FREE Life Success Principles Report

What We Focus On Is what We Get
This is probably my favourite principle. This principle goes to the heart of the results that we experience in our lives. What we focus on is what we will find evidence of, to the exclusion of everything else.

We can only experience what we search for, because everything else is outside of our experience. This means we don’t see things as they are, but as we are. So, the external world that we see is through the filtering lens of our personality – of who we are.

That’s why two people can look upon the same world and see it differently, based on who they are, what they sort for and what they expect to find.

Someone who experiences poverty is experiencing what is within them now. People who experience abundance are experiencing what is whin them now. If you are bad at relationships I want to know about your relationship with yourself.

If we had a box which we called 'Your World', you notice in your box (your world) it captures and focuses on what is in your thoughts, actions, experiences, personality. Everything outside the box is excluded. It can’t pick up what it isn’t focused on. Our lives and how we experience our world is the same thing. We will simply not be aware of things beyond our focus (world)

This can be seen in a diagram when you get your FREE 'Life Success Principles Report' from www.michaelgriffiths.com.au

Life Success Principal Part 2 – The Map Is Not The Territory

Life Success Principal Part 2 – The Map Is Not The Territory
By Michael Griffiths
www.michaelgriffiths.com.au

I hope you really enjoyed part one of our journey through Life Success Principals and understanding your values. Today we are going to touch on an amazing topic and one that very few people can understand on their own. This is so powerful that it will change your outlook on yourself, your family, others around you and your life and that is ‘The Map Is Not The Territory.’

Everyone has their own map of the world and NO two maps are ever the same. A person’s map comes through their own thoughts, actions, experiences and what they hold as beliefs at the time. For example a man living in poverty on the street fighting everyday for survival is going to have a different map on ‘the benefits of welfare’, then an executive who is being paid $200,000 per year and half his income goes in taxes.

A person’s map can only come from what they have experienced and nothing more.

So why do we have ‘Maps’ and what do they do for us; A person’s map allows them to have an outlook of the world, it allows them to justify everything that is going for them and it allows them to belong.

How powerful is this; You cannot change another person’s map and you cannot put your map over theirs. A person’s map is what holds true to them, NOT YOU, and becoming curious around another person will be the only way you can find out about their map.

The same event that takes place in front of two people can have a completely different meaning for both. For example there are two children 13 years of age who are part of the soccer team they have been practicing and the coach yells out “Kick the ball harder” the tone is strong and firm. Child 1 hears this and puts meaning to it – I’m no good at soccer, I can’t even kick the ball hard. Child 2 hears exactly the same comment and puts meaning to it – I must be really advanced if I’m being asked to kick the ball harder.

Certainly I might have taken things to the extreme however it does show the point. You might actually remember a time when you were growing up where something was said, or done where you have placed meaning to it, that has stayed with you for ever.

I remember one event when holidaying on the Gold Coast with my family. I was barbequing with dad and thought I was doing a pretty good job, the hamburgers however started to fall apart as I hadn’t put them on the hot plate first, a comment was made and at that moment I placed my own meaning to that comment. “I was no good at cooking hamburgers on a bbq” I myself got over that fairly quickly but it shows a power of a comment or action and how we end up with limiting beliefs.


If you think of a time in which you thought something made so much sense, everyone should be able to see it ‘Your Way’, what’s wrong with these people. Can you see why it might not have been the case now? Your map, through your own experiences, thoughts and actions are completely different to the next person. Hence the world will always have different meanings for people on the same event.

A person can change their own map and become more aware of other peoples maps, but we can’t change another’s person map.

How to Boost Your Self-Esteem (and why it goes down!)

Have you ever noticed your self-esteem seems to go down, and you don’t even know why? Each time I hear someone share their story of low self-esteem and difficulty making a decision, I know how they feel.

Two years ago my self-esteem was at an all time low. I had no idea how I’d got myself into this place, and even less idea of how to get out of it!
It seemed the more I wished I felt better about myself, the worse I felt. I used to say to myself “I’ll make this decision when I feel better about myself.” Or “When my confidence is up, then I’ll act.”

I had no idea that those thoughts were actually perpetuating my feelings of inadequacy.
What I have learned since then is –
…the less decisions you make, the lower your self-esteem will become…
…the more you put something off, the lower your confidence becomes…
…the more you wait for the courage to act, the less it will appear…
…the more you wish you felt better about yourself, the worse you will feel…

Explains a lot, huh?

The ONLY way to boost your self-esteem is to –
1. Make more decisions, and start caring LESS about how it MUST work out!
2. Get over your need for absolute certainty that everything will be perfect.
3. Let go of not being allowed to make mistakes! It’s okay to make a mess, just learn from the mistake and MOVE ON!
4. Stop procrastinating, and telling yourself you’re waiting for “the right time”. Who are you kidding?
5. Stop waiting for courage to turn up – courage is only needed when you act. As long as you sit there waiting for it, it won’t show.
6. Stop focusing on yourself and what you think you lack… because what you focus on is what you get.
7. Focus on what you can do, today, even if it scares you. If it didn’t get your heart racing, it wasn’t that important to you!
8. Give yourself permission to have a go!

