the frustration of yet another dead end.  The finish line was always a celebration of the hunt, of comradeship, and living life to the fullest.  Of all my road racing events, my time with my fellow Hashers has provided me with the biggest smiles and fondest memories.

“Wow, what a wonderful metaphor for life. I often step back and look at my life and wonder, “Am I On, On”, am I on “True Trail” or am I chasing a rabbit down a blind alley or worse yet, just settling for the same old comfortable trail?”

There are many lessons to be learned from the Hash House Harrier experience which  applies to finding Balance in our Minds, Bodies and Spirits:

1. The path to finding one’s true trail works well in a community with a common goal.

2. The willingness to take a risk going down a false trail in life but ready to make the necessary course alteration to find your  true trail.

3. Finding true trail requires an open heart and an adventurous spirit.

4. A willingness to leave your ego at home, not afraid to fail, look foolish, or asking someone for help is a formula for success.

5. Finding true trail is about the journey, the joy of seeking, learning, working together, the exhilaration of being a member of a team, and the joy of just doing it.

6. Learning to trust your inner voice, your intuition, and willing to take a Leap of Faith to find the answers.

7. Knowing that the risk of finding true trail may mean letting go of a strongly held belief or core value which we have held our entire life.

8. The rewards of finding true trail can be the joy of knowing your life is in balance, your body is healthy, your spirit is soaring, and your emotions are free from the burdens of fear, lack, and the unknown.

9. The excitement of joining others just like you who are seeking, willing to share, who will support you, never judge you, and are ready to catch you if you fall.

10. Ready to keep life in perspective, be willing to laugh, be silly, let your hair down, get in touch with your playful energy, and make every moment important.

Finding your “True Trail” is a metaphor for finding Balance in your Life. It is about opening your heart and mind to all of the wonderful possibilities in life. It is about revealing all of your beauty, radiance, and magnificence  in the human experience.

Happy Trails

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Instead of asking for your “buttons” not to be pushed, you should examine the cause and ultimately the belief behind the trigger and change it. See your “buttons” as the red-alert alarm which brings to your attention those parts of your consciousness that are begging to be changed.

Self-Love as the Foundation
In a successful relationship when your partner treats you with love and support you will find that the basis for his or her love is the love you have towards yourself and so towards others. When you trust yourself and hence others, you will attract a trust-worthy partner; when you believe in yourself and hence in others, you will attract a partner that believes in you; when you are kind to yourself and hence to others, you will attract a partner that is kind to you; when you love yourself and hence others, you will attract a loving partner and so on.

Ultimately, the best relationships advice is to love yourself. Self-love is the foundation of all successful relationships for it is truly the greatest love of all.

There is No Need to Blame Yourself
Recognizingyourself in others is not about blaming yourself or playing the victim. It is about taking your own power back to create your reality and the successful relationships of your choice; it is about getting to know and accepting yourself in ways you never thought possible; it is about putting the ball back in your court to transform your relationships into the magic they are meant to be; it is your chance to grow.

Do not fall into the trap of blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong, rather be grateful for the knowledge that you can change anything and everything in your life without having to change anyone else – just yourself.

The Law of Gender
According to the Law of Gender everything and everyone contains both the masculine and feminine elements. Know that despite your physical attributes, you are not your body. You have within yourself a Feminine and a Masculine you. The You that is beyond your body is both male and female.

These two Principals within you have an ongoing relationship based on your beliefs. When you create a loving relationship between your Masculine and your Feminine selves it will be reflected back to you in your outside world in your physical relationships with others… (article coming soon: Mastering the Law of Gender)..

Be the Change You Want to See
Make a list of all those things that you dislike in your partner, including all your insecurities in your relationship. All those things you wish were different whether it be in their treatment of you or themselves.

Put your ego aside and do an honest audit of that list. Next to each unwanted action find an example of when you too have acted that way and wished you hadn’t whether toward your partner or someone else. Next to all those unwanted insecurities write down the underlying belief it reflects whether about yourself, relationships or life.

