This short TEDx video 17 mins – will give you some insight into why people (YOU) behave certain ways regarding certain things— even things that are very important to you. Do you wish you ate less of that? Do you wish you worked out more last week? Didn’t you plan to run this morning?

This elaborates on the basic idea that PAIN and PLEASURE are the guiding principle forces behind our decisions and actions. Entertaining and enlightening delivery. Enjoy!

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It’s great to hear that you have your “dream” list of goals and material “toys”. It’s pretty exciting to think about the big house you will own and the 4 high performance or luxury cars, maybe even that ridiculous 135 ft yacht, etc. And, there is no reason you shouldn’t have that list. But, there is a different list…

Do me (and you) a FAVOR right now. Consider for a moment, what you would do if you found out you had only ONE day to live. Do you have any idea how you’d spend it? And, here’s the kicker, with WHO would you spend those last precious hours and minutes?

You see, as unfortunate a scenario as that might be, it takes the often muddied waters of our priorities and values and bring them to the fore with pristine clarity. The fact is, your dream mansion would be worthless, your luxury cars or yacht would all have no redeeming value as you said your final goodbyes.

My guess is this; upon finding out you had only A SINGLE DAY TO LIVE, you’d be immediately reaching out to the one’s you love the most. You’d be sharing your deepest feelings of gratitude for their love and friendship and support over the years.

In short you’d dive into LOVE and GRATITUDE. Love for all those who’ve supported you throughout the years and gratitude for the opportunities and relationships that enriched your life.

One day to live would mean
No BullSh*t….  No wasted time
No fake gestures… little to no concern about what other people think

One day to live would mean:
Focusing on the people you love. Sharing your most meaningful thoughts and ideas.
You’d probably identify some regrets and missed opportunities for time squandered—for losing focus on what was truly important in your life. You’d probably even do some last minute mending of fences and going out of your way to reconcile— to leave this world in peace.

The Reward?
If you have truly processed this mental exercise for all that it’s worth you will have a great idea of WHO and WHAT is most important to you and WHY. 

Create that list now. Who are the people? What are they experiences and why are they meaningful. Have there been opportunities lost? What are they, can you re-write the outcome. It all begins with clarity.

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Consider this my gift (re-gifted if you will, from the late, great Zig Ziglar).

ENJOY!

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“I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals” (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.” ~Mark Twain

Perhaps one of the very best way I know to simultaneous test and develop your CHARACTER is to adopt a puppy.

I’ve now had two dogs and I can attest to the powerful impact dog ownership has had on the development of my character. My first dog, Hercules was a mini-Lab I adopted when I was 22. He was about eight weeks old at the time. That was perhaps the scariest and greatest commitment of my life to that point. He passed away 15 years later and thanks to him so many great fortunes crossed my path – starting with my wife.

When I adopted ‘Herc’ I was still in college, no job, no real responsibility. When he died, I was married with two daughters and a founding partner of two companies. We went through a lot together. I do miss the “little man” dearly and I can never repay him for all those qualities which he bestowed upon me. Most of which I never realized until he was gone.

However, this isn’t about Herc, this is about Roxy.

Just over a year ago, and at the urging of the wifey (aka the boss) and, for the benefit of our young daughters we decided to adopt a puppy from a local shelter. What an experience that has been! Our good fortune found us a dog (sheep herder) who came to us exceedingly anxious, hyper and extremely frightened (likely from being torn from her mother at a very young age). While her personality has matured a great deal – the process has been a very slow and trying one, testing our resolve on a daily basis.

So, just the other day when Roxy was stealing some food off my daughter’s plate, I found myself reflecting just how profound this experience has been. About how many great life lessons I’ve gained from making this questionable decision. And, about the life-long impact this will have on our family. Coincidentally, so many of these lessons in CHARACTER are straight from the list in “The 3 C’s of SUCCCESS” all certainly prerequisites for anyone to be successful in life.

Responsibility: Adopting or buying a puppy is a serious endeavor. The shelter makes sure you understand this isn’t just a cute toy but a significant responsibility. You are in it for the long-haul for better or worse.

Tolerance: How are you going to respond when you find your very best shoes are chewed up and the puppy has had another ‘accident’ on the carpet for seemingly the hundredth time.

Selflessness: Adoption is truly a selfless act for the sake of the puppy. This isn’t about you and it becomes your responsibility to keep her feed, healthy and protected.