Finally…If… and ONLY if… you are genuinely committed to positive change in your life…

Make a decision and act TODAY.

Whatever it is you have been putting off because you didn’t feel good, you weren’t confident, you didn’t know if you could do it, you were worried it might not work out… whatever it is that you have been giving up on achieving to appease the self-doubt you have nurtured for… how long?!... WHATEVER it is that you have been giving up on achieving…
The time to act is NOW.
You will feel great about yourself.
Your friends will notice the difference.
You will start to like yourself.
You will meet different people who also like themselves.
You will experience new things that excite you.
You will finally feel awesome self-esteem!

Life Success Principal Part 1 – Understanding Your Values

Over the next month we will put together a range of Life Success Principals that will allow you to go through a self paced course in creating change.

Part 1 looks at ‘Understanding Your Own Values’. To make any change in your personal, family or business life you must understand and appreciate the values that you stand for each day. A value is something that creates a great feeling for you when it occurs. If your value is honesty and integrity then everytime you are honest you will feel fantatsic with the actions you have taken. If your value is love and connection then loving, caring and being there for the people special in your life will bring great joy and happiness to you.

It is very easy however to have values come from your head and not from your heart. Values that comes from your head are usually values that you wish or hope to have but really don’t bring you any emotional feeling and therefore you can’t attach yourself to them. Values play a huge part in a persons makeup and therefore have a huge effect on the way they think, act and go about their daily life.

Our vales can be our compass for our lives and ulimately our choices. Values guide our every decision. When a person knows what is most important to them, making a decision is effortless.

Values include but are not limited to;
• Passion
• Freedom
• Adventure
• Love
• Comfort
• Pride
• Honesty
• Safety
• Health
• Happiness
• Repsect

Remember when you know what is most important to you then making a decision is simple.

Most people live their lives in reaction to the events around them, hoping, wishing and waiting that it will all work out. Or worse, they know what they want to have; more time, money, love, health without ever knowing who they want to be or who they have to be to achieve it. All they know is they want more!

If you want to know what it feels like to not live congruently with who you are and what you believe in, make a decision that doesn’t keep your values intact. The secret to happiness... no matter how tought the going gets... live congruently with your values.


Activity:
What core feelings and emotional states must you feel on a regular basis so that you know you are being true to yourself?

How To Overcome Shyness

If you think or believe you are "shy" or "withdrawn" then it's time to get a new game plan...
Holding back because you think you are shy is another way of saying "not me".
Stop making the excuse of shyness for you not putting yourself forward into the thick of it...

It may comfort you to say it, but it can never get you the results you say you want. People want to work with others who are certain of themselves, because invariably it's a quality they want for themselves!

How to get the Assertiveness Bug:
1. Know your values and live by them - even when it isn't convenient
2. Be decisive - the more decisions you make, the more assertive you feel
3. Don't wait for assertiveness to show up - it's waiting for you to act!
4. Say no when you need to
5. Use good, clear communication skills - say what you mean with warmth, not fear
6. Be an attentive listener - listen to the other person's point of view completely
7. Say yes when you need to - if you say no because you are afraid, you are missing an opportunity to build your assertiveness muscle
8. Take responsibility for your own actions - act as if it down to you to create the level of confidence and assertiveness you choose
9. Ask for what you want - don't hope others will know, state what you prefer
10. Stand up for yourself

Becoming assertive in your daily life will open many more doors of opportunities, allow a greater influence of friends and colleagues and place you on the pathway to the success you deserve.

Changing your beliefs about being assertive or holding assertiveness is easy to change. Remember ‘beliefs are all just made up bull’ that we have told ourselves over and over again. How about you start telling yourself some of these new beliefs;
• I am wonderful at speaking in front of other people
• I am wonderful at listening and enjoying other peoples company
• I am wonderful at making decisions
• I am assertive when required

See if you notice a change in the next month.

Take care and look forward to next time.
Michael Griffiths

True Intentions

Let’s touch on True Intentions this week. What are True Intentions? ‘True’ meaning what is seen to be correct and ‘Intention’ meaning the act of determining mentally upon some action or result.

This meaning is interesting when we take a closer look. The word ‘mentally’ tells us that your Intention is something in your mind. Something you tell yourself through what I call your “mini-me” (your ego, yourself conscience.)

80% of the population struggle to control their mental thoughts and feelings. This is due to past experiences and habits which have been formed by them. Hence so many people struggle to follow through on their True Intentions.

We can overcome this in a few different ways.
1. Hold ourselves accountable to someone else that we hold in high esteem. It is human behaviour to not want to let someone down and therefore we take action.
2. Build a dream with so much desire that we are forced to take action daily.
3. Build a support team around us, a group of networks, and other successful people within your field. We breed success by watching success.