For this to work so that you can create successful relationships, you must be honest with yourself – no hiding, no buts. There is no need to show your results to anyone else. This exercise is meant for you to learn about you. When you have completed your list and matched it up with your beliefs and / or actions, you are ready for change.

Using meditation and creative visualization, you can shift your beliefs and habitual thoughts such that they empower your relationships rather than dis-empower them. Ultimately, you can create successful relationships of your choosing based on true love rather than on fear and attachment.

What Will Happen Once You Change
You will find that as you begin to change those habitual thoughts, beliefs and actions that your relationships will begin to transform before your very eyes. If you commit yourself to changing, you will find that the results you want to see are very quick to come – even instantaneous. Your partner will become more loving and all those negative qualities which you once disliked so passionately will magically start to disappear.

Alternatively, you may also find, that the role of your current partner finishes in your life causing him or her to leave effortlessly and amicably with no pain, thus making room for you to attract a new person into your life that matches your new-found beliefs and actions.

The great spin-off benefit is that you will see miraculous transformation not only in your relationship with your significant other but in all your relationships. You may even find that you no longer see your “enemies” as enemies but rather as your greatest teachers.

The Two-Fold Path to Change
There are only ever two paths to true change in your life. The first path is pain and is the most common. Many people have seen their relationships and lives change through much pain. As their experiences become more and more painful to the point that they can no longer bear the suffering that is brought on by their own beliefs, they are forced to shift. The second path is Knowledge – it is the path less traveled.

When you learn a new Truth and apply it in your life, you will effortlessly enjoy the changes you would otherwise only come to know through pain. The application of Knowledge is the key that unlocks its power. Resolve to make Knowledge the path you walk down on your road to changing your relationships into the success they are meant to be.

In a nutshell, the key to successful relationships is that everyone in your life is your mirror, reflecting parts of your Consciousness back to you. When you learn to recognize all those qualities that you both like and dislike in your partner as your own, you will have learned that the only path to change is through yourself.

You will no longer have to hope or wish that your partner changes or be frustrated with his or her actions or constantly feel that you are compromising yourself to keep a relationship alive. Once you change yourself and your beliefs you will find your relationships transforming in ways you never dreamed possible. Ultimately, when you find true love within yourself you will attract it effortlessly in your outer world.

About the author:
Tania Kotsos is the founder and author of Mind Your Reality. She has been studying mind power and the nature of reality for the last 15 years. After a successful 10 year career as an investment banker in the City of London, she decided to throw in the towel to pursue her dream of empowering people to transform their lives using the innate power of their mind.

Visit her website at: mind-your-reality.com

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

The qualities you most admire in others are your own and the same goes for those qualities you dislike. To change anything in your relationships, be the change you want to see – it is the only relationship advice you will ever need to transform your relationships into the joyful experience they are meant to be.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall
The key to successful relationships is to recognize yourself in the other person. It is to come to know the Truth that everything and everyone is your mirror. Once you learn what it truly means to see yourself reflected back at you, then there is no room for blame, there is no room for judgment and there is no room to feel like a victim of another person’s actions or words. There is only room for real love based on understanding and gratitude.

Compromise comes easy, forgiveness is a given and growth is inevitable. While this Truth applies to all of your relationships – from your family, to your friends and colleagues, and even to those you deem your “enemy” – it is your relationship with your significant other that enables you to take the closest, most accurate look at who you are.

You Are Always the Common Denominator
Have you noticed how all your intimate relationships tend to be similar – only the face changes while the fundamentals remain the same. The repetition of the same problems, the same feelings and the same insecurities often leave you despondent and even reluctant to try again.

You surrender yourself to the belief that relationships are difficult and require much compromise and that successful relationships are a matter of luck, timing or even Divine Will. You can’t help but notice how what starts off with such hope often ends with no hope at all.

