Success and The Ant Philosophy

There are many recipes for Success and each of them hold much value. But the simplicity of  Jim Rohn's Ant Philosophy not only made me smile from ear to ear but resonated with me on many levels. 

I know that each time I now see an ant it will make me re-evaluate what I am doing to achieve the results that I desire.

Feel free to share your thoughts and insights!

The Ant Philosophy

by Jim Rohn

Over the years I've been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept—the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants gather their winter food in the middle of summer.

An ancient story says, “Don't build your house on the sand in the summer.” Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to think ahead. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun.           

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, “This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here.” And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the “all–you–possibly–can” philosophy.

Wow, what a great philosophy to have—the ant philosophy. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life

Achieving Your Dreams

Why are some people successful whilst others are not?

Why do some people seem to have all the luck?

 These were two questions I used to ask myself often. I had always considered that I had big dreams....yet my life wasn't going in the direction I wanted.
It was when I discovered the difference between  being a dreamer and being wishful that my life turned around. 

Jim Rohn explains the importance if this differentiation. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Achieving Your Dreams
by Jim Rohn

While most people spend most of their lives struggling to earn a living, a much smaller number seem to have everything going their way. Instead of just earning a living, the smaller group is busily working at building and enjoying a fortune. Everything just seems to work out for them. And here sits the much larger group, wondering how life can be so unfair, so complicated and unjust. What’s the major difference between the little group with so much and the larger group with so little?

Despite all of the factors that affect our lives—like the kind of parents we have, the schools we attended, the part of the country we grew up in—none has as much potential power for affecting our futures as our ability to dream.

Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you want to lead. Dreams can drive you. Dreams can make you skip over obstacles. When you allow your dreams to pull you, they unleash a creative force that can overpower any obstacle in your path. To unleash this power, though, your dreams must be well defined. A fuzzy future has little pulling power. Well-defined dreams are not fuzzy. Wishes are fuzzy. To really achieve your dreams, to really have your future plans pull you forward, your dreams must be vivid.

If you’ve ever hiked a 14,000-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains, one thought has surely come to mind: “How did the settlers of this country do it?” How did they get from the East Coast to the West Coast? Carrying one day’s supply of food and water is hard enough. Can you imagine hauling all of your worldly goods with you... mile after mile, day after day, month after month? These people had big dreams. They had ambition. They didn’t focus on the hardship of getting up the mountain.

In their minds, they were already on the other side—their bodies just hadn’t gotten them there yet! Despite all of their pains and struggles, all of the births and deaths along the way, those who made it to the other side had a single vision: to reach the land of continuous sunshine and extraordinary wealth. To start over where anything and everything was possible. Their dreams were stronger than the obstacles in their way.

You’ve got to be a dreamer. You’ve got to envision the future. You’ve got to see California while you’re climbing 14,000-foot peaks. You’ve got to see the finish line while you’re running the race. You’ve got to hear the cheers when you’re in the middle of a monster project. And you’ve got to be willing to put yourself through the paces of doing the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. Because that’s how you realize your dreams.

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life

Formula For Success

Today I’d like to share with you New York Times best-selling author Jeffrey Gitomer’s formula for success.

I love this. It is extremely simple but very true. 

If you were to take a look at the things that you have been successful at in your life I bet you would find that all these elements had been present.

1. Find something to do, that you believe in, and that you love.
2. Dedicate the time that it takes to become a world-class expert at it.
3. You have to believe in yourself, and let no one else around you shake that belief. 
4. You have to wake up every morning with an attitude of YES!, and have it be strong enough to shake off the NOs.

And, if you have all of those elements…

     5. You must then be willing to work hard. Not just “do whatever it takes,” but actually see the vision of completion and fulfillment, and work hard towards that with all your heart, every day. 

SUCCESS FORMULA RECAP: If you love it, if you believe in it, if you believe in yourself, and you're willing to work your butt off, you can march to success, doing it YOUR way.”

The first step of course is finding that thing that you are passionate about. Discovering our “burning desire” as Napoleon Hill identifies in Think and Grow Rich.

Take a few minutes today to think about whether you are passionate about what you are doing. If not is it time for a direction change? Is there something you could do to ignite the passion? Have you lost touch with your original purpose?

I know for certain that when you are doing something that you love…..hard work no longer feels like hard work!

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life

How to Improve Your Succces

Reading this article by Jim Rohn today got me thinking! Thinking is a good starting point because this gets you asking questions and this is of course how we learn and grow. 

The questions that came up for me were; 

"What do I know I could be doing to move me closer to my goal.... but am not doing?"
"What excuses am I making to myself to let myself off the hook?"

"What could be the potential outcome if I did take action and do these things?"

Have a read of Jim's article and see what comes up for you. I would love to hear you thoughts and would especially welcome a commitment to implement at least one thing into your life that you know will move you closer to Success but that you have been a tad slack about.

Cheers Jo

Success is Easy, But So is Neglect

by Jim Rohn

People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. 

The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it probably really wouldn't matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later, I'm a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy things.

In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect.             

It is not the lack of money - banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity - America, and much of the free World, continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history. It is not the lack of books – libraries are full of books – and they are free! It is not the schools – the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisors.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect.

Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more... and on and on it goes.

So my suggestion is that when giving the choice of "easy to" and "easy not to" that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, "easy"; but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines.

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life

The 45 Lessons Life Taught Me

I came across these fabulous words of advice this week written by a 90 year old.

(Thanks to my dear friend Hilary for sharing them.)

I think that each of us will be able to identify with them ... the trick of course is to remember them!

I recommend that you copy them and read them a least once a month.

Written  by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer,  Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most  requested column I've ever written.

My odometer  rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once  more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still  good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short - enjoy it..

