Are you pleasant?

Many times in our life we try and be people we're not.  We label ourselves as our activities, our jobs and our personalities.  Then out of nowhere when we lose something that we believe defined us and we forget who we actually are.  This can be devastating because somewhere along the way we forgot who we actually were.
I recently come across a list called THE PLEASANT PERSON ACT, this is a list of things we should all be doing that help label us as a pleasant person as oppose to the people we may not actually be. It's a long list but here are the top ten things (in my opinion) we should all do to be labeled as pleasant.

1. Listen more than you talk
2. Use no more words than are necessary
3. Make eye contact without staring
4. Don't brag
5. Don't force a smile
6. Keep agreements
7. Don't interrupt people
8. Don't every be phony with people
9. Cover your mouth when you cough
10. Don't talk badly behind people's back

This small easy list is often forgotten or we procrastinate thinking we can change our ways tomorrow yet people really notice when we break these simple life rules.  The more you follow these 10 simple rules the more pleasant you look to others and the more you can make a great name for yourself in this world of unpleasant people.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Taming those thoughts

How often do you talk yourself into a panic or even convince yourself you can't do something even though you know you are fully prepared to do it?  For me, I have days of full out confidence were I feel I can take on the world and nothing can stop me. Then there are other days I can convince myself I can't do the very thing I told myself I was ready to do just days before.  These are the days I feel defeated and unworthy of success in my life, I'm sure you've also felt this way many times through life.

I'm reading a book called TAMING YOUR INNER GREMLIN by Rick Carson, the author describes our inner conflict as our Gremlin.  It's sole job is to make you feel bad by making you wallow in the past and making you over analyze relationships between people and the different things in your life.  These little Gremlins make you live in a land of fantasy filling your head with all kinds of scary scenarios that often prove to be completely fake.  Your inner conflict or your GREMLIN and Rick calls it is a totally imaginary thing made up by your mind that actually controls you because you tend to believe the talk and images you develop in your mind.  The key to defeating this little Gremlin is very simple, all you need to do is be aware and listen to what is going on. 

When we stop and we are aware of what is going on without reacting to negative feedback we become a master of our thoughts.  To often we get suckered into listening to our imagination and give into negative self talk.  Here is the most effective way for dealing with your inner GREMLINS.

1. Stop and be aware by simply listening to your thoughts.
2. Know you have the choice to not give into negative thinking.

This process takes a bit of practice so don't give up in the beginning, just be aware of the thoughts and know you do not need to act on them.  Before you know it you will become a true master of acting upon all the right thoughts that fill your mind.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

What I overcame

When I meet people and we start to discuss making changes in life I explain that I am a totally shy, quiet person by nature.  People seem very shocked becuse after speaking with me you would have no idea I am that person what so ever, yet deep down that shy person who rarely wants to talk is always inside of me.  A couple of years ago I made a concious decision to become more extroverted, I would speak more, become more outgoing and be much more charasmatic.  This challenge to myself did not come easily, I worked on it daily but it took me awhile to break free of my old quiet ways.  It wasn't until I changed my beliefs about myself that I was able to make the change.

Everything we do in life steems from our beliefs, we act a certain way because we believe that it's exactly how we should act.  We tend to make choices based upon feelings we have without questioning whether or not we can challenge our feelings or even our beliefs. We often believe we can't break free, for me I felt people would think my opinions or my conversations were boring, I felt I had nothing interesting to contribute in conversations so I had no problem remaining quiet and shy, this was my belief and I was sticking with it.  Then when I made that decision to change I challenged myself by telling myself I could do it, I could speak up and I could become a more outgoing person.  I didn't always succeed in challenging myself but slowly over time I would overcome a tiny self challenge getting me one step closer to the person I wanted to become and next thing I knew I was actually becoming more and more confident in speaking to people and keeping up conversations.

No matter who you want to become or what you want to accomplish you must tell yourself that you are changing and becoming better. You will learn over time to get over those feelings that always pull you back down to the same old routines and same old habits that leave you feeling unaccomplished with your life.  When you wake up repeat to yourself that you are getting better and repeat to yourself that you can do anything.  There are days you won't feel like you are getting anywhere but the constant repeatition that you are getting better and that you can do anything trick your mind into believing the affirmations you've been repeating to yourself.  If I can change myself from a shy, quiet, unconfident person into a more outgoing person I'm sure you can change yourself into whatever you would like, this world is yours now get working on yourself.

Stay motivated
Shane C

Develop yourself

It seems over the last few months people around me have been complementing me more on my attitude, physical appearance and also in the work I have been doing.  It's extremely flattering to get the compliments and I do truly appreciate them.  Over the last year I've been working on myself, physically and mentally as a  way to reach a new set of goals that require a bit more of my focus and energy than I had been putting in over the last few years.  Although there was a time when I never even thought I could achieve half of what I'm on my way to achieving.

It's the same old story we were all born with the same things, a brain, a body and a blank slate that has allowed us to do absolutely anything we want in life. Then somewhere along the way we developed a set of beliefs passed down to us by people who manipulated us to believe in their beliefs of weakness and inabilities to accomplish the "so called" impossible.
We tend to forget we have abilities and even beauty because we get so caught up in our negative thinking and it truly is a shame that we lose so many years not tapping into our potential. 
In my line of work I often meet people who have lost incredible amounts of weight some losing over 100lbs and when they do they feel amazing about themselves.  It's not that they are completely different people,  it's just their beliefs about their own abilities were clouded because they believed they were ugly because society has taught them a totally false belief about their appearance.  Once they worked on themselves to develop a newer, better version of themselves they fell amazing and they accomplish great things in life, yet in reality they could have accomplished anything at any stage in their lives.

What I hope you take away today is you have these amazing possibilities in your life and you simply need a little time and effort to develop yourself.  You can do it because you can do absolutely anything you want to do.  Allow yourself to believe in the possibility of doing anything you please.

Here are the rules
1. Know you can do it
2. Time and preparation is key
3. When the time comes you will know as long as you follow step 1 & 2

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Changing your outside look on life

There was about a year that I suffered with a bad case of red itch skin on my hands and wrists, it was embarrassing and very uncomfortable.  I finally got to go see a naturapth and she informed me it was caused from a food allergy.  We needed to eliminate any foods that would cause negative reactions and fill my body with better foods and great nutritional supplements to help the condition get better.  I did want she told me and what I battled for 1 year started to heal in less than a week.

Today's blog is not a medical one but an example of how your inside world creates your outside world.  As long as what you put in your mind (thoughts, emotions, and the words you speak) are positive and geared towards growth, your outside world will appear as a world of opportunity and one filled with positive experiences.  Now just like the condition I was suffering from, the more I put in my body that was aggravating it the worse my condition got.  Your thoughts and how you talk to yourself do the same, the more negative you put in the worse your outside world will appear. 