What you perhaps haven’t noticed though is that in all these repetitive relationships there has always been one and only common denominator – YOU. What you perhaps haven’t realized is that whoever the person is that you have next to you, no matter how many times you change him or her, the fundamentals of your relationship will remain unchanged (albeit to varying degrees) because they are simply mirroring you. It can be no other way.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Everything you admire in another person belongs to you and the same goes for all that which you dislike. In order for you to recognize a certain quality in another, then it must be part of your consciousness – you could not see it otherwise.

Your relationships are a perfect mirror of your inner relationship with yourself. Your relationships with others are your opportunity to experience yourself. Just like the Universe is the only way the One Universal Consciousness can experience Itself – it is the Law of Correspondence, as above so below.

Your Beliefs and Actions are Staring You in the Face: We all have those habitual thoughts and actions which are a product of our beliefs and previous experiences. Your beliefs about relationships, about men, about women, about love and life in general are all there for you to see in your relationships. If you dislike certain negative qualities in your partner, such as their insecurities or negativity, they too are yours.

It cannot be emphasized enough that the more you love or hate a particular quality in another person, the more it belongs to you. It falls into one of two categories (or both):

1. a belief about yourself or
2. an action or quality of yours.

For instance, if you believe that men or women are not to be trusted or if you yourself have been willing to be the “other woman” or “other man” in the past, then by the Law of Attraction you will attract relationships in which a lack of trust is a major issue because that is where you have chosen to vibrate.

Even if your partner is being faithful to you, you will look for reasons to prove otherwise and as the saying goes, you always find what you are looking for. If for instance you dislike your partner’s jealousy, you will find that you too are jealous perhaps not of him or her but of others.

Simply put, when your partner acts in a particular way that upsets you, you will find that you too act in the same way perhaps not towards him or her but towards others. The more a particular action frustrates you, the more it reflects a part of you which you have not previously acknowledged – this is the key to successful relationships. The bottom-line cause of divorce, is when one or both of the partners can no longer stand to see themselves in the other person.

A Note About Abusive Relationships
This advice is aimed at healing your relationships. Emotionally and physically abusive relationships are no exception. Their reflection is no less accurate than that of any other relationship. At the root of abusive relationships you will usually find a severe lack of self-worth in the abused partner, which is re-iterated by their refusal to leave the abuser. The only way to rise above such relationships is to learn the truth about the power of self-love.

About the author:
Tania Kotsos is the founder and author of Mind Your Reality. She has been studying mind power and the nature of reality for the last 15 years. After a successful 10 year career as an investment banker in the City of London, she decided to throw in the towel to pursue her dream of empowering people to transform their lives using the innate power of their mind.

Visit her website at: mind-your-reality.com

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

Unfortunately, business culture more often than not fails to see it this way. A business decision in modern society generally means a decision made for the greater good of the company but at the expense of the community. These decisions are short-sighted and do not always give the company a competitive edge.

Bhopal – A Profit-Driven Blunder:
Bhopal, India used to be the home of a Union Carbide facility holding toxic chemicals but profit-seeking opportunists ruined the reputation of Union Carbide and is in turn, hurting the brand name of Dow Chemical, the company that bought Union Carbide. In 1984, a tank of methyl isocyanate leaked into the air and gassed almost four thousand people within the town of Bhopal.

Over two thousand people became permanently disabled, and extremely high cancer rates are suffered from the town’s residents. Women from that town now have a high chance of birthing children with life-altering birth defects, and can’t find husbands to marry them. This entire town had a shadow of grief and hardship cast over it for what was later discovered as cost-cutting measures.

Operators in the plant were not given proper training or manuals in their native language. Maintenance was severely cut to save money as well, allowing machinery to become old and dilapidated. Staff was cut back to such a degree by the time of the incident, that barely enough people were in the facility to keep it running, let alone pass safety standards in most industrialized nations.

By 1984, the isocyanate tank alarms did not work, the flare tower was out of service, and every safety measure to stop the gas from escaping the facility was no longer working properly or disconnected.

Since that incident, Union Carbide was evil in the eyes of the Indians in and around the town of Bhopal and many others who have heard of the incident. The company payed the town 470 USD in settling its criminal and civil liabilities, but that still was not enough to treat those in the town. The people of Bhopal are still looking for funds to treat their illnesses from the incident and the town itself still has residue from the gas leak.

