Building Self-Confidence Preparing Yourself for Success!

From the quietly confident doctor whose advice we rely on, to the charismatic confidence of an inspiring speaker, self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires.

Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: People who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful.

After all, most people are reluctant to back a project that's being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic.

On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who speaks clearly, who holds his or her head high, who answers questions assuredly, and who readily admits when he or she does not know something.

Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. And gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.

The good news is that self-confidence really can be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort!

How Confident do you Seem to Others?

Your level of self-confidence can show in many ways: your behavior, your body language, how you speak, what you say, and so on. Look at the following comparisons of common confident behavior with behavior associated with low self-confidence. Which thoughts or actions do you recognize in yourself and people around you?

Building Self-Confidence

So how do you build this sense of balanced self-confidence, founded on a firm appreciation of reality?

The bad news is that there’s no quick fix, or five-minute solution.

The good news is that building self-confidence is readily achievable, just as long as you have the focus and determination to carry things through. And what’s even better is that the things you’ll do to build self-confidence will also build success – after all, your confidence will come from real, solid achievement. No-one can take this away from you!

So here are our three steps to self-confidence, for which we’ll use the metaphor of a journey: preparing for your journey; setting out; and accelerating towards success.

Step 1: Preparing for Your Journey

The first step involves getting yourself ready for your journey to self-confidence. You need to take stock of where you are, think about where you want to go, get yourself in the right mindset for your journey, and commit yourself to starting it and staying with it.

In preparing for your journey, do these five things:

Look at What You've Already Achieved

Think about your life so far, and list the ten best things you've achieved in an "Achievement Log." Perhaps you came top in an important test or exam, played a key role in an important team, produced the best sales figures in a period, did something that made a key difference in someone else’s life, or delivered a project that meant a lot for your business.

Think About Your Strengths

Next, use a technique like SWOT Analysis to take a look at who and where you are. Looking at your Achievement Log, and reflecting on your recent life, think about what your friends would consider to be your strengths and weaknesses. From these, think about the opportunities and threats you face.

Make sure that you enjoy a few minutes reflecting on your strengths!

Think About What's Important to You, and Where you Want to Go

Next, think about the things that are really important to you, and what you want to achieve with your life.

Setting and achieving goals is a key part of this, and real self-confidence comes from this. Goal setting is the process you use to set yourself targets, and measure your successful hitting of those targets. 

nform your goal setting with your SWOT Analysis. Set goals that exploit your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, realize your opportunities, and control the threats you face.

And having set the major goals in your life, identify the first step in each. Make sure it’s a very small step, perhaps taking no more than an hour to complete!

Start Managing Your Mind

At this stage, you need to start managing your mind. Learn to pick up and defeat the negative self-talk which can destroy your confidence. 

And Then Commit Yourself to Success!

The final part of preparing for the journey is to make a clear and unequivocal promise to yourself that you are absolutely committed to your journey, and that you will do all in your power to achieve it.

If as you’re doing it, you find doubts starting to surface, write them down and challenge them calmly and rationally. If they dissolve under scrutiny, that’s great. However if they are based on genuine risks, make sure you set additional goals to manage these appropriately.