Make sure to feed your mind and life with better people, better self talk and better thoughts.  Negativity is all around you and it is very easy to get caught up with all the talk.  My skin condition was caused from things that aggravated it so it didn't look healthy.  Maybe just maybe if your world doesn't look as happy as you would like it to look, it could be you are feeding your mind some thoughts that are aggravating it.  Do a thought detox and watch your world change in just a matter of days.

Stay motivated
Shane C

BOLD MOVES

I came to a point in my life not long ago where I made the decision things needed to change in my life.  I wasn't sure what to do and then I figured it out, I needed to start to make really BOLD MOVES to leap ahead of my present self.  If something scared me I decided just dive into it.

In your life there are basic things that I know terrify you and they are probably very simple things.  Something as simple as striking up a conversation with a total stranger or even taking on a project at work that you have no faith in yourself in the beginning.  Take a small risk and reap the rewards.  It doesn't matter if you know how to do something you will adapt each and everyday to mold yourself into someone who knows how to figure out how to do the scary things in life.

The day you start facing your little fears by preforming BOLD MOVES is the day you grow, it's almost like having a breakthrough in life.  You break free of the negative thinking that has been holding you back from becoming the better version of yourself.  Today I want you to preform a BOLD MOVE it's the most rewarding thing you will ever do for your future.

Stay motivated
Shane C

Figure yourself out

Have you ever met someone in life who just can't seem to succeed at what they have been doing for quite some time?  Maybe this person is you, is there something you just can't seem to get right, like a hobby, business or some aspect of your personal life?

It's happened to me and not because I didn't give it my all but because it wasn't the right "thing" for me.  I can remember trying to become an expert at computers, I wanted to learn how they worked and all the ins and outs. After trying to figure them out it didn't matter how hard I tried I kept losing interest and I wasn't progressing in the field I was perusing.  A year or two went by and I started to experiment with social media and blogging and it turned out I had a knack for it.  I was approached by a few people to do work for them and that was my stepping stone.
I have a creative mind and I hate tradition rules and this is one reason I wasn't very good at getting to learn computers.  The whole step by step process and needing to do the same thing really bored me.  The day I discovered I could use computers in an entirely different way I found my strength and dropped my weakness and have been working at it ever since.

I've discovered three different types of personalities we can be strong in look at the following and take inventory of yourself to find out which you may be the strongest at:
1. TALENT- (Creative, different, artistic)
2. LEADER- (Dominant, influential, authoritative)
3. ENTREPRENEUR (Risk taker, motivated, focused)

We all have aspects of each of these but there is one in which we shine.  We must embrace our strengths and work with it.

Ask yourself what is it I'm perusing in life? And is it matching with your strength?  If after careful consideration you decided it isn't you may need to look at what you are doing in a whole new light.  I'm not saying immediately drop your chosen path but it may help you to understand your struggle in which you have been suffering from for some time.
Just because you think you should be doing something does not always mean you should.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Secret to success

Last night I was reviewing on of my favorite seminars by Jim Rohn (The man who taught Anthony Robbins) and he explained the secret to success.  It isn't a difficult process, it doesn't even take meditation or affirmations.  It's very simple, it's doing the right things over and over again.

Success is all about taking the tiny steps every single day and continuing with them day in and day out.  Failure is also very easy to attain, it's neglecting the the right things day after after day, it's a simple formula.  The simple things in life often get neglected because they are so simple that we expect success to be a journey filled with complex routines.

I was recently at a company dinner and the president's wife stood to speak about the first store in the company and how her mother made it a success.  Her mother spoke to customers, took time to listen and even baked snacks for customers and it was a successful store!  That's it, no bells. no whistles, no fancy sales trainers or psychological re-wiring. 

I know if your reading a blog on success you must be intelligent, am I right?  If you answered yes (hoping you did) it's time to take responsibility for your own neglect and accept it.  Today is a new day and all you need to do is start with little steps to get you closer to success, starting with right now!

Stay motivated
Shane C

Never settle or else....

Last night I competed in my first public speaking contest and I placed in the top 3.  I will admit my competitive personality would have wanted #1 but I'm defiantly not bitter about it.  When it was all said and done my mind got to work and all I wanted to do was get better.  I could have decided to give up and say to myself that it wasn't worth it but it truly was worth the experience.

Sometimes in life when we work very hard at something and we don't get exactly what we want, we tend to shut down and accept that this is the best we will ever do and we will never amount to anything more.  This is simply a lie we tell ourselves.  The day we accept defeat against ourselves is the day we take two steps back in life.  Grieving a loss is perfectly normal but challenging yourself to do better is helps your grow.

Ask yourself:
"What is it I really want?"
When you truly find the answer make sure no matter what the outside world puts in your way to always go after it with full force.  Know that becoming one of the best at what you do gives you the biggest sense of satisfaction because not only will you be helping yourself but you will inspire others to follow in your footsteps.

Stay motivated
Shane C

Best confidence builder

Brand new week means a brand new start!  Hope you're ready :-)

I wanted to let you in on the best confidence booster I've ever tried! I'm a huge follower of Brian Tracy and his principles, if you don't know who the man is he is by far one of the most successful personal development gurus of our time.  I heard about his technique and attempted it over the years yet never gave it a fair chance till about 3 weeks ago.

Your subconscious mind believes what ever you tell it whether real or not.  Without even realizing it, you repeat statements about non worth and negativity daily so it's no wonder you haven't been trying the simple things to get you ahead in life.  This brings me to the technique, it's simply repeating the words: I CAN DO IT and I LIKE MYSELF on a daily basis.  It doesn't matter how you feel about yourself today, if you repeat those words often to yourself everyday you will see an improvement in as little as a few days.

I had attempted this by repeating the words for 2 days then giving up, but 3 weeks ago I made a promise to myself to do it daily.  I do it when I wake up, when I go to sleep and when I'm bored during the day.  Over the last two weeks I've attempted some things I never would have had confidence to do before.  It's very personal stuff yet it's boosting my level of success at an incredible rate.

I ask you to start this immediately, simply repeat 10 times each statement, I LIKE MYSELF and I CAN DO IT and watch how things will change for you very rapidly.

Stay motivated
Shane C

How do you talk to yourself?

The way we speak about our success is vitally important to our well being and how quickly we achieve what we are going after.  We must talk to ourselves very confidently and know with certainty that we are going to achieve what we are going after.  I will let you in on the three common mistakes we make when talking to ourselves that get us looking at our success in a negative light.  This goes for anything from career right up to relationships.

Talking about the hard road ahead
We talk about the difficulties in using up our time and effort in order to get what we want. A great example is telling yourself a new relationship takes months to develop, the difficulties that lie ahead and even all the cornerstones you will need to develop along the way.
INSTEAD
Focus on how great the journey will be the skills and experiences you will develop.  Think of your time as an investment instead of a burden.