It is always easy to tell what someone’s true intentions are; we are all great at talking a good game, saying we are going to do something and not following through. A person’s true intention is what their actions do, it is results driven and quite often it can be harsh to realise that we don’t follow through on our true intentions a lot of the time.

A great business mind once said “Beliefs are all bullshit, they hold people back and stop them from following their true intentions by making excuses for them”

What are your true intentions and are you taking action daily to help follow your path and dreams.

Until next time please follow us through one of our other communication methods. We look forward to sharing more thoughts and personal development with you soon.
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Self Help - Part 1

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be. "George Sheehan"

Complete this exercise;
Write out the following

* What do you want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
* In the next 2 years
* In the next 5 years
* What will it give you when you have achieved this? What will it allow you to do?

Read this statement every day

Have fun!

There Is Good In This World - Well Done Boys!

Thanks to the Coaching Insitute for this piece....

Two Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made
the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never
be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside
influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand
things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handi-capped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize
true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to
play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance
and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the
ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in
his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game
and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the
bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all
but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved
in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took
a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been
out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started
yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the
base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be
the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally
threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay , Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay" Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the
direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home,
stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and
seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Living Life When You’re Not A Victim

Within our world there are victims everywhere. Victims every second of every day. We hear them all the time sharing their stories and problems as if the world was about to end. Do you have a victim mentality that’s holding you back?

Things take place every second of every day, it is how we look at those certain events that help us form opinions and influence our way of thinking and habits.

It’s amazing when you start the day off badly, things just continue to go wrong. You spill your coffee, then you miss the bus or the train, you drop all the papers you were carrying all over the ground and you can’t imagine what will happen next.

Funnily enough, if you had reacted differently to the spilt coffee the continuing bad events wouldn't of occured. The majority of people would be blaming someone or something else for that coffee being spilt. The reason for this is we naturally prefer to be the victim rather than the "Cause", and accepting it for what it is.

One of the great powers of the universe, that changes people’s lives forever, is when you start to understand the law of "Cause and Effect".

There is a "Cause and Effect"for everything that happens. Those with a victim mentality will always be the "Effect" and blame others, never take . They therefore live a life of unhappiness as they are always the victim, happily giving reasons and justifications on why things work out badly, couldn't work out at all or don't happen.

Those of us that realise they are the "Cause" of events have a completely different outlook on life. When events take place and you take responsibility for them you come from a completely different position of power and therefore you limit their effect. Taking responsibility for everything that goes on allows you to change what you don’t like, because you’re in charge.

How do you limit the "Effect"?

Well let’s get back to an earlier topic:
You Attract What You Think About Most Into Your Life

If you come from the "Effect" mentality then you are continuing to attract bad events or happenings because you haven’t moved on from the initial bad happening. I guarantee more bad luck will come your way.

If however you come from the "Cause" mentality, accept what has happened and move on, you can get back to attracting better things into your life for that day.

It’s amazing how such a little difference in a persons habit will make such a big change in a persons happiness. Try becoming a "Cause" person and take responsibility for everything that goes on, both good and bad, then realise the power you have just given yourself to change what you don’t like, as you are the boss of your own destiny!

Take Care
Michael Griffiths

Why Do Some Make It, But Most Fail?

It is no surprise that so many people within the world struggle to achieve their goals, dreams or the life that they set out to have, when you sit back and look at what we have become.

As a society we are so quick to make decisions. Everything today is fast paced; we want information at our finger tips, we want faster computers, phones and the ability to reach across the world instantly. We also want our goals and dreams to occur quickly, in days and months rather than years and decades. As a society we have become impatient and spoilt, we expect bigger and better and we want it NOW....

This leads us to our problem and the reason why so many people fail and end up living the life they are given rather than the life they want to create.

There is a whole process to goal setting and re-programming your way of thinking that we will touch on another time, but to keep it simple lets follow these rules.
1. Goals are required to reach any level of fulfilment
2. What you think about most often is what you attract into your life
3. What you tell yourself daily is what your mind believes to be true
4. Taking action daily results in moving forward

Most people are able to set goals; they write it down on a piece of paper and put it away for a rainy day never to be seen again. This is the problem and why so many people then don’t achieve what they set out to do.

To change a humans way of thinking and habits takes 30 – 90 days of CONSTANT work.

That constant work involves reading goals over and over again, dreaming and seeing those goals in your life, telling yourself what those goals would mean for you and your family and then finally being ready to take ACTION when an opportunity arises.

The second biggest problem people have is taking ACTION when an opportunity comes their way.

It’s common practice in society and something that is drilled into us at an early age to check everything twice, make sure you know what you’re getting into, research it all first and then procrastinate until it’s too late.

If you have a goal, a dream and you start believing you can live the life you want and deserve, rather than the life you have been given then please act and give yourself a chance.

I’m excited about being able to hear about your success and would love to know if our advice has helped you in some way.

Take Care Until Next Time
Michael Griffiths