Habits of Effective Time Managers

HABIT 1: BE PROACTIVE IN YOUR EDUCATION
􀀍 Take initiative; don’t wait for others to act first
􀀍 Be responsible for what you do and don’t do
􀀍 Take control over your semester, rather than it taking control of you!
HABIT 2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
􀀍 Think things through
􀀍 Plan your work
􀀍 Set realistic goals
o List the steps and time frame needed to achieve your goals
HABIT 3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST
􀀍 Make sure to distinguish the goals that are truly important (e.g. completion of a research project)
from those that may seem urgent but are really not important (e.g. arranging the weekend's
softball game for your buddies).
􀀍 Do not spend a large amount of time doing busywork--work that appears productive but only
keeps you occupied.
HABIT 4: LOOK AHEAD
􀀍 Essential to being proactive, as opposed to reactive, is to project ahead
􀀍 One way to effectively do this is to keep a calendar for each month of the semester
o From the syllabi for your courses and the General Information Catalogue, note the important
dates such as test dates, due dates of important assignments, times of mid-term and final
exams, holidays, registration periods, drop dates, and financial aid deadlines.
o In filling out your calendars, note the times of the semester that will be difficult for you and
begin to develop a plan to address the difficulties you anticipate.
Student Advising and Learning Center
􀀍 Because there are numerous activities you will have to balance in a given week, keeping a weekly
schedule in which you determine the week's work is highly advised.
o First block in fixed activities, such as classes, labs, meetings, meals, chores, and sleep. Use this
as a master schedule template that you will use to make each week's schedule.
o Then, before each week, make a list of study and other tasks that need to be completed;
using this list, add study and recreation times to your schedule. Be specific and realistic.
o An effective tool for those students who occasionally have more to do than they can keep
track of in their minds is the daily “to do” list.
o If regularly composing daily "to do" lists is not your thing, consider using one when you find
yourself "in the weeds" for example, during mid-terms or the well-known end-of-semester
crunch. A well-crafted list can do wonders.
ONE LAST WORD...
􀀍 If you have never managed your time before, it will take a little bit of time to learn how and to do
it.
􀀍 Keep in mind, the more you do it the better and faster you will get.
􀀍 Stick with it for approximately 30 days so that you can evaluate its effectiveness. You may
discover that you need to make some slight modifications.
􀀍 You do not have to do everything outlined in this paper. Instead identify those suggestions
mentioned that will enhance your way of managing time.
􀀍 Remember, in many cases, you will have to modify our advice to fit your learning style and
circumstance.
􀀍 While you are scrutinizing your use of time, make sure to note any patterns to your wasting time.
Also note under what circumstances you use time effectively. No one knows you better than
yourself.
Things to Consider While Composing Your Schedule
1. Schedule fixed blocks of time first
􀀍 Start with class and work time, for instance.
􀀍 Then schedule essential daily activities like sleep and eating.
􀀍 Once you've schedule fixed blocks of time, then you can see what time you have left and
schedule around them.
􀀍 Also note that optimum efficiency is often reached by planning in blocks of 1hour- fifty minutes
to study and ten minutes for a break. Yes... take breaks when you study!
􀀍 Schedule time for fun, but make sure to schedule study hours before fun activities.
2. Discover how long to study for each course.
􀀍 Study approximately two hours for every hour in class. Start out by allowing two hours of
study for every hour in class. Adjust the hours accordingly.
􀀍 The time required varies from student to student and from subject to subject.
3. Use daylight hours effectively.
􀀍 Research shows that many students do not make effective use of daytime hours. These students
tend to save all of their work for the evening, when they are least likely to do it or when they are
most susceptible to procrastination.
4. Break large assignments into more workable tasks.
􀀍 When one of your assignments is large and overwhelming, divide it into small, more manageable
units. Then schedule your time appropriately.
5. Allow larger blocks of time for learning new material.
􀀍 Understanding new material often requires that you analyze difficult concepts, which requires a
lot of time.
6. Make use of small blocks of time, particularly for review.
􀀍 Busy students often need to take advantage of small blocks of time.
􀀍 Use short blocks of time to memorize lists of items.
􀀍 Spend a few minutes after each class reviewing and editing your lecture notes
7. Avoid scheduling marathon study sessions.
􀀍 Distributed study (distributing the work over a period of days) is far more effective than massed
study (cramming).
o The problem with cramming is that there is too little time to seek clarification about difficult
concepts and to prepare adequately for most test--all of which can increase anxiety and
lessen your ability to concentrate during a test.
o In a nine- or ten-hour study marathon, the percentage of time actually spent on task can be
depressingly small due to fatigue and burnout. Whereas three shorter sessions will likely yield
much more productive use of time.
8. Schedule study periods for difficult courses for times when you are most alert and can
concentrate best--that is, when you're "running on all cylinders."
9. Set clear starting and stopping times.
􀀍 If you note only the deadline, there's a good chance that you'll wait until the last minute to get
started.
10. Schedule time for exercise and plan for adequate amount of sleep.
􀀍 Regular exercise can alleviate stress and enhance concentration.
􀀍 Too little sleep contributes to fatigue, a lack of mental alertness, and irritability.
􀀍 The quality of your education often depends on sufficient sleep.
11. Allow flexibility into your schedule; don't schedule all of your time.
􀀍 Leave a little room for unexpected events. If you pack your weekly schedule with too many
details, the chances of your following such a schedule are very slim.
􀀍 Leave one of the weekend days free for errands, fun and relaxation. Not leaving time for errands
and relaxation can contribute to stress and lower productivity.

