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Don’t live a life you didn’t choose for yourself

You can design your life rather than letting it run on by default.  In this post I’m going to show you 5 simple steps that you can use to actively design your life. If you don’t design your life you will get to your deathbed feeling that you could have done, been and had so much more.  Taking control of your life means that you will create a unique, interesting and satisfying life according to your own standards.  Others will be on awe of your level of control and satisfaction and you will be a fantastic role model for your family, your friends and your colleagues. The way you do this is to set aside a few minutes a day to be alone with your thoughts and to actively design, in writing, your ideal life. If you read the biographies of great men and women it is clear that they had a clear vision of what they wanted.  They may not have written it down, although many have done, but they designed the specifics of their lives and did not allow themselves to get caught up with the day to day t
Recent posts

5 Reasons For Setting Goals - Do it now!

Why set goals? The fact is that goal setting works! Research studies have shown a direct link between goals and improved performance in both sports and business. Earl Nightingale put it this way, " People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. It's as simple as that." In this post I'm going to answer the questions "why set goals?" 5 Top Reasons to Set Goals 1. Goals can give you a target to aim for.  Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of the classic Psycho-Cybernetics, said that human beings have a built-in goal seeking "success mechanism" that is part of the subconscious mind. This success mechanism is constantly searching for ways to help us reach our targets and find answers to our problems. According to Maltz, we work and feel better when our success mechanism is fully engaged going after clear targets.All we have to do to use this mechanism is to give it a target. Without one, our success mechanism lies dormant, or worse, pursues ta

I can help you...

I've had a revelation. It's taken me a while to get here but I've just realised something that I should have realised a long time ago. This blog is almost a complete waste of time. Why? Because it's called "Self Help That Works" and if you have landed here THAT'S what you want. It's that simple. But what have I been serving up? Not that. It's been close at times but it's not been that. So. From now on that's what I'm going to give. I can't promise to give it very often but I can promise to give it. I have some answers. I have answers because I've found ways to succeed during the last...almost 40 years...I'm not going to boast...that comes later :) So...come back now and then and see how I'm doing.

Watch a movie, change your life: Can films make a difference?

Linda is a highly functioning autistic woman who loses her only child in a car accident. The cold and emotionally distant stranger who was driving the car comes to apologise and stays until after the funeral. As he watches Linda's different approach to life he lets himself relax more until, by the time he leaves her, he has “thawed”. That is a brief synopsis of the movie Snow Cake . I watched it last night and enjoyed it. I've been thinking about it today and considering what, if anything, I can learn from the story. As I have said on this blog before I am a voracious consumer of self help books but lately I've been thinking about other sources of wisdom and “lifehacks”. Movies are such a source. This is most obvious in children's movies. The lessons in a film like Cars are laid out for all to see, requiring little work from a young mind. Adults usually have to work a little harder when they watch their own films. But the work pays off when you find something

Buyers' Remorse

I buy a lot of self help books. I spend lunchtimes browsing the self-help section of Borders and I get a tingle when I see a new one that looks promising. I pick them up knowing how I should examine them; read the index, read about the author to establish their credentials, look for chapter headings and diagrams, read the back cover for testimonials. And sometimes that's exactly what I do. But sometimes the title or the promise ("Transform Your Life", "Find Your Purpose")creates such a positive emotion that I am going to buy it no matter what my examination reveals. Sometimes the emotional reaction leads to a good purchase. Mostly it doesn't and I end up reading the same tired self-help cliches for a few chapters before I throw it aside. And it's then that I get buyer's remorse a horrible feeling for someone who prides himself on making rational choices. I don't want to feel that emotion very often in the future but I suspect I will. Most

The Four Hour Work Week Is Ruining My Life...

It's rare that a book nags away at me.  Most self help books are instantly forgettable when you put them back on the shelf. Having now read Tim Ferriss' "Four Hour Work Week" at least 4 times in total (that's not including all the dipping  into read throughs) I can safely say that it won't be going back on  my shelf for quite some time. I'm not going to review it because others have done it better than I would hope to (I'll add some links to reviews and stuff shortly) but I wanted to point out that you need this book.  Whoever you are and whatever you want from your life - you need this book. So if it's that good why is it ruining my life? Here's the first bunch of reasons: 1.  Most of the ideas Tim presents are simple yet pretty profound and I find myself thinking "Damn, why didn't I think of that before!" 2.  I am constantly looking at my own life and wondering how I can get from where I am to where I could be with a little help

Knock Knock

For anyone who may have read this blog before and who might be keeping a watching eye on it...sorry about the slight (7 months?) delay in posting anything new. You know what it's like, sometimes life takes a hold. Anyway I've been working on some new ideas and have been keeping up my self-help reading so I plan to set out some thoughts over the next few weeks. So bear with me chaps...