Union Carbide failed to first properly maintain their facilities because of a lack of concern for the townspeople, and afterward, they failed to properly compensate the town. The CEO at the time, Warren Anderson, has been charged with homicide by the Indian government since then and the name of Union Carbide has been destroyed because of this.

After Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide, the people of Bhopal, humanitarians, and environmentalists have criticized the company for not spending the money and picking up where Union Carbide failed. The company hasn’t done anything yet and its image has suffered greatly from it. In this case, the company’s image was ruined because of unsympathetic business decisions.

Henry Ford’s Good Example:
From the first days of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford was an innovator and a good business man. He had talent and knew how to make the company progress without taking advantage of workers and his neighborhood.

Starting with the $5-per-day program in 1914, Henry Ford started paying his workers more to decrease the amount of turnover and in doing so, keep skilled workers that cared about their jobs. Though scoffed at by other industrialists, Ford believed that if his workers made enough to be proud of their work and buy Ford cars, he would still gain a profit.

He was correct and soon enough, his idea of good wages spread throughout the industry. This idea may be dying out in modern times, the argument has to be made that this mentality gave Ford Motor Company a strong following among those that worked in the company.

Customers react positively to good corporations. Google’s informal slogan “don’t be evil” has not only given the company a good name with customers, but it may have also helped with the company’s success. If a customer can choose between two companies that produce a similar good or service, the customer is more likely to buy from the company with the best reputation.

It can be seen with fans of automotive companies. Entire families may only buy one specific brand of car for life, not even realizing that a different brand they find to be worthless is owned by the same company.

This has happened with General Motors and Daewoo. Most American consumers fail to realize that certain elements of the cars they drive are even influenced by a foreign car, but the feeling that they are driving a model of craftsmanship built by a company that values workers’ rights makes them blind to areas in which their cars fall short of expectations.

A good name can really go a long way. Humanitarian efforts within business will encourage potential customers to become faithful customers even if prices are higher because their consciences feel slightly better working with people who share their beliefs.

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Moreover, recent economic events have made many people believe that there is a finite amount of money in the world. That is not true. More wealth is being created every day. The supply of money is truly infinite once you apply certain principles that have made millionaires and billionaires over and over again. There are people out in the world that are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year!

2. Study the Laws of Money & Finance
Secondly, I recommend that you study the laws of money and finance – both the spiritual laws of abundance and prosperity consciousness, as well as the world of investing. Read books, listen to CDs, take seminars. I read at least one book a week, often more, in the areas of law of attraction, principles of success, finance and investing, psychology, relationships and spiritual growth. You can also join an investment club. Your local library or bookstore can get you started. Peruse the business, self-help, and psychology sections. You’ll find lots of materials to begin your studies.

3. Clarify What Wealth Means For You
Thirdly, I would ask you to take the time to clarify what wealthy means to you. For some people $100,000 a year would make them feel wealthy. For someone else, wealthy might mean $20 million in the bank. So take time to sit down and write out a complete description of your ideal wealthy life. What does that word mean to you? How do you see yourself as wealthy?

The third thing is that if you want to make a lot of money, you have to play a game where lots of money is made. You will not become a multi-millionaire being a preschool teacher. You can argue that preschool teachers are more valuable than professional baseball players, and you would probably be right, but it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. As Byron Katie teaches, when you argue with reality, you always lose. So you have to enter into an arena where money can be made.

You could join a network marketing company. I met a man not too long ago who lost his job as a mortgage broker and his home during the financial collapse last year. Now, less than 6 months later, he is on track to make $300,000 in 2009 as a distributor for MonaVie. He has built up a huge down line in less than half a year. He is leveraging his income through the efforts of others that he has enrolled and caused to be enrolled in the business.