How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation

Staying motivated is a struggle — our drive is constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubt and depression. What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward.

There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.

Reasons We Lose Motivation

There are 3 primary reasons we lose motivation.

1. Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
2. Lack of focus – If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything?
3. Lack of direction – If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?

How to Boost Confidence

The first motivation killer is a lack of confidence. When this happens to me, it’s usually because I’m focusing entirely on what I want and neglecting what I already have. When you only think about what you want, your mind creates explanations for why you aren’t getting it. This creates negative thoughts. Past failures, bad breaks, and personal weaknesses dominate your mind. You become jealous of your competitors and start making excuses for why you can’t succeed. In this state, you tend to make a bad impression, assume the worst about others, and lose self confidence.

The way to get out of this thought pattern is to focus on gratitude. Set aside time to focus on everything positive in your life. Make a mental list of your strengths, past successes, and current advantages. We tend to take our strengths for granted and dwell on our failures. By making an effort to feel grateful, you’ll realize how competent and successful you already are. This will rejuvenate your confidence and get you motivated to build on your current success.

It might sound strange that repeating things you already know can improve your mindset, but it’s amazingly effective. The mind distorts reality to confirm what it wants to believe. The more negatively you think, the more examples your mind will discover to confirm that belief. When you truly believe that you deserve success, your mind will generate ways to achieve it. The best way to bring success to yourself is to genuinely desire to create value for the rest of the world.

Developing Tangible Focus

The second motivation killer is a lack of focus. How often do you focus on what you don’t want, rather than on a concrete goal? We normally think in terms of fear. I’m afraid of being poor. I’m afraid no one will respect me. I’m afraid of being alone. The problem with this type of thinking is that fear alone isn’t actionable. Instead of doing something about our fear, it feeds on itself and drains our motivation.

If you’re caught up in fear based thinking, the first step is focusing that energy on a well defined goal. By defining a goal, you automatically define a set of actions. If you have a fear of poverty, create a plan to increase your income. It could be going back to school, obtaining a higher paying job, or developing a profitable website. The key is moving from an intangible desire to concrete, measurable steps.

By focusing your mind on a positive goal instead of an ambiguous fear, you put your brain to work. It instantly begins devising a plan for success. Instead of worrying about the future you start to do something about it. This is the first step in motivating yourself to take action. When know what you want, you become motivated to take action.

Developing Direction

The final piece in the motivational puzzle is direction. If focus means having an ultimate goal, direction is having a day-to-day strategy to achieve it. A lack of direction kills motivation because without an obvious next action we succumb to procrastination. An example of this is a person who wants to have a popular blog, but who spends more time reading posts about blogging than actually writing articles.

The key to finding direction is identifying the activities that lead to success. For every goal, there are activities that pay off and those that don’t. Make a list of all your activities and arrange them based on results. Then make a make an action plan that focuses on the activities that lead to big returns. To continue the example from above, a blogger’s list would look something like this:

1. Write content
2. Research relevant topics
3. Network with other bloggers
4. Optimize design and ad placements
5. Answer comments and email
6. Read other blogs

Keeping track of your most important tasks will direct your energy towards success. Without a constant reminder, it’s easy to waste entire days on filler activities like reading RSS feeds, email, and random web surfing.

When my motivation starts to wane, I regain direction by creating a plan that contains two positive actions. The first one should be a small task you’ve been meaning to do, while the second should be a long-term goal. I immediately do the smaller task. This creates positive momentum. After that I take the first step towards achieving the long-term goal. Doing this periodically is great for getting out of a slump, creating positive reinforcement, and getting long-term plans moving.

It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter periods of low energy, bad luck, and even the occasional failure. If you don’t discipline your mind, these minor speed bumps can turn into mental monsters. By being on guard against the top 3 motivation killers you can preserve your motivation and propel yourself to success.