Talking about how things will change
We talk about how things can't remain the same.  I understand preparing for the difficult times, yet we often refuse to even make any progress for we think it will all be taken from us in a frightening way.  A good example is in business we always like to think of the successful fruitful times yet fear the bad times like running out of clients, economy and staffing.
INSTEAD
Know things never remain the same, yet why not look at the positive strides you will make along your journey.  And if you put in a great work ethic from the beginning you will always be a success.

Talking about what people will think
We talk about how our loved ones will be jealous of our success, how we will need to isolate ourselves because people will only talk negatively towards us.  We tend to do this when thinking about making more money.
INSTEAD
Think about the supportive people that will be in your life.  The people in your life who truly are behind you do support your every move in you achieving greatness.

Sometimes it can really help to write out your negative views on paper and review them a day or two later.  Read them aloud because hearing how ridiculous your negativity is towards your own self you may come to realize you are simply feeling sorry for yourself.  Follow up your negative statements with a more positive empowering statement.  Right now at this moment ask yourself what have you been talking yourself out of doing?  And use my 3 examples to steer yourself into the right direction.

Stay motivated
Shane C

One step at a time

I love the drive back to my hometown late at night while the world is sleeping. It's about a nine hour drive from where I live here in Windsor Ontario.  I follow a long highway all night long and there isn't much to see,  all I have is music and the headlights.  There is one thing that gets me through that long drive other than coffee and that's the mile markers every few miles. For each marker I pass, I anxiously await the next one and this goes on for the next few hours. Doing this makes the long drive more exciting knowing each goal is only from one marker to the next, because a 9 hour drive can seem a little daunting.

When we think about our goals in life they can seem a little far away and impossible to reach.  We must break down our goals into tiny goals, just like the markers on the highway.  Each time you achieve something on the way to your larger goal you can celebrate knowing you have achieved a small victory on your way to your big goal. Goals are a collection of tiny efforts made over a period of time.  It takes preparation and effort on your part to get what you want to achieve.

No matter how big your goal is, a business, a relationship, a new body, career, family trip, set your small milestones to achieve each day on your way to your large goal.  It's easier to celebrate each small step than always playing the waiting game in achieving your ultimate goal.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Reaching your vision faster

A few years ago I won a sales contest that seemed 100% unattainable.  I was fairly new to my industry and not familiar with my product, and in sales knowing your product and having confidence are the cornerstone of being the best.  However the prize (A trip to Jamaica) was all I needed to hear to get my creative juices flowing.
I wanted this vacation so badly I was willing to use every technique to win.  I employed the art of visualization everyday, seeing myself on the beaches, getting off the plane and enjoying the night life.  After 3 months I had not only won the contest but doubled the sales of what second place had achieved.  I 100% give credit to visualization.

Visualization is such an important tool if you ever want to reach your dreams.  Seeing yourself in the situation you want gets you there without you even knowing it.  Close your eyes or simply use your imagination and daydream of being right where you want to be.

THE KEY TO VISUALIZATION
Often times we daydream about what we want and don't seem to achieve what we want on our own timeline.  The key to speeding up this process is mixing emotion with the vision you want.  Excitement, happiness and joy truly accelerate the process of getting you what you want.
What if you can't feel that much emotion?  This is simply where time plays a factor, if you stick with the process long enough you get what you want by implanting the exact things in your mind you want and that way it's easier to spot them in your everyday life.  Mixing in intense emotion only speeds up the process.

Now ask yourself what is it I want more than anything in my life right now?  When you have the answers start your visualization program, you can do it in as little as 5 minutes first thing in the morning or as long as 2 hours a day in split sessions.  It's your imagination now use it to it's full potential because it's not only a fun tool but a very effective tool in achieving anything you want in life.

Stay motivated
Shane C

Obstacles are only one part

Yesterday afternoon I was speaking with someone who told me they want to go to school to begin a career that could potentially change their life.  I seen her face light up as she spoke about her dreams until she suddenly gave up because she had the excuse:

"But I don't have the money"
And just like that her dream was gone.  All to often we look at obstacles first and dreams last.  We are all guilty of this I often do it with time.  I often worry months in advance if something will interfere with a schedule I may have 3 months down the road.  The fact is when you truly want something your actions will get you there.

We miss out on our dreams by not even taking the first step towards something and that leaves us standing still in life.  As the years go by we often regret not going after what we wanted, because in the future it's much easier to see all the possibilities we have missed.  By looking only at our obstacles we forget about all the little things we could be doing to get us towards are dream like sharpening our skills, networking and simply just gaining as much knowledge as possible getting us towards what we want to do.

Whether your dreams are to improve your career, relationship, finances, etc.....Know there are obstacles but there are also possibilities and ways to get ahead that get you over obstacles.  It's a matter of trying, sometimes failing but getting better day by day on your way to success.

Stay motivated
Shane C

You are the best!

Ever have an amazing day where everything seemed to go your way?  You label yourself:

SUCCESS
ROCKSTAR
SUPERSTAR
AMAZING
AWESOME
THE BEST
These labels empower you to become better and you know as well as I do you love this feeling.  Then comes the day when you get knocked down and you are so quick to feel sorry for yourself and label yourself as: NOT WORTHY, LOSER, DEPRESSED, SAD, DEFEATED.

All the negative labels you give yourself are truly hurting your chances at success.  The label you give yourself will impact how you feel the rest of your day, week, month and year so always make sure to label yourself positively and not just on a temporary feeling.
The results you want in life must match the person you see yourself as, so if you see yourself in a negative way you are sure to only get negative results.
I want you to start writing out on a cue card a few positive labels that you can repeat to yourself daily.  The more you repeat to yourself what you want to be the more your mind will associate and begin to believe what you tell yourself.  This is exactly how you train your brain to see the world and yourself in a better way.

Stay motivated
Shane C

Fear is not so bad

I was in WAL-MART on the weekend and I seen something that really freaked me out.  It wasn't dangerous neither was it harmful it was simply a video camera.  Why was I afraid? Because I've mentioned several times that I want this blog to incorporate video of myself as a vlog.  The very thought of putting myself on camera scares me and it seems I can't bring myself to do it.
Then I started thinking over the last year, and I've faced so many of my fears including the gut wrenching almost passing out fear of finally starting my public speaking career.  It doesn't matter how afraid I've been to try something out I've always ended up extremely satisfied when I finally faced my fears.
There is one thing I truly hate about fear and that is the 100% regret looking back on how long it's held me back from succeeding at something I was to afraid to try.
HEALTHY FEAR

Not all fear is a bad thing, we need to have a little healthy fear to drive us to do something.  It scares us simply because of our belief that something will harm us (which is usually false).  Many performers still get stage fright even after getting up on stage for decades. 
I recently seen an interview with Ringo Starr of The Beatles who said minutes before jumping on stage his fear makes him what to go back to his hotel room and hide under the covers.  Then he simply pushes through and feels that if those few minutes of fear were not there that he could not have a good performance.
This fear keeps us on our toes and acts as a bully, trying to push us around with intimidation.  It's up to us to conquer it because nobody can do it but our own self.