Kindness: It’s impossible for me to understand those who aren’t kind to such warm-hearted animals. Kindness is her true nature – when she climbs over the girls and likes their face until they giggle uncontrollably. This kindness is returned ten-fold.

Love (unconditional): This is the only way the puppy knows how to live. After only a few days this dog won’t care about anything else on the planet other than you. Just leave her for ten minutes and return and it’s as if you’ve been gone for ten years! And, even if you have the worst day possible, the puppy won’t care. She’ll be right by your side offering unconditional love.

Resourcefulness: you will find a way to make it work, to spend time with her – to walk her and to feed her.

Patience: Trust me on this.

Communication: Both you and your puppy will learn to communicate and understand each other in an absolutely unique way.

Discipline: You both will receive a healthy amount of discipline. You’ll find that your schedule must account for her and she’ll find that she must learn to obey you.

Exercise: She’ll force the issue and you’ll be much better for it. You’ll feel better getting outside with her. She simply demands exercise.

Fun: She’s all about fun. Frisbee NOW! JUMP! JUMP! Bark! JUMP!

Rest: Dogs know how to play and they know how to rest. We are instructed to pay careful attention.

Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
~Mark Twain

Until next time.

~MWS

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As families converge from the far corners of the country to gather and celebrate on this Thanksgiving Day (today)—I figured it was an appropriate time to revisit the subject of HARMONY

Don’t be mistaken:
Harmony isn’t just a feel good state or a perfect sequence of music.

Harmony isn’t just peace and love—or the feeling of being in love.

Harmony is essential for your personal and professional success.

From an efficiency standpoint, is there anything more efficient than harmony? From an effectiveness standpoint, is there anything more effective than harmony?

As you march into the new year, I encourage you to assess your harmony “levels” in each area of you life — family/friends, spiritual, emotional, physical (your body), professional and environment (your surroundings).

where there is harmony, there is effectiveness.
where there is harmony, there is efficiency
where there is harmony, there is productivity
harmony is happiness, contentment and joy rolled into one
harmony is unity
harmony is balance
harmony is love

Begin today to conscientiously refine all areas for a more harmonious and therefore productive and influential life. Happy Thanksgiving my friends! ; )
~mws

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I get it… sort of.

Guess what my friend, BUSY is just another form of LAZY.

I just heard you say, “WHAT!?” “Did he just call me lazy?”

Listen, if you’re too busy then what you’re really saying is your just too LAZY to identify the most important things in your life. There is a great “Law” of efficiency that Brian Tracy talks about (he’s funny that way because so many things are “Laws” and he has what seems to be about 100 different laws). Having said that, the man is spot on.

The Law of Forced Efficiency states, “You never have enough time to do everything, but you ALWAYS have enough time to accomplish the most important things.”

I’m going to repeat that last part because it’s SO important, “you ALWAYS have enough time to accomplish the most important things.”

So you say, “They are ALL Important” well, if that is the case then you have another “challenge”. The first part is to understand the Effectiveness Quadrants as taught be Stephen Covey and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Check out this chart (below) and makes sure you understand it! The UPPER RIGHT, known as quadrant #2 is for: Preparation, Prevention, Values clarification, Planning, Relationship Building, True recreation, Empowerment.  Right there in Q2 is TRAINING, LEARNING, SHARPENING THE SAW (ie; this VIDEO!)

If you’re “too busy” you living in Q1. Crises mode! Find time/MAKE time for Q2 Today, you can being with this video! ; )

I absolutely love the above video, get out a pad of paper and a pen and start taking notes. Consider this your quadrant 2 exercise for the day. Don’t think about it, don’t put it off, MAKE the time now and sharpen the saw.

Here are just a few gems:

• Nothing changes until you change
• Set a better sail – don’t hope for a better wind
• Invest first – spend later
• Develop a different financial philosophy
• Attitude and money
• How to spend every dollar
• Importance of keeping a journal
• Two incredible personal development book
• Purpose (the real purpose) of goals

• Work harder on yourself than you do on your business (sounds a lot like what is said in the 3 C’s of Succcess) Recall, the Mitch W. Steel Classic, “You are working SMARTER when you are working HARDER on your CHARACTER.” (I have to give me some props) I was very pleased to hear Jim say that!

• YOU change and everything changes

MUCH more… (your job is to watch, write & learn!)