LOVE

Love is one of life's sweetest mysteries. It can be ethereal or down-to-earth, thunderous and ardent, or tender and hushed. At once priceless and free, it's the universal experience that is wonderfully personal. Like a scintillating jewel  that reflects beauty off its many facets- each unique, yet each part of the whole- is that mystical, magical, marvelous thing called love.
It's in the faces of mother and child- mutual adoration that is beyond words. It is in the faces of parents as they embrace a returning son or daughter.It is in the faces of a couple in love, who are lost in each other's eyes and dreams. It is in the faces of those who care for the afflicted, the homeless, and the destitute. It is in the faces of strangers and friends- anyone who takes time to be thoughtful and kind. Every time we see love manifested, we experience a touch of God's love. 

Notable quotes

1. Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
2. Praise loudly; blame softly
3. "I am proud of you" are  five of the most precious words you can ever use to make another person feel important.
4. You must look into people as well as at them.
5. The sweetest music in the world to most people's ears is their own name, which is natural, because it shows somebody loved them enough to remember; somebody cared enough to know they exist.
6. Many people have, like uncut diamonds, shining qualities beneath a rough exterior.
7. Give credit where credit is due.
8. Everyone likes to feel important. People are hungry for praise and starving for honest appreciation.
9. Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon them, and to let them know that you trust them.
10. You can knock the chip off the other person's shoulder simply by patting him on the back. 

Pressured?

When it seems there is much more to be done than there is time to do it, or the situation we find ourselves in makes it very difficult for us to reach our goals, it’s easy to get under pressure. We think we’re not getting enough done or are not getting ahead quickly enough, so we push ourselves harder. But the fact of the matter is that when we do that, we usually wind up being less effective and get even less done.

Stress hinders us in a number of ways: it puts extra strain on our nervous system, which diminishes our mental capacities. It causes us to try to go too fast, so we’re not as careful as we should be and are therefore more likely to make mistakes. It squelches inspiration. It makes us irritable and harder for others to work with. It can really take the joy out of life. Allowing ourselves to get under pressure is counterproductive in every way.

Learning to recognize when we’re starting to get under pressure and then taking positive steps to counter that feeling is probably one of the most important habits we could build.

First of all, what is pressure? If we really boil it down , pressure is fear or worry- worry that we’re not going to make our goal or deadline;  worry that we’ll not have the necessary finances; worry that we’re going to let others down; fear of the future; fear of social pressures; etc.

Pressure is really counter productive. Why is that true? Because the feeling of pressure uses up so much of our energy through worry and tension. When we feel under pressure, the first thing to get crowded out of our schedule is often the very thing we need most-our daily time of quiet reflection. If we neglect to take a little quiet time in prayer to reflect on the day, it will affect us negatively.

It’s good to remind ourselves that we can’t change the past, but we can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future and allowing ourselves to get under undue pressure. If we learn to take quiet moments of reflection throughout the day and spend a little time communicating with our creator as this will lighten our load and we will find that problems will be solved, situations will improve and things will run smoother, faster, and more efficiently. It will change our life.

You Must Have Rest To Do Your Best

• Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
• Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been, but also where you are going.
• People are a lot like batteries; they need rest, they need recharging, and they cant stand too much draining. You've got to take care  of yourself. 
• Proper diet, pro[er exercise, proper rest and proper living will keep almost anyone healthy.
• People who take time to be alone usually have depth, originality, and quiet confidence. 
• Don't work so hard that you die of improvements. no work is too important to stop for a few minutes of inspiration and physical rest.
• we always need to have a quiet spirit about us, which engenders trust and faith, confidence and peace, rest and assurance in others as well, for our spirits are contagious.
• If you're trusting you're not heart to fret. if you're fretting you're not trusting yet.  

Conquer your fears

• Courage is fear that has said its prayers
• Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow
• I have lived too long among the stars to fear the night 
• Worry never changes a single thing- except the worrier
• courage is not the absence of fear; it is the conquest of fear
• Faith ends where worry begins. worry ends where faith begins
• Face your fears, acknowledge them, confess them, and take a positive stand against them
• Keep faith as a constant companion.When fear knocks at your door, send faith to answer it.

Faith is the antidote

Fear! we don't realize how much of it is subconscious until we analyze it and try to put it into words, we're often afraid to talk about our fears or even confess to ourselves that we're afraid because that would expose our innermost selves. The fear of failure is probably one of the greatest fears people have- the fear of failure in life, love and labor, and perhaps the greatest fear of all is the fear of failing others. The fear of hurting others because of our failure, the fear of letting them down, disappointing them, disillusioning them, discouraging them; the fear that because of our failure, others will also fail-this is hardest to bear.