I never did buy the camera, but I have it all planned for the second week of September to finally go get it.  I will face yet another fear because I'm reminded of everything I have missed out on by not starting months ago.  The pain of regret is something I choose to not live with much longer, I hope you will do the same.
GET OUT TODAY AND FACE A FEAR! 

Stay motivated
Shane C

Comfort zone

Have you ever wondered what a comfort zone is?

People are always talking about leaving your comfort zone to achieve greatness in life.  A comfort zone can be compared the same way the temperature in your home is regulated.  Lets' say for example you set your home to be at 70F and over the next few hours I lowered the heat by small increments making the room colder.  You would feel a slight discomfort and go and re-adjust the heat. Why?

Because you want a feeling of comfort, it's what you are use to.  You always try and get back to that safe feeling even when you are not in trouble.
The same would happen if I were to turn the heat up, you would turn the temperature down to the level you expect.
In life when we feel a little low we try anything to get back to our level of comfort.  Same for success, when we start feeling a sense of success we get scared and sabotage ourselves with destructive behaviours to bring ourselves back down to our expected feeling of comfort.  It seems at some point in our lives we've accepted our situation whatever it may be and we choose to no longer progress.

SO HOW DO I CHANGE IT?
You may have had an idea that you wanted more out of life (like on NEW YEARS EVE).  So you start doing things a little bit differently and before you know it you are back complaining about where you are in life.
The key to changing is small changes in body language, vocabulary and daily routine (There are more but get these down first)

BODY LANGUAGE- You need to face the day with your shoulders back and your chin up.  Walk with a purpose and become what a successful person looks like. When was the last time you seen success with slouched shoulders and  a head hanging low?

VOCABULARY- When speaking, talk about what you want to do, what you are doing and where you are heading.  Remove the words (HATE, CAN'T and TIRED)  you may need to carry an index card to remind you of power words such as (I CAN, YES, I LIKE) amongst many others.

DAILY ROUTINES- We make huge mistakes with this, we watch the news, we wake up late and we gossip.  I'm guilty of spending 2 hours watching YOUTUBE videos that have nothing to do with anything.  I needed to do a little self inventory to figure this out.  You may need to monitor you own behaviour and ask yourself what parts of your routine are holding you back.

If you want to benefit from a new comfort zone you must have a higher expectation of yourself and pick up these key habits of better BODY LANGUAGE, better VOCABULARY and last but not least you need a better DAILY ROUTINE.  By doing this over the next few weeks you come to expect a better version of yourself and achieve success much quicker.

Stay motivated
Shane C

4 ideas for motivations

This past week I was fortunate enough to attend a great conference allowing me to network with some amazing positive people.  It was 6 days of non- stop events that really got me excited.  Yet on the last day everyone left, I was alone and a little lonely.  As I was walking up to my room something clicked, I needed to get motivated again to peruse my passions.

I sat down at the desk in my hotel room with a paper and a pen and started writing, I wrote for about 45 minutes, then I read it.  It was something I  had written many times but this time it was different.  The paper was filled with one of my favorite motivation techniques.  I wrote out my life story in present tense, everything I wanted I had it on paper, everything I wanted to do it was right there on paper.

I use several things to motivate myself but for me writing out exactly what I want in the form of a story is my favorite.  Here are a few key motivators you may find extremely useful when you hit the wall and feel unsuccessful and unmotivated.

1.  WRITE OUT YOUR STORY- As stated above write out everything you want out of life, no rules do not use your past as an excuse for not writing something.  You have imagination, now use it!

2.  VISION BOARD- Vision boards have helped me attain things I never thought were possible.  Grab some magazines, newspapers or print some pictures off the Internet.  Cut out pictures and words and glue them on a piece of cardboard, remember to use images that stimulate positive ideas.  Post your vision board somewhere you see it often.  I used a different technique, I would sit at my kitchen table looking at the board for 10 minutes daily at the beginning of my day.

3.  SEEK OUT- Know exactly what you want then go find anything associated with it.  If your dream is to have the greatest physique, attend bodybuilding and fitness shows to get you pumped up.  Speak to people who are in the area of interest you are seeking out.  When you put yourself on the front lines of excitement it really gets you motivated to become what you see.

4.  CLEAR YOUR MIND- I like to clear my mind by going on a walk, and listening to music that makes me forget about anything negative.  I've used meditation, exercise or going to see a movies.  Clear your mind of those self limiting thoughts and you will be right back on your game.

There are several ways to get yourself highly motivated, we are all different and respond differently to different techniques.  Key is have fun and get happy and this will bring the highest motivation out of you.
If you need more ideas email me at djonbreak@yahoo.com

Stay motivated
Shane C

You have passion no one can take

Always go after what you love.

Do you have a career, a major goal or a hobby you are passionate about but people around you keep trying to drag you away from it?  It can often feel like you are doing the wrong thing when everyone close to you is telling you that you should stop doing what you love.
The sad fact is people will always try and fit you into their mold so it's more comfortable for them.  That is NOT how you should live your life you must create your own mold and constantly reshape into whatever you want. It doesn't matter how much you remove yourself from what you care about, because in the end you always return to what you love doing.

In the last 20 years I've developed a huge passion for being a DJ, I love to play music and perform for crowds it makes my heart pound.  But along the way I have had some really close people whom I trusted, try and drive me away from it.  I never listened to them, I knew what I've always loved doing and I've never fully stepped away from that passion.  On occasion I've found myself practicing for 8 hours straight not even realizing the time has flown by. 

I have allowed my critics to be my biggest motivators, when someone tries to bring my passion down, I get better then I seek out 5 people who appreciate what I do.  Do the same in your life, get hungry and get better at everything you love doing even if everyone thinks you will crash and burn.  It isn't their passion it's yours.

Take your career, goal or hobby and step it up, get better never stop doing what you love because whatever it is you dream to be the best at is always going to try and bubble to the surface.

Stay motivated
Shane C

That one thing sleeping inside of you

You have something deep inside of you just waiting to get out.

I was awoken this morning by my two dogs, they were sleeping then all of a sudden they started running around, whining and growling.  They wanted out for their morning walk and sure enough they needed to wake me up.  As I was walking them I thought we have something deep inside us just waiting to get out.  It's our dreams and once released...WATCH OUT!

