I have a confession: When I go to a bookstore, I like hanging out in the self-help section. I don’t know if it’s because I think I’ll find a book that will solve all my problems, or if seeing all the books on problems I don’t have makes me feel better about myself. But whatever it is, I keep going back.

On recent visits, I’ve noticed a trend: The market has been glutted by books promising the secrets to happiness. That might not seem new (isn’t happiness the point of the entire section?), but these aren’t touchy-feely self-help titles - they’re books by scientific researchers, who claim to offer prescriptions based on rigorous empirical research. It’s all part of the “positive psychology” movement that has spilled out of academic journals and into best-selling books, popular magazine articles, and even school curricula.

Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I was on planet earth thousands of years ago when language was somewhat non-existent, extremely elementary at best. Although our lives would have been much simpler, I am certain people were greatly challenged with their ability to effectively communicate their feelings and the beauty they witnessed in the marvelous world around them.

Fast forwarding thousands of year later, language today is quite comprehensive. Maybe it is a little bit too complex at times. The more complex language a person uses, the smaller their audience.

Anyhow, one absolutely amazing aspect of language is the ability to take a complex concept and put it into simple words which can be easily understood by the masses. For example, a metaphor can shortcut our understanding of concepts which may have taken years to understand otherwise.

The most common question I get asked is how did I come up with my phrase “Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!” Well the first thing to know is for me it’s not just a phrase it’s a way of life.

The phrase originated from 2003 when I got to go on a business trip with my Dad to Texas. The reason for the trip was that my dad was a successful network marketer and we were attending this big conference. So I went with my dad and listened in on some of the talks and presentations. If you want to see and hear some motivated people these type of events are the place to be. Come on lets face it to knock on a one thousand doors a day or make one thousand telephone calls a day trying to sell a product nobody wants you have to be motivated to survive.

Mary squirmed in her chair as she continued, “I just don’t know what is wrong with me. Why can’t I just do it? I feel stressed all the time when I’m not writing. ‘I should be writing’, I say to myself, but I don’t. I think, if I just get the laundry done, then I’ll be free to sit down and write the next chapter. But then I don’t. Maybe I need to exercise first, and I go for a run. I get back home, fully intending to sit down at the computer. But I don’t. And all the while I’m feeling bad and stressed about not writing. What is wrong with me? Maybe I’m just lazy. Or maybe unconsciously I don’t really want to write. Or maybe it just means that I’m not really cut out to be a writer. ‘Writers write’, I tell myself.