But whatever our fears are, it pays to face them and to draw a line of distinction between the truth and the lie, between reality and the imaginary, between fact and fear. The following anecdote illustrates this principle.

It not only pays to face our fears, acknowledge and confess them, but to take a positive stand against them. We have to differentiate between reality and the imaginary, the truth and the lie. We don’t conquer our fears by ignoring them or running from them; we conquer them by facing them, standing our ground and sending them running.

So, it pays to our fears, recognize they’re there, and decide between the real and the unreal, the truth and the lie, and then to go to the attack to dispel the vaporous fiction of the fairytale and to drive away the genuine reality of real threat.

We may need help in overcoming some fears. Some people have deep-rooted fears that are actual phobias. For instance, some people almost panic when they’re shut up in a closed place. Others fear to go outside. Others fear heights, tunnel, the dark etc. if we feel terrified by some extreme fear that we don’t feel strong enough to overcome on our own, and then it helps to have someone to talk with about it.

Fear is the exact opposite of faith. Its faith that keeps us from fear. Faith in God is the best cure for fear of any kind. Faith and fear cannot occupy our mind and heart at the same time. It’s just impossible.

Advantages of Setting Goals

How true the saying, “To achieve all that is possible in life, we must attempt the impossible. To be as much as we can be, we must dream of being more.”

However, attempting the seemingly impossible can appear like a daunting task or a far-away dream. We may wonder how to start and question if we will ever get there. If that’s the case for you at the moment, you may want to set some goals for yourself rather than tackle the seemingly impossible all at once.

Why goals? Well, there are many good reasons for setting goals. We can tend to be shortsighted. If we focus only on today, we may miss seeing the forest for the trees right in front of us. We may tire in well doing and lose the vision.

Goals are like the steps that get us from the bottom of the mountain to the top. If we find ourselves at the bottom of a mountain and there’s no gradual incline, but the sides of the mountain are sheer and steep, we figure there’s no way we’re going to make it up. Goals are steps that cut into the mountain, which enable us to climb the mountain one step at a time. Goals are the notches where we can place our feet and our hands. Goals give us something to grip, something to grab hold of, and something to take our next step on.

If we wonder how we can ever make it to the top, well, we don’t have to feel like we have to do it all at once. All we need to look at and deal with is the next step ahead of us. We can trust God to make it to our next goal, our next step, and the next level. That next step isn’t too high to reach, is it? So setting intermediate goals is really a key to success because it puts on a believable, attainable level what might otherwise look unattainable.

Goals spur us on and keep us from getting discouraged or giving up and relying on past accomplishment, because there’s always more to do!

Setting daily, weekly and monthly goals will make your long-term personal goals more manageable and will give you more confidence that they can actually be reached. Let goals boost you higher.

Awaken the Giant Within

"Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers that would astonish him, that he never dream possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action."

• Orison Swett Marden

"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows."

• Michael Landon

"A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance."

• Benjamin Disraeli

" Man is born to live and not prepare to live."

• Boris Pasternak

"Man is not the creature of circumstances; circumstances are the creatures of men."

• Benjamin Disraeli

"Nothing can resist the human will that will stake even its existence on its stated purpose."

• Benjamin Disraeli

"Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth - that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too."

• Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped."

• Anthony Robbins

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioning ability of man to elevate his by a conscious endeavor."

• Henry David Thoreau

"I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

• Thomas Edison

"We will either find a way, or make one."

• Hannibal

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

• Helen Keller

"Men live by intervals of reason under the sovereignty of humor and passion."

• Sir Thomas Browne

"A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary."

• Seneca

"The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you."

• Anthony Robbins

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

• Marcus Aurelius

"Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than their understandings."

• Lord Chesterfield

"I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate in greater pleasures."

• Michel De Montaigne

"Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure - they govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think; every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm all."

• Jeremy Bentham

"Under all that we think, lives all we believe, like the ultimate veil of our spirits."

• Antonio Machado

"Drugs are not always necessary, [but] belief in recovery always is."