It seems that for the last 2-3 months I have put my dreams and goals on hold, I put them to sleep you could say.  Then very recently I started talking to someone who's energy and passion woke up something inside of me, and it's freaking me out because everything I had been lazy about is now alert, telling me:
"Come on!  Let's do this!"
I love the feeling I'm more energetic to reach my goals and I'm just a little annoyed with myself for putting them on hold for so long.

Inside of you right at this moment is something sleeping, the dream of a business, relationship or an opportunity, whatever it is it could just take a small trigger to get it activated again.  For me it's a person, for you it could simply be watching something inspirational, reading a quote or even seeing a sign that keeps coming to you.
Just know you are not doomed you just need that one thing to get you going again.  Start reading, hang out with better people and fill your mind with positive messages as much as you can.

Just like my 2 dogs who wake me every morning, going crazy to get out for their walk, soon it will be your dream waking you up and getting you up on your feet and you will see how great of a feeling it is.

Shane C
Stay motivated

People say "You can't!"

What are your dreams and passions?

There are some things in life that make you feel like you're on top of the world.  The things that people have confirmed you are great at! All you need is time to develop that "Thang!" as speaker Victor Antonio says!

You also have people in your life that you care about, family or friends that try anything to derail you from your dreams and passions, they can make you feel like a bad person for putting yourself ahead of them.  They put a suggestion in your ear that maybe you should put things on hold because one area of your life is weak and you need to put in more effort and leave your dreams alone for awhile.

I have seen to many people in my life live out other peoples dreams and it makes me sick!  You are not a bad person for pursuing your intrests and building a better version of yourself!  Be great at what you love to do, and the day you second guess your love over what someone tells you is the day you should work twice as hard on what you love!  It's time to turn a hobby into a career!

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Advice, forget advice!

How often have you sat in front of the television, yelling because you feel you know exactly what the people on T.V. should be doing?  How often have you complained about how things should be done at work?
We complain about everything because we feel everything should be done our way and we always have a better way to succeed than anybody else.  Until the dreaded day comes that we fall on our ass and become victim to a life circumstance. When something throws us off, we run out and blame people, look for excuses and ask everyone for advice.

It's funny because right up till that moment in life you knew how everything should be done and how everybody should do things around you, until you fall victim then it's a whole other story.

You are an expert in the art of giving advice but you rarely sit down and listen to your own advice in a time of need.  I want to offer you a simple solution on how to listen to your own advice so you don't run out and get someones bad advice because you are desperate.

1.  Trust yourself- You must trust yourself if you want to achieve greatness, take the step in doing what you feel is right even if you are scared.

2. Resist good advice- People close to you will offer you advice on relationships, work, money, etc.....Are they experts?  Probably not, do you know how many people in bad relationships I've witnessed giving out bad relationship advice? 
Nevermind what people are preaching.  Don't take advice simply because you are desperate for an answer.

3. What do you want?- You must know the result you want when you are in hysterics.  Write down the end result you are looking to achieve to solve your problem then you will be able to advice yourself on which direction to go.

Effective immediately, understand you no longer need to go look for advice, you know what to do and you are simply afraid and it's time to step up to the plate and hit a home run.  Advise yourself on the simple things in life there is no need to listen to your friend who is advising you on your next move in life.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Key to being happy

I know the key to happiness, when you actually do this your mind brightens up and you get totally refreshed!  You probably rarely do it because you feel it's so wrong and if you actually did this thing your whole world may come crashing down!  Ready to find out what it is?  Here it is.....

Do something for yourself

It's the simplest thing in the world yet we tend to put ourselves last in life or feel so undeserving we no longer do anything for ourselves.  Friends, family, pets and work all seem to deserve our attention and we are left wondering why nobody cares for us.  The answer is simply, we must care for ourselves and make ourselves happy first and formost.
The list goes on forever of things you can do for ourselves but the problem comes when we actually make a decision. Within minutes, the commitment we made to ourselves is followed up with excuses and bad scenarios of "what if's....", our excitement quickly turns to an endless story that sounds like a broken record as we tell people:

"One day, I'm going to......."

It's time for you to make that decision to do something for you, because somewhere along the way you forgot to think about yourself.  Nobody feels sorry for your weakness but you, you must understand you deserve to be happy because you have been trying to make people happy for long enough.
Once you read this I'm not asking you to pick up and leave your family for 9 months on a tour across Europe, I'm telling you to take a day or a weekend to do something for you, take a trip, get a tattoo, buy yourself something you have put off for months because you deserve happiness. It's time to think like a teenager with no worries and get out there and have a good time.  Will people in your life get mad because you are taking care of yourself, maybe but it's your life go and live it.

Go ahead, it will never feel like the right time so why not do it now :-)

Stay motivated
Shane C.

You are truly unique

I can remember in high school wanting to be exactly like the cool kids, pants sagging down to my knees, hat backwards and and a baseball jersey.  That to me was cool. 
Then there were the other kids who decided to be totally off the wall and didn't follow any style but their own, they were considered to be unique and misunderstood.
As we grow up, we often try and keep up with the neighbors to stay one step ahead and always look like we are doing better than our friends, this is how adults feel they are unique. 
Unique is something we are as individuals and cannot be distinguished from things we buy.
I want to show you how unique you are with 3 simple aspects we all have that make us into the individuals we are today without having to buy anything to show off.

#1- LIFE EXPERIENCES
We all have life experiences, and no one can take these from us.  People we've met, places we've been and different adventures we've been on.  Positive or negative we all take away small life lesson that we are able to teach the world, we just need to grab people's attention.

Whether it's a weight loss struggle you've had, a business lesson you have gone through or even something as simple as a great recipe you've invented.  Share your stories, the world is waiting.

#2- GOALS AND DREAMS
We all have personal goals and dreams, life teaches us what our passion are and through our passions we develop our goals and dreams.

As some of you may know one of my goals is to become a professional speaker but this wasn't always the case.  I developed this goal through a life experience, I seen a great motivational speaker, I took that experience and immediately knew I had I burning desire to stand on stage and speak to people.

Before that goal I had another, I was a DJ.  I would entertain crowds at weddings, large events and bars.  This goal was developed at the age of 14 while watching a DJ at a party who couldn't get anyone on the dance floor, I made myself a promise as I left that I would become the best DJ around and I would fill dance floors every night.  That dream gave me a 15 year career to which I still have intense passion for.

#3- US
The past teaches us how to use our mind, body and personality.  We make our decisions based upon what we think will be the best solution to our problems.  The future, holds our goals and dreams and we move at different speeds towards our goals them depending on how badly we want them.
We take what we have learned and where we want to go and through this we develop our outer selves.  Our personality traits, our movements and even our relationships all come down to what we have learned and where we are going.

Now as you can see no two people can be exactly the same, we have all learned different things in life and we are all headed in different directions.  We are so unique there is no need to prove it we just need to tell our stories to the world..