Enjoy!

~mws
BTW: Final thoughts here…( i think) I will review the website analytics for this post in particular in say a month. With that info I’ll be able to determine how many people (what %) actually watched the entire video. Do you care to venture a guess? My guess is it’ll be less than 5% (closer to 3% maybe even less). What’s fascinating about that of course is it’s the same 3% that believe in themselves, that set and achieve their goals. The same 3% who are striving to create their ideal future with persistence, faith and hard work. The other 97% well, they are looking for shortcuts or, sadly, they don’t believe they have what it takes. I hope I’m wrong and surprised by the numbers.

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“The lazy man does the hardest work.” ~Proverb

Why NOT give it a try?

If the goal of writing the book is to help people, why not give it away— at least for a short period of time (like TODAY for instance), right?

Last year, just before the holidays I received an incredible email. A woman wanted to purchase not just one copy of the paperback The 3 C’s of Success or 10 copies but between 30 – 50 copies” — she ended up buying 45 copies of The 3 C’s of Success” as GIFTS, and then gave them away to all her managers at her company.

You bet. While that was exciting and I was admittedly floored initially, I guess I always knew (believed) that there was tremendous VALUE in this little book.

The Challenge is always the same… More Eyeballs

So, while Zenhabits.com website gets a lot of visitors each month, you can bet AMAZON gets even more. So, I’ve decided to join their new KDP select program and give it a try and try the FREE Promo day.

LABOR DAY – a great day to SET YOURSELF FREE.

I believe that the harder AND smarter you work – the “easier” life gets. There is a great saying, “The lazy man does the hardest work.”

So, it’s approriate that the FREE PROMO DAY is LABOR Day! I believe that if you follow and work on the 3 C’s; Creativity, Character and Completion – and routinely focus on and develop habits of them you will indeed “set yourself FREE!”

Then, there is the PROBLEM with FREE.

Unfortunately, FREE tends to be associated with a very LOW “perceived value”. That is, typically, when we get something for free we tend not to value it. Which is interesting considering that THE MOST VALUABLE things we have in life are, of course, FREE.

The air is free.
Love is free.
Friendship is free.
Family is free.
Good health is free.

So, there you have it my friends, at least for today anyway, “The 3 C’s of Success” is FREE. And, if you’re an amazon prime member you can “borrow” it i guess for free too?

Either way, live the 3 C’s to be set free!

Happy Labor Day… Enjoy!

~mws

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“Your self-image is either your life-handicap or your auto-pilot for winning!” ~Dr. Dennis Waitley

I recently heard Brian Tracy, a living legend in the personal development space, give a talk to a group of entrepreneurs and out of his mouth came this statement, “All of your achievement ultimately, will be directly related to your self-confidence—directly related to how much you “LIKE YOURSELF”.

At first I’ll admit, I thought that was fairly obvious. However, (as I write in the The 3 C’s of Succcess) I’ve learned that a critical trait of all successful people is to remain OPEN and examine ALL new ideas and possibilities. For some strange reason I couldn’t shake this idea so I decided it was time to test is myself. Time for me to practice what I preach and write about, right?

The shocking truth is that the more I tested it, either verbally or  silently to myself, I realized some fairly powerful insights. Here they are and I encourage you to test this for yourself for ONLY ONE WEEK. What do you have to lose? You will learn a lot and it’s FREE! ; )

1) It’s an immediate TRUTH TEST.

Just try it by yourself looking into a mirror. Say it out loud (multiple times) and you will FEEL the results for yourself. Thankfully, all was good on this end. However, I can tell you (again, after further contemplation) I, unfortunately know many for whom this might not go so well. THE GOOD NEWS IS, this exercise is primarily designed for those people. In fact, if you might be one PLEASE read on to understand the exciting benefits and just how this seems to work so well.

2) Produces calm and relaxation.
Assuming the response feels even semi-comfortable the first few times. If it doesn’t, it will over time. The goal is a one week challenge here. So when you wake up and before you go to sleep you should say this no less than 10 times. Also, if during the day you feel any stress, say it ten times.

3) Increases strength and a sense of safety.
Strangely or NOT so strangely, you’ll immediately feel more confident and even at peace. Almost like, your subconscious is connecting the dots. That is, “what am I so concerned about here, ‘I like myself’ therefore, it stands to reason most others like me too and good things are on there way.” May sound a bit corny but all i can do is ask YOU to test it for ONE WEEK!