• Norman Cousins

"The belief that becomes truth for me - is that which allows me the best use of my strength, the best means of putting my virtues into action."

• Andre Gide

"Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and deniable existence. Imagination, not invention is the supreme master of art, as of life."

• Joseph Conrad

"It is the mind that maketh good of ill, that maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor."

• Edmund Spenser

"We are what we think.

All that we are rises

With our thoughts.

With our thoughts,

We make our world."

• Buddha

"The only true security in life comes from knowing that every single day you are improving yourself in some way. I don't worry about maintaining the quality of my life, because every day I work on improving it."

• Anthony Robbins

CANI (pronounced kuhn-EYE) - Constant And Never-ending Improvement

"It must be constant commitment backed up by action."

• Anthony Robbins

"As he thinketh in his heart, so he is."

• Proverbs 23:7

"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye."

• Corinthians 15:51

"Things do not change, we change."

• Henry David Thoreau

"Once we effect a change, we should reinforce it immediately. Then, we have to condition our nervous system to succeed not just once, but consistently.

• Anthony Robbins

"The first belief we must have if we're going to create change quickly is that we can change now."

• Anthony Robbins

"To the dull mind all nature is leaden. To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well."

• Rene Descartes

"The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably, thought and act."

• Orison Swett Marden

"Give me a lever long enough

And a prop strong enough.

I can single-handedly move the world.'

• Archimedes

"The greatest leverage you can create for yourself is the pain that comes from inside, not outside. Knowing that you have failed to live up to your own standards for your life is the ultimate pain."

• Anthony Robbins

"There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift man to angelship."

• Mark Twain

"Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided."

• John Locke

"All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you."

• Rainer Maria Rilke

"The difference between acting badly or brilliantly is not based on your ability, but on the state of your mind and/or body in any given moment."

• Anthony Robbins

"We know too much and feel too little. At least we feel too little of those creative emotions from which a good life springs."

• Bertand Russell

"Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear."

• Anthony Robbins

"Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

• Matthew 7:7

"As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts."

• The Buddha

"You've got to be in a determined state in order to succeed."

• Anthony Robbins

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him."

• Aldous Huxley

"Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel tons of pleasure and very little pain."

• Anthony Robbins

"All that you really want in life is to change how you feel."

• Anthony Robbins

"Plan for pleasure for each and every day."

• Anthony Robbins

"He who asks questions cannot avoid the answers."

• Cameroon Proverb

"Some men see things as they are, and say, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were, and say, 'Why not?' "

• George Bernard Shaw

"Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question."

• E. E. Cummings

"Remember, ask and you shall receive. If you ask a terrible question, you'll get a terrible answer. Your mental computer is ever ready to serve you, and whatever question you give it, it will surely come up with an answer."

• Anthony Robbins

"A genuine quality of life comes from consistent, quality questions."

• Anthony Robbins

"You and I have that same power at our disposal every moment of the day. At the moment, the questions that we ask ourselves can shape our perception of who we are, what we're capable of, and what we're willing to do to achieve our dreams."

• Anthony Robbins

"He that cannot ask cannot live."

• Old Proverb

"A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words ... the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt."

• Mark Twain

"Words form the thread on which we string our experiences."

• Aldous Huxley

"Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men."

• Confucius

"The metaphor is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him."

• Jose Ortega Y Gasset

"Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum."

• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

"All perception of truth is the detection of an analogy."

• Henry David Thoreau

"There can be no transformation of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion."

• Carl Jung

"We must cultivate our garden."

• Voltaire

"Determination is the wake-up call to the human will."

• Anthony Robbins

"If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world."

• Emmet Fox

"Nothing happens unless first a dream."

• Carl Sandburg

"We are what and where we are because we have first imagined it."

• Donald Curtis

"It's not just getting a goal that matters, but the quality of life you experience along the way."

• Anthony Robbins

"Climb high; Climb far.

Your goal the sky; Your aim the star."

• inscription at Williams College

"What kind of person will I have to become in order to achieve all that I want?"

• Anthony Robbins

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

• Proverbs, 29:18

"Habit is either the best servants or the worst of masters."

• Nathaniel Emmons

"We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."

• John Dryden

"All too often, the security of a mediocre present is more comfortable than the adventure of trying to be more in the future."