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Live your passion not someone else's

So you wake up one morning, step on the scale and you tell yourself you are to heavy, you immediately decide you are going to get into the shape you were years ago and you give yourself a till the end of next week to be that person you once were.  Does this scenario sound familiar?
Unfortunately many of us make goals based on negative emotion and then give ourselves unrealistic timelines to achieve these goals.  Our ambitions are lacking passion and meaning to our lives and our objectives tend to be based on what other people want.  We worry that if we don't reach the goals we set, people will not respect us for the end result in which we have become.

I know someone who at one time was one of the greatest leaders I knew, they had a competitive attitude a rock hard body and was truly an inspiration to the people in which they came in contact with.  With all the hard work that they put in, a well deserved break from the discipline was taken.  A life of willpower was now replaced with months of good times which introduced them to negative people that now fill this individuals relationships. A new focus is turned to solving other peoples problems and they neglected their own life and dreams.
If you fast forward to today, this person no longer has a clue in which direction to go. Life is bombarded with other peoples problems.  Every new person that enters their life presents them with a new opportunity and they believe what is presented is the answer to their sadness if only they follow someone elses dreams they will become a great success in life.  This person's passion is lost behind everything else that their chose life has presented them.

Some days we lose our direction and forget what is most important to us.  We believe living other peoples dreams is the solution to our own happiness.  Remember you have important goals to live up to, things you are passionate about, the things that can make you pop out of bed and get excited to start your day.  Sure you can help others achieve a dream by giving a nudge bit don't forget your own greatness along the way.  You have something no one can take from you, a set of dreams and goals that burns in your belly.  The journey is long and hard and you will want to give up but please don't forget who you are, I've seen the consequences and it truly is a sad thing to see someone struggle to be themselves again.

Now what gets you excited?

Stay motivated
Shane C.

You are a fine piece of artwork

Look around your home are there any pieces of artwork, posters, painting, pictures or even sculptures?
It's been said to never buy artwork for someone because art is a very personal thing that no two people can admire the same.  I believe we are also like artwork, no two people will admire us in the same manner.

While staying in Vancouver this summer I decided to visit the art gallery, known noting about art I just wanted to look around.  I walked in and looked at the traditional art (the stuff most people like) and it did nothing for me.  I took the escalator up a couple of floors and I was in awe!  I came across the weirdest stuff, very psychedelic type art, like Salvidor Dali.  If you don't know who he is, he was an artist who's art was made out of the disturbing things you may see in your dreams, check he's stuff out on Google. 
I loved his art, it was forbidden and controversial, and that got me excited.
Not everyone walking through the gallery was appreciating his art, I heard comments about drugs and how strange it was as people walked away, which I'm sure Salvidor heard all through his career as an artist.  If he had taken the time to change his art and his strange ways to have people love him, I would have never looked at his art and I would not have written a blog about it.

You like artwork, have been put here to be admired by a select group of people.  Not everyone will understand you, not everyone will want to take the time to talk to you but some people will celebrate your strengths and weaknesses.  You have been created to change peoples opinions, to mentor, to teach and to guide a few people to become great.  If you change due to someones opinion of you, the people who are meant to meet you and learn from you will miss out.
You may feel like an outsider or different but that is what make you so unique, like a Salvidor Dali painting never change because you never know when you will meet that one person who is willing to talk about you like a fine piece of art.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Kick fear in the face!

Have you ever cleaned your home and then sat down and said to yourself: "Now what?".

In life, when you get something accomplished that you have been putting off and procrastinating about a strange sense of a peace comes over you. It can be something as small finally sitting down to watch a movie you've been meaning to watch.  Once it's over you can say to yourself, I've done it and it really wasn't that bad.

Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go to sleep I had one of those moments, the kind of moment when I said to myself: "Now what?".

I've been going to Toastmasters (public speaking) for about 5 months, trying to face a fear of speaking, I don't have a fear of speaking to people it's more a fear of not knowing a subject and looking like a fool in front of a crowd, so I have been getting up for an exercise called "Table topics" where you only have 1 minute to prepare for a subject that you will be talking about. I still haven't mastered this but I will, then yesterday came something new....

THE SPEECH

It was now time to perform my prepared speech, a piece of work I worked on for 2 weeks and practiced over and over again.  When I woke up I was ready, I had cue cards (which I never needed), a prop and a confident attitude, I hadn't had any fears then I arrived at the meeting.  As the meeting started and we got up to read the mission statement it happened to me, a fear like nothing I've ever felt.  The fear was so intense I told myself "I must leave right now!", the room literally started to change colors, I lost feeling in my hands and thought I was going to faint....that would be embarrassing!
As people gave their speeches, I wished I could have listened but I couldn't hear, I literally thought I was about to die.  Then it was time to hit the stage, I went for it and physically I had no control.  While speaking my voice shook like I was about to cry and my arms trembled but I got through the talk and from the feedback I received I must have done well.
All this was so strange to me, I've spoken to people before in trainings and it's never been an issue. I think it had to do with what label I gave the speech, this was public speaking and I need to be scared of it.

The point is, I did it and I killed a fear that I've never felt before. I now wonder to myself if this fear is conquered what else can I conquer?
I want you to look at your fears and excuses and ask yourself, when I finally face my fear what will be left to do?  When you grab something you are afraid of and throw it down like a football and yell "TOUCHDOWN!" you will have conquered it.
Face a fear, as uncomfortable as it may be and you can say to yourself: "Now what?".  Life will seem that mush easier.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

The big mistake in making change

What changes would you like to make in your life?

Would you like to go back to the gym, become vegetarian or even something like wake up 2 hours earlier so you can accomplish more?  For growth, we all need to make changes but change is very intimidating, unless you know how to do it.

I'm sure you have meet someone in your life that has decided they needed to get back to the gym so they could get back in shape.  They go out buy new clothes for the gym, fill their fridge with the cleanest foods in the world, hire a trainer and spend 2 hours at the gym for about 7 weeks and then it happens......
An injury or a stack of excuses start getting in the way of quick progress. Now why does this happen? 
You see people try and change to fast by making drastic changes but unfortunately your mind, nervous system and body are not always ready to make a 100% change for the better.

How do we change?
One of my favorite books is THE COMPOUND EFFECT by Darren Hardy, the concept is that slow and steady changes turns us into champions.  We always want change, but we go about it the wrong way every single time.  Here are some quick tips so you can begin to make changes in your life.

You want to get in shape- Start of by walking or doing a  20 minute light workout at home, do this for minimum 1 month.  If that motivates you enough, go get a membership at the gym.  People often fail to realize changing your body doesn't require you to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser.

You want more responsibility at work- Take on one task, complete it then ask for another.  Watch to not get overwhelmed by to much, it's about quality not quantity.