4. Expand The Impact of Your Service
Another principle of wealth building is to expand the impact of your service. Reach more people and serve them more fully. Here is where the Internet can be a great accelerator in building wealth and building it quickly. One of the people I write about in The Success Principles makes millions of dollars a year selling pool tables on eBay. He is serving thousands of people a year through the power of the Internet.

Another student of mine has started an Internet-based business selling urine tests that parents can use to see if their teenagers used drugs while out that night. Take a course on Internet marketing. You’ll find hundreds of them listed on Google. My own seminar business began to skyrocket after I started doing a free tele-seminar on the first Wednesday of every month. We have had as many as 4,000 people on that call. (If you’d like to join us, go to www.AskJackCanfield.com. You can even submit a question that you would like me to answer.)

5. Find a Need and Fill It
Yet another principle of wealth building is to find a need and fill it. There are all kinds of businesses that have been built around seeing a need and fulfilling it. One company I know picks up people’s dry cleaning off a hook beside their front door, delivers it to the dry cleaners, and then returns it, saving people a lot of time. There are personal shoppers, restaurant delivery services that deliver for 30 different restaurants, people who prepare all your organic or raw food for a week and deliver it in containers that just need to be heated up.

My favorite story is that of an Avery Label salesman, who discovered that his restaurant clients wanted preprinted labels with the days of the week printed on them so they could label what day their fresh produce had arrived so that they could know which fruits and vegetables to use first, thus reducing spoilage.

When Avery said, “We are not in the printing business,” the salesman bought a small printer and began printing labels on the weekends. This weekend business, which was started in his garage, eventually grew into a company called Day Dots, which printed and sold millions of printed labels a day. He eventually sold his business for tens of millions of dollars!

6. Save and Invest
Finally, if you are going to become wealthy, you must save and invest at least 10% of every dollar you earn. Stop amassing debt. Become disciplined in saving and investing. Live within your means. You must find ways to get your money working for you. In addition to The Success Principles, I suggest you read The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. You’ll find both of these books, by the way, in the sections I mentioned above worth investigating at your local library or book store.

About the author:
© 2009 Jack Canfield. Join Jack Canfield for a free, one-hour audio training to up level all areas of your life. Plus, by participating in this audio training, you’ll have to chance to win a free, one-on-one coaching call with Jack Canfield himself! Get all the details at: www.canfieldtrainings.com/free

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The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
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Whether its money, information, support, assistance, or time, most people are afraid to ask for what they need in order to make their dreams come true.

They might be afraid of looking needy, ignorant, helpless, or even greedy. More than likely though, it is the fear of rejection that is holding them back. Even though they are afraid to hear the word no, they’re already saying it to themselves by not asking!

Do you ask for what you want or are you afraid of rejection?

Consider this: Rejection is just a concept. There is really no such thing as rejection! You’re not any worse off by hearing no than you were before you asked. You didn’t have what you asked for before you asked and you still don’t, so what did you lose?

Being rejected doesn’t hold you back from anything. Only YOU hold yourself back. When you realize that there’s no merit to rejection, you’ll feel more comfortable asking for things. You may just need a bit of help learning how to ask for what you want.

How to Ask for What You Want
There’s a specific science to asking for and getting what you want or need in life. And while I recommend you learn more by studying The Aladdin Factor, here are some quick tips to get you started:

1. Ask as if you expect to get it. Ask with a positive expectation. Ask from the place that you have already been given it. It is a done deal. Ask as if you expect to get a “yes.”

2. Assume you can. Don’t start with the assumption that you can’t get it. If you are going to assume, assume you can get an upgrade. Assume you can get a table by the window. Assume that you can return it without a sales slip. Assume that you can get a scholarship, that you can get a raise, that you can get tickets at this late date. Don’t ever assume against yourself.

3. Ask someone who can give it to you. Qualify the person. Who would I have to speak to to get…Who is authorized to make a decision about…What would have to happen for me to get…

4. Be clear and specific. In my seminars, I often ask, “Who wants more money in their life?” I’ll pick someone who raised their hand and give them a quarter, asking, “Is that enough for you?” “No? Well, how would I know how much you want. How would anybody know?”