• Anthony Robbins

"Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience."

• George Bernard Shaw

"Take away the cause, and the effect ceases."

• Miguel De Cervantes

"Nothing has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances."

• Bruce Barton

"A man's character is his guardian divinity."

• Heraclitus

"Every time a value is born, existence takes on a new meaning; every times ones dies, some part of that meaning passes away."

• Joseph Wood Krutch

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

• John Wooden

"I hope we can build a university our football team can be proud of."

• University of Oklahoma

"People will do more to avoid pain than they will do to gain pleasure."

• Anthony Robbins

"We have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth,

Neither mortal nor immortal,

So that with freedom of choice and with honor,

As though the maker and molder of thyself,

Thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer.

Thou shalt have the power out of thy soul's judgement,

To be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine."

• God's speech to Adam from Pico Della Mirandola's 'Oration on the Dignity of Man'

"Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at one."

• Socrates

"I touch the future; I teach."

• Anonymous

"We are what we repeatedly do."

• Aristotle

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you."

• Henry Ward Beecher

"The truth is that nothing has to happen in order for you to feel good."

• Anthony Robbins

"Any fool can make a rule - And every fool will mind it."

• Henry David Thoreau

"Never assume it comes to rules. Communicate.'

• Anthony Robbins

"Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions."

• Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet."

• Lord Chesterfield

"We lift ourselves by our thought, we climb upon our vision of ourselves."

• Orison Swett Marden

"Repetition is the mother of skill."

• Anthony Robbins

"It is only with the heart that one eye can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

• Antoine De Saint-Exupery

"Limited references create a limited life. If you want to expand your life, you must expand your references by pursuing ideas and experiences that wouldn't be a part of your life if you didn't consciously seek them out."

• Anthony Robbins

"Loss is imaginary. Nothing ever disappears in the universe; it only changes form."

• Anthony Robbins

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars."

• Walt Whitman

"Leaders are readers."

• Anthony Robbins

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.'

• Arthur C. Clarke

"Expand your references, and you'll immediately expand your life."

• Anthony Robbins

"Everything in life happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves us."

• Anthony Robbins

"It's the moments of our life that shape us."

• Anthony Robbins

"Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so."

• Charles De Gaulle

"The beliefs that we use to define our own individuality, what makes us unique - good, bad, or indifferent - from other individuals."

• Anthony Robbins

"Your capability is constant, but how much of it you use depends upon the identity you have for yourself."

• Anthony Robbins

"Time and again, researchers have shown that students' capabilities are powerfully impacted by the identities they develop for themselves as the result of teachers' belief in their level of intelligence."

• Anthony Robbins

"The kind of person other people perceive you to be controls their responses to you."

• Anthony Robbins

"The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We look at what we do to determine who we are."

• Anthony Robbins

"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity."

• John F. Kennedy

"His supreme agony was the disappearance of certainty, and he felt himself uprooted - Oh! What a frightful thing! The man projectile, no longer knowing his road and recoiling!"

• Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

"I think, therefore I am."

• Rene Descartes

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

• Thomas A. Edison

"Each of us inevitable;

Each of us limitless - each of us with his or her right upon the earth;

Each of allow'd the eternal purports of the earth;

Each of us here as divinely as any is here."

• Walt Whitman

"Seeing's believing, but feeling's the truth."

• Thomas Fuller, M.D.

"We are not limited by our old age; we are liberated by it."

• Stu Mittleman

"The human body is the best picture of the human soul."

• Ludwig Wittgenstein

"In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing."

• Antonio Porchia

"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think."

• Ayn Rand

"Charity and personal force are the only investments."

• Walt Whitman

"Go put your creed into your deed."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips."

• Oliver Goldsmith

"We have time enough if we will but use it right."

• Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"The great man is he that does not lose his child's-heart."

• Mencius

"A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark."

• Dante

"Every man is an impossibility until he is born."

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It was involuntary; they sank my boat."

• John F. Kennedy, when asked how he'd become a hero

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home, and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

• John F. Kennedy

"While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

• Eugene Victor Debs

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

• John Wooden

"Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment."

• Anthony Robbins

"Verily, great grace may go with a little gift; and precious are all things that come from friends."

• Theocritius