4) Enhances feelings of self-worth.
This realization leads to an immediate sense of self-value and self-worth, which of course feeds your

5) Self Confidence

And, here we are. You can see we circle right back to where we started; to the opening statement, your SELF-CONFIDENCE is directly related to your RESULTS.
Self Confidence = Results. Self-confidence = Results.

How are your results? How is your self-confidence?

So, why does it seem to work?
Why does it provide these benefits even if say, you may not like yourself too much. You see, the theory at play is that your mind can only hold one thought at any given time, and as you fixate and say this statement over and over, you’re literally programming your mind with these positive affirmations. However, each time this statement is verbalized (even internalized) your body’s emotional vibrations can’t help but pickup this statement/signal (you are nothing but energy) and your subconscious tunes right in. When repeated 20-30 or more times per day, you literally can’t help but feel better about yourself, your circumstance and your surroundings. In fact, the crazy thing is, as you “like yourself” more you make better decisions, foster better choices and guess what? That’s right, people quickly sense this self-confidence.

Give yourself the “I LIKE MYSELF” test for just ONE WEEK! Use this affirmation anytime you might feel insecure or angry or disappointed. Just test it. And, be sure to email me at mitchwsteel AT gmail.com the results since i’ve turned off comments.

RELATED:
This audio program by Brian Tracy is terrific. The Psychology of Achievement . I picked it up after hearing him speak and he discusses this topic at length (In far greater detail then the video above). Highly recommended. Powerful stuff about how to break through the psychological barriers preventing you from being all you can be. Check it out here at Nightingale-Conant (affiliate link):  The Psychology of Achievement

Enjoy!

UPDATE: (screen shot of email below follows)

This just in from a reader in the Netherlands: (love to see this)

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Leadership.

Most people hear the term LEADERSHIP and envision great leaders like American football coaching legend Vince Lombardi or Winston Churchill or Martin Luther King, etc. The only challenge with that viewpoint it is outwardly directed; as in — great leaders are OUT —>THERE ->
(not me)!

What did you envision when I started with the word, LEADERSHIP?

Did you envision yourself? Perhaps you envisioned what you wish your boss was like?

What I’ve learned over the last 30 years is that leadership is simple but not necessarily easy and that it is built upon daily actions, decisions, and habits. Leadership demands integrity and integrity is built one brick at a time, day in — day out.

Yes! Leadership is an everyday activity based upon personal integrity. Leadership starts with TRUST (see video above), and is a reflection of our personal responsibility. Every day, each of us have the opportunity to be in harmony with our values (integrated) and therefore we can strengthen our leadership or, we may unconsciously and in some cases, even consciously, choose to be out of integrity / disharmony with our values.

But make no mistake, we (not others) are casting the vote daily whether we are leaders. Each decision, day after day, all day long, is a vote either FOR our personal accountability, our ability to lead, or against it.

What about Vision?
Good question. In the video above you’ll note no mention of vision and I think that is interesting because without a passionate vision that is articulated and shared— you can not have a GREAT leader. However, I think for purposes of discussion, this is a great video because here Colin Powell suggests that if you’re a good enough leader people will follow you even if just out of curiosity.

Isn’t that funny? So as important as VISION is – INTEGRITY and TRUST come first and vision is actually secondary. In fact, to test that, simply ask yourself if Lincoln’s vision to free the slaves would have worked without having first built up his personal integrity.

A few take-away questions to ask yourself:

1) Are you a leader?
2) How did you cast your vote yesterday?
3) Can people trust your word?
4) Would people follow you if only out of curiosity?
5) In what capacity have you led recently?
6) Have you challenged yourself to lead in any capacity, be it a church group, volunteer organization, school fundraiser or even coaching a kid’s team.

While leadership is built upon trust and integrity it is also a skill and an art that requires refinement; great interpersonal skills, the ability to challenge others and be compassionate. A great leader like Colin Powell didn’t just wake up one day and say, “Time to be a great leader” — you can be assured he’s worked on this craft day in and day out, beginning of course, with his own personal integrity.

I’ll leave you with this gem from Lao Tzu to meditate upon:
“To lead the people, walk behind them.”

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“Whether you think you can or you can’t,  you are right.”