You need to ask for a specific number. Too many people are walking around wanting more of something, but not being specific enough to obtain it.

5. Ask repeatedly. One of the most important Success Principles is the commitment to not give up.

Whenever we’re asking others to participate in the fulfillment of our goals, some people are going to say “no.” They may have other priorities, commitments and reasons not to participate. It’s no reflection on you.

Just get used to the idea that there’s going to be a lot of rejection along the way to the brass ring. The key is to not give up. When someone says “No”– you say “NEXT!” Why?

Because when you keep on asking, even the same person again and again…they might say “yes”…

• on a different day
• when they are in a better mood
• when you have new data to present
• after you’ve proven your commitment to them
• when circumstances have changed
• when you’ve learned how to close better
• when you’ve established better rapport
• when they trust you more
• when you have paid your dues
• when the economy is better
• and so on.

Kids know this Success Principle better than anyone. They will ask the same person over and over again without any hesitation (can you relate!).

Getting a good perspective on rejection and learning how to ask will make a world of difference for you as you work toward your goals. Practice asking and you’ll get very good at it! You’ll even speed your progress by getting what you need, or improving yourself in order to get it later.

Make a list of what you need to ask for in all areas of your life, and start asking. Remember, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE… if you dare to ask!

About the author:
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

Whether you are an entrepreneur, manager, teacher, parent, coach or simply a friend, if you want to be successful with other people, you must master the art of appreciation.

I’ve never known anyone to complain about receiving too much positive feedback. Have you? In fact, just the opposite is true.

Consider this: Every year, a management consulting firm conducts a survey with 200 companies on the subject on what motivates employees. When given a list of 10 possible things that would most motivate them, the employee always list appreciation as the number-one motivator.

Managers and supervisors ranked appreciation number eight. This is a major mismatch, as the chart below so clearly shows.

10 Ways to Really Motivate an Employee

Employees

• Appreciation
• Feeling  “in” on things
• Understanding attitude
• Job security
• Good wages
• Interesting work
• Promotional opportunities
• Loyalty from management
• Good working conditions
• Tactful discipline

Supervisors

• Good Wages
• Job Security
• Promotional Opportunities
• Good working conditions
• Interesting work
• Loyalty from management
• Tactful discipline
• Appreciation
• Understanding attitude
• Feeling “in” on things

Notice that the top three motivators for employees don’t cost anything, just a few moments of time, respect and understanding.

Keeping Score
When I first learned about the power of appreciation, it made total sense to me. However, it was still something that I forgot to do. I hadn’t yet turned it into a habit.

A valuable technique that I employed to help me lock in this new habit was to carry a 3” x 5” card in my pocket all day, and every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone, I would place a check mark on the card. I would not allow myself to go to bed until I had appreciated 10 people. If it was late in the evening and I didn’t have 10 check marks, I would appreciate my wife and children, I would send an e-mails to several of my staff, or I would write a letter to my mother or stepfather.

I did whatever it took until it became an unconscious habit. I did this every single day for 6 months—until I no longer needed the card to remind me.

Appreciation as a Secret of Success
Another important reason for being in a state of appreciation as often as possible is that when you are in such a state, you are in one of the highest emotional states possible.

When you are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, you are in a state of abundance. You are appreciating what you do have instead of focusing on, and complaining about, what you don’t have. Your focus is on what you have received… and you always get more of what you focus on.

And because the law of attraction states that like attracts like, the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract, and even more to be grateful for. It becomes an upward-spiraling process of ever-increasing abundance that just keeps getting better and better.

Think about it. The more grateful people are for the gifts we give them, the more inclined we are to give them more gifts. Their gratitude and appreciation reinforces our giving. The same principle holds true on a universal and spiritual level as it does on an interpersonal level.

I challenge you to discover ways to immediately appreciate someone in your life, starting today!

For more tips and suggestions on how you, too, can find ways to appreciate those in your life, read Prinicple 53 in The Success Principles.

About the author:
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download