4.  Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your  friends and family  will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10.  When it comes to chocolate, resistance is  futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't  screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all  about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it..

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don't worry; God never  blinks.

16.  Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in  many ways.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really  does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all up to you and no one  else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21.  Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy  lingerie. Don't  save  it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22.  Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be  eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear  purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness  but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with  these words 'In five years, will  this  matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28.  Forgive but don't forget.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31.  However good or bad a situation is, it will  change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No  one else does..

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God  is, not because of anything you did or didn't  do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the  most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the  alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone  else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

42. The best is yet to come...

43. No matter how you  feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44.  Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's  still a gift."

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life 

Consciously Creating Your Future

Success requires us to make conscious decisions that will move us closer to our goals. 

I came across this fabulous article by Deepak Chopra which explains this beautifully and am delighted to be able to share it with you.

Do you have any long term goals that you can start working on by using these principles?

Can you identify the short-term desires that have been stopping you move forward?

I look forward to reading your shares!

In everyone's life short-term desires compete with long-term desires, and whoever finds the right balance will reap the greatest success.  If you focus too much on short-term gratification, the following things become too important: eating, drinking, running errands, keeping everything neat and tidy, micro-managing others, perfectionism, gossip, and trivial distractions.  Experts in time management point out that all of these are inefficient and wasteful, which is certainly true. 

But the larger point is that none of these activities challenges your mind. They require a short attention span, and in place of long-term gratification, you are settling for tiny hits of pleasure.  A stream of short-term gratification is like eating a candy bar every half hour instead of cooking and enjoying a banquet.

Long-term desires are emotionally more mature, because they delay gratification in the service of a bigger reward.  People realize this, which is why they plan for their retirement. Years of hard work lead to a payoff down the road. But too often those years are not gratifying. They are more like putting in your time at the salt mines. The trick is to derive the right kind of short-term fulfillment.  The right kind isn't hard to define. It consists of what you do today to make next year better.

Think of it like writing a book. If you write a page every day, your manuscript will be done next year. A page doesn't sound like much, but the catch is that it must fit into the final product. Ernest Hemingway set himself a daily goal of half a page only.  If you can do anything today that consciously goes toward fulfilling a long-range vision, plan, project, or mission, you will become the Hemingway of your own life.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Set down a single vision, project, or mission.

2. Set time aside to work on it every day.

3. Work consists of doing research, making connections, investigating your target audience or market, learning from projects similar to yours, challenging your assumptions, writing a proposal, seeking a mentor, partner, or confidant to bounce your ideas off, and raising capital if needed.

4. Set interim deadlines that you can reasonably meet every month.

5. Be adaptable about changing your project as it unfolds.

Each of these steps should be interesting and, one hopes, exciting to you.  Consciousness expands whenever a person feels creative, passionate, and joyful.  If you don't have these qualities, you won’t wake up every morning eager to fulfill your long-range goal.  The value of following the five steps I've suggested is that you become action oriented; your goal doesn't drift or become an empty dream.  

To your success

Jo

www.JoAustin.com  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life 

Learn How to Be a Super Hero in Your Child’s Eyes!

It doesn’t take a lycra body suit and flowing cape to be an Inspiration.     

Holding your newly born child for the very first time is a truly magical moment.

As I gently uncurled the tiny little fingers it dawned on me that for many years I was going to be one of the most important people in this little person’s life. They would be dependent on me for food, shelter and of course love. These I was ready to give in un-boundless quantities…..and I did.

What I hadn’t realised was how big an influence I would be in the way they think, the way they behave and ultimately the person they become.

My desire to be the very best Mum ever had always been my goal. My own Mum had worked as I grew up and I hated that she wasn’t there for sports days, assemblies or for us to have friends come to play after school.

I was determined that I would be a stay at home Mum and not miss a single important event in my children’s lives as they grew up. Fortunately I was able to do this and I will forever be grateful.

But over time I found that I had lost myself completely in the role of motherhood and I was no longer a fun, spontaneous person. The day I answered “Mummy” to the question “Title” on a credit card application was the day I understood that something had to change.

And change it did. I am now proud to introduce myself as Jo Austin, mother of 4 delightful children and a successful business woman.

Embracing an online business opportunity I’ve been an Entrepreneur working from home for 3 years now. During that time I have not only learnt how to run a very lucrative business but have also enjoyed massive personal growth. Through using our Personal Development program I have discovered a ME that I didn’t know existed….a ME that I love.

• I am full of self confidence.
• I have a real sense of where I am heading and what I want to achieve in life.
• I have enormous goals and understand the actions required to reach them.
• And I have a positive attitude that enables me to enjoy life and have fun.

Considering I was someone who would walk back out of a cake shop without buying anything because there was too much to choose from I think I’ve come a very long way!

But what I really love. What truly makes my heart sing … is that I know I am now a far better role model for my children.

My desire to be the perfect Mum had actually been dis-empowering them because I felt I had to do EVERYTHING for them. My lack of self belief and personal self worth meant that I couldn’t teach them how to make strong decisions. My lack of direction resulted in a lack of motivation and consequently meant I was being a negative influence in their lives.

These days our household is much more positive, communication is calmer and we have lots more fun once again. By teaching my children some of the principles in our Personal Development program I have seen an improvement in their school work, in their friendship choices and in their contribution to the family.

I absolutely love what I do because I now get the best of both worlds; I am still a hand’s on Mum and I am also a confident business woman assisting others to improve their lives.

No I don’t wear a lycra body suit!  But I know for a fact that I am now a huge inspiration to my children and I’d be proud to write “Super Mum” as a title.

Contact me today if you would like more information on either our Award Winning Personal Development program or the opportunity to Work from Home.

“The greatest Gift you can give your Child is a Positive Mental Attitude!”

www.JoAustin.com/parents.html  ~ Inspiring Others to Love Life