~Henry Ford

PROLOGUE
>>>>>>>>>Lately, I’ve been contacted repeatedly about a “starting point” as though there was some green circle to go stand on to start the game (of life). Well, unfortunately, while there is NOT a single one per se—  there is fundamentally above all, A MINDSET of BELIEF, RESPONSIBILITY (ownership) and SELF-CONFIDENCE (can you win this game or not?) That is a question you should ASK NOW. In fact, stop everything you are doing and just ask that simple question… “CAN YOU WIN THIS GAME?” Yes, then of course you need to define what “winning” is and hopefully it’s a little better than Charlie Sheen’s. ; )

enjoy!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This quote, in my estimation, may be Ford’s best invention. Perhaps, even better than his invention of the automobile for mass production.

It explains succinctly, and yet very accurately, the vital role of BELIEF in the workings of your life. You simply can’t be successful in any endeavor if you don’t first start with the proper mindset – a belief in your ultimate success.

Yes, your mindset – how you view the world and your place within it -and your belief “system” (related paradigm) control your ability to reach your intended target. And, here’s the kicker–FROM THE VERY START!

Our core beliefs fall into two MASTER categories which are not unlike the core underlying “boot” records in computer terminology – which are called Master Boot Records.

(excerpt “SUCCCESS, The 3 C’s”, The Success eBook by Mitch W. Steel) If we follow that analogy and apply it to our belief systems – we have essentially two Master Belief Records (MBRs) that affect our lives and determine our ultimate destiny. These would be 1) Our Self-Belief Record “SBR” (essentially, self-esteem) and 2) Our External Belief-Record “EBR”. That is, how you regard everything you encounter external to your self.

The successful person recognizes the power of these two beliefs – she becomes aware of their importance and how to manipulate them to her advantage. She understands that how she views herself – her SBR, essentially sets her level of achievement and what she deems achievable in her life. Similarly, her EBR determines how she views her external world (friendly or oppressive) and this too begins to define her place in that world and what she is likely to experience in her external world.

Possessing the awareness to recognize that you are the only one who establishes and sets up your Master Belief Records which then ultimately define your life’s outcome- is an essential first step to setting up the “rules” that allow you to “WIN” or “Lose” the game of life. The great news is, should you come to recognize your Master Belief Records are not currently setup in a fashion that allows you to win – you have the ability to reset them anytime you’d like!

Consider that the world offers us countless examples of people who, as they must, self-actualize their Master Belief Records – their core belief systems. These two critical existential vantage points- how people view themselves and how they view the world – literally control and direct the manifestation of everything they are able to realize – including their success.

Here again, the simple reveals the profound. If I believe people are not going to help me become successful – what type of people might I expect to see in my life? If I think people are always looking to take advantage of me? What type of people might I expect to see in my life? If I’m concerned people only want my money and aren’t interested in being my friend – what type of people might I see in my life? In each case I’ve directed my ATTENTION and FOCUS in a way that makes “winning” the game near impossible.

Yes, your Master Belief Records affect everything!

If I were to setup my external MBR with its most fundamental “root” belief – “people are selfish”. This leads to the sub-binary belief then that people are not likely to help me when I need it most or perhaps when I’m looking for a job. As you can see – this establishes a “game” that is nearly un-winnable or at the very least – makes it extremely hard to win.

Our beliefs allow us to arrange the associated thoughts in a fashion that makes “winning” possible or impossible. It is your choice.

Above, you’ve seen a simple diagram to help illustrate this binary relationship. It is literally called the “GAME TREE” – and demonstrates how a software programmer has offered the binary consequences within the game-program. In other words, what a winning set of binary combinations (decisions/choices) might be. These binary beliefs either setup the player to win or lose. Or, in our case, to realize her ideal future or not.

Whether we know it or not, as we establish our Master Belief Records they then generate sub beliefs which all eventually lead us down a path that is either a successful outcome or one filled with disillusionment and frustration.

Sadly, so many people actually start this “game” of life- believing they don’t have a shot. Or, more accurately, through continued “failures” and disappointments- become disillusioned and then create self-defeating Master Belief Records. The successful people though are those who believe (and this is the kicker) that life is a “winnable” game from the outset!

So, is this life a winnable “game”?

You tell me.

——————-
PS: just noted from John Lennon’s Dream #9
“There’s magic in the air…
I Believe, I Believe…
more I can not say
so, what more can I say?”

original publish date: 9/1/2008

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