You want to change your eating habits- Slowly do it over a few weeks.  Number one mistake people make is being to strict, staying away from everything they use to eat, start by changing 1 or 2 meals per day and allow yourself foods you enjoy while you gently make the change, doing so keeps your sanity and when you are ready, make a complete change over.

I often shake my head at people when they tell me how they want to make a change, they have their whole lives planned out overnight and it is filled with drastic changes. The bar is set way to high for them, the second they fail to meet their high expectations they beat themselves up for not being as strict as their schedules are.  This is a sure sign of giving up, learn to make changes slowly and congratulate yourself on your successes when you reach your small goals and eventually without realizing it your whole life will have changed using small and easy steps towards becoming great.


Stay motivated
Shane C.

Look what I can do!! (Rant)

I'm sure most people have a problem with those who try and show off, people who do things with a "Look what I can do" motive behind it.  These people are found in the workplace, in social situations and in your home sometimes.  The problem is, we don't have time to validate peoples accomplishments every second of the day, at least I don't.

I can validate your accomplishments in life if what you do is great but forget about a pat on the back if what you do is simply "good".  What annoys me are people that search for that pat on the back because they feel a little inferior.  In life people need to understand, children get validated, adults get paid!  When you do things you should be doing anyway it's not a reason for celebration from the outside world.
Myself, extremely competitive like to show off my wins, although it may come off arrogant the reason I do so is to find those few people whom it can inspire to get better.  I want people to get better and better as they go through life, instead of going stale and always complaining the world isn't fair.  These people are hard to find, and I hope you become a self validating person who can celebrate their own wins without looking to others for a "Way to be you!" cheer.

What I believe in, is self validation, I'm proud of what I do and try and learn from my mistakes.  I always try and get better results so I can feel better about myself, yet I don't look to people to tell me "Wow!  Good job!" Sure it's nice to hear it, but once you mature you can realize people around you are not there to give you a high five every time you do the obvious. 

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Do yu truly hate it? Maybe you don't!

It often seems in our lives that we get angry at the things we love. You often don't realize how much you love something until it is taken away from you.  Once taken from you, life become a scramble to try and get it back, you talk to yourself daily coming up with solutions on how to get what is now gone.

Then, there are times when something just doesn't seem right, you don't get angry you simply know something isn't right in your life. 

Some of you may know I was married, I'm now separated and it took me awhile to get over the whole not being married anymore.  This was my "hating the thing I loved", what I mean by this is I loved being married to my best friend but some days I had negative feelings about some part of being married.  It wasn't anything big, just negativity for a couple of hours, yet I knew I loved my marriage and my wife.  Then when the marriage was taken away, I got scared and didn't know how I would live life anymore, nothing life threatening but when something you love is gone you freak out a bit...lol. 
It felt like any anger or negativity I ever had, I simply wanted to take back as if I never had felt it before.  What I loved was gone and it hurt.

Now let's take a part of my life where I knew something was wrong, my career.  I come from a very small town where my choices for work were to become a laborer or something in construction, I didn't have many choices at my disposal.  I did this for a few years and I knew deep down inside this wasn't me.  I can remember doing work at peoples homes saying to myself: "One day I will be hiring people to come do these jobs".  I knew something was wrong and I wanted out, I could never quite understand why I was coming to work everyday.
Then came the day I discovered sales, I loved it instantly.  I work in management, I sell, I write and I speak and I know how much I love these things in my life.  Somedays do I get incredibly angry, frustrated and want to throw things.....YES!  This tells me one thing, that I love it I don't think I would trade it for the world.  It would hurt if it was taken away from me but it didn't hurt one bit when the construction thing was taken, that didn't hurt a bit.

I'm trying to calm you down by letting you know it's alright to get frustrated at the things in your life, if you are totally at peace with what you are doing when you are focused in it then you know there is a great chance you love it, you may have just forgotten how much you felt about it.
It comes time for change when your doing something and suddenly you look at your life thinking: "This isn't me", something just won't seem right almost like your living someone elses life. 
Look over your life and really ask yourself what are you truly comfortable with and what seems out of place in your life.  The things you are truly comfortable with are probably what you are most attached to emotionally and would simply go crazy if they were taken from you.
Work harder on the things you love

Stay motivated
Shane C.  

Be you and be proud!

Extra!  Extra! Read all about it, we're all human and there is no need to be ashamed anymore.

I say this because we all have flaws and habits that can be quite boring or even unacceptable to some, the reason for this is because we are all human.  Some choose to hide the day-to-day routines they have chosen by coming up with elaborate stories of the lives they are not actually living instead of being honest and letting people know they aren't always living life on the edge.

Take me for example, I work in the health food industry and people often see me outside of work enjoying a hamburger and a fry, some people are shocked by this.  I like fast food, it's a part of my life I would like more balance in and when I'm ready to cut it out I have all the tools to take those steps to better myself.

Also, if you haven't noticed I love to motivate, I pride myself on personal development and helping people develop their own skills, but if you ask me what I did on the weekend it's not very exciting, you can usually find me asleep by 10pm on the couch with drool on my face and and movie playing on TV.
Could I be doing more constructive things?  Yes I could, but I'm not always looking for a stage to stand on to speak, and I'm not always enjoying a steamed chicken breast with a side of asparagus, I'm not afraid to admit this because most of you reading this are just as boring as I am.  Admit it!

Next time you are talking with people and the subject of health or daily routine comes up, either be honest or keep your mouth shut. There is no reason to tell people that you do things everyday that you only do once every 2 months, this is not being honest to yourself or people you are talking to.  If you workout once or twice per week, why tell people you train 5-6 days a week?  Be honest, telling the truth will allow you to break out of your own shell, lying keeps you shielded and protected against yourself.
It's much more therapeutic and motivating to talk about what you want to do or who you want to become, this gets conversations going and you do not need to hide behind a story you have made up about your life.  You will find that when speaking to others, letting them in on your quirks and flaws make you a more relateable person.  By becoming more relateable to others you become more genuine, and isn't that what you were trying to do by making up tall tales about your life?

Stay motivated
Shane C 

How to make a complaint

How to effectively make a complaint.

Have you ever gotten upset and tried to change things in an organization, service or a business?  Sure we all have and it usually involves doing one of two things:

1.  We mumble to ourselves all kinds of obscene words and violent acts about the complaint.
2.  We flip out and think we get our way by being rude and mean towards someone.

Yesterday I dealt with a number 2-

I dealt with someone who was very irrate with service they have been receiving over the years, every month this person always has some sort of complaint about something.  They are always rude and trying to walk all over myself and people with whom they deal with.  I must admit when I am pushed, I don't smile and try and please you.  I answer you with logical answers and I try my best to get you to understand what I can do to the best of my abilities.
So when faced with more complaints yesterday, I layed out an easy solution for this person to follow, nothing difficult, simply a solution.  Well this person did not like my answer and proceeded to flip out on me attacking my personality, cursing at me and attacking me personally (customer service industry usual). 

I understand I cannot please everyone in this world and not everyone will like me.  I can accept this, but it brings me to why I'm writing this today.  I want people to understand how to effectively make a complaint.

1. Be nice
If you want something changed, you must learn to persuade by being nice and not rude.  You want people to accept your way of thinking and not make them angry.  The second you upset someone, they always resort to there own defense mechanism and never want to hear you out.

2. Complain to the right people
This is where this person always goes wrong.  They complain about something I have no control over, yes I can be a listener but when I cannot change it so why yell at me?
It's almost like yelling at the delivery person because you ordered no onions on your pizza yet the cook added onions. The delivery person can only do so much but they did not put onions on your pizza.

3. Just walk away
If nothing is happening complaint after complaint, that means the way you are complaining is not working.  Just walk away, I'm sorry to say but you are probably in the wrong (I know you don't want to hear that).  If you complain over and over and you never get results you simply become the person that people in the organization, business or service are complaining about.  You become a larger problem than the actual complaint.

Coming for a customer service industry I want you to understand, a complaint can help you but it can also hurt your credibility.  Everybody can appreciate feedback, but not many can understand criticism. 
The day you become angry, irrate or violent toward someone is the day you lose the battle.  You lose respect in the eyes of the person you attack.  Learn to be nice to people, that is the best method to get your way.  When you deal with a human being, understand you are also a human being and people like to be treated the same way you do.  Sure you may get bad service or not get your way...but it's life.  You cannot always get your way.  I know there books and courses that claim life should be grand but it isn't always that way.  This is how we learn, by not always getting what we want. 
Do you deserve the best in life, the answer is yes!  But you must earn it.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Can't have one without the other

Do you kick yourself in the butt, every time you make a decision to change something in your life because you always resort back to an old habit?

This is very common we decide to do something we want only to always fall back into old habits causing us frustration in believing we can never accomplish anything.  There is great news you do not have to get angry anymore because I want to explain what you must do to help you accomplish your dreams.

Many years ago when I was training to be a bodybuilder I would always start off new routines strong, training 4-5 days per weeks and eating a clean healthy diet, yet it seemed that a few weeks in I always fell off my diet routine.  Healthy almonds were now replaced with chips, and tuna sandwiches were replaced with burgers.  This happened all the time, I even had a journal, I wrote in blue for healthy foods I ate and had a red pen for when I ate unhealthy.  If you go through my old journals you always find lots of red the further you turn the pages.
Then I figured out what my trigger was, it's my weakness- CHIPS!  I love them.  If I ate chips I fell back into a comfort zone and forgot my eating habits I needed to follow. 
I made a decision, and it worked.  Instead of deciding to eating healthy 7 days a weeks and avoiding junk food I made a decision and that was to stop eating chips.  This worked very well for me, as long as I stayed away from those tasty chips I was fine but I had to decide to stay away from them.

We all have things we want to do and we make decisions to do them yet we don't make the decision to stop doing other things.  For every healthy habit you want to begin you must stop doing an old habit.  Replace a bad thing with a good thing.

If you want to quit smoking, you must begin by finding an activity to replace smoking with.  Let's say reading for example, in the evening when you are bored instead of smoking you choose to read, this will shift your focus on something entirely different.

Eliminating triggers
Triggers are things in your life that remind you to do actions.  So let's say for example you want to quit smoking and you find out your trigger is drinking.  Every time you drink you smoke, so decide for a little while to cut out the drinks.  Now even deeper, if the reason you drink is because your buddy Paul makes you want to have a drink, I think you know who you should spend less time with :-)

Replace bad habits with good habits, this shifts your focus to something else.  The sure way to win in life is by making positive strides to become greater.  Decide what can you start doing to enrich your life and what must you eliminate for your daily routine that stands in the way of you reaching your goal?

Stay motivated
Shane C

Who to run from

As I turned on the television this past weekend I heard the death of a celebrity who was once at the top of her game and as the years went by we watched her life crumble.  Some people blame her, some drugs yet a good majority of us know it has a lot to do with a person or people that influenced her.

This story is not all that uncommon, athletes and celebrities or even people you know personally have the world going for them and they meet someone that lead them down a path that destroys them emotionally and physically.  Whether it's from substance or influencing their simple daily actions, one person can destroy you so quickly through manipulation or the promise of an easy ride.  Let me put it another way, when someone offers you immediate gratification in life- YOU MUST RUN!  Believe me there was a time I was there!

There is a great positive to this blog though, I simply want you to know the warnings in life.  There are people who are less attractive you must gravitate towards.  What I mean by less attractive is not a physical thing it's more of what they offer you in life.  These people offer you a challenge, the kind of challenge that builds you to become greater and stronger.  They encourage you, they teach you and best of all you want to become just like them. One day you will call these people your mentor, coach, the person that showed you, best friend and even your biggest influence.
These people are hidden just outside your comfort zone.  You know to become someone of their intelligence and success and stature you will need to work on yourself daily by making positive strides towards your own success. You never regret meeting these great people once you are influenced, and these people see potential in you and break out of your shell.  

Unfortunately there are people you must watch for, they use you for their own needs, you never gain anything other than a lousy feeling time and time again from associating with these scums of the earth.  Any dream you have is shot down and any negative is pointed out, and this brings you down to the lowest of lows.
I'm watching someone in my life crumble, high class and potential is being replaced with shattered dreams and heartache.  It can be heard to watch because people cannot be helped until they help themselves.  They must want it, but once the want is there they can often forget how to come back on that road that leads to success after being influenced negatively for so long. 

Here is my warning, if people in life slowly start to lead you down to a lower class than you are use to by constantly bringing negative feelings inside you and your daily acts are filled with tasks that prevent you from your own success, as hard as it is you must start to move away from them.

Now, if you run into someone that presents you with personal work towards your own success and does not sugar coat the road towards that success, then use their advice and start climbing the ladder to success.  They know what they are doing.

Life is hard there are no shortcuts, sometimes you must be selfish because you have yourself to worry about but as long as you find balance the key to success is right there.  So stay away from people who offer you "easy" and move towards people who may offer you that unattractive long difficult ladder towards success.

Stay motivated
Shane C.

Make someone smile

Just for today I want you to try something and who knows it may start you on a more positive path.

You must have someone in your life that is totally negative but you still love them with all your heart, think of a person close to you.  Make the decision today to catch this person off guard with an act of kindness to show them you care.  Sure, they may make a negative comment about what you do but it's not about that.  It's about bringing a smile to their face when no one is looking.

I'm sure there is someone in your life that has forgotten how to smile or even why to smile.  Be the person that gets that smile on their face.  After all it is Valentine's day :-)

Stay motivated
Shane C