"Face Your Fears And Do It Anyway"

What would you do today if you knew you couldn't fail and success was guaranteed? 

Ask yourself this question with a blank piece of paper and a pen in your hand. If everything you ever dreamed of was a true possibility, what would you do right now? Remove all limits, get outside of the box and let your imagination run free. 

How does it feel? Exciting? Liberating? Empowering? Possible? Scary? A paradigm shift occurs when we take our thoughts and put them on paper. Don't think it... ink it. These thoughts have power and when they are in writing, they immediately become goals. Goals without limitations.

It is usually not other people or circumstances that prevent us from achieving our goals. It is ourselves. Yes, it is the power of negative thinking that shackles us to mediocrity and prevents us from reaching our glorious potential.

One of our most negative thoughts that sabotages our greatness is fear.  FEAR. False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear enslaves us to self-doubt. It can rear its ugly head almost every time we stretch out of our comfort zone to make a change.

Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of embarrassment or humiliation. Fear of commitment. Fear of letting others down. Fear is self-imposed sabotage that is a choice, whether conscious or subconscious. What fears do you have that are holding you back from living out loud?

Face the fear and do it anyway. Just do it. Do it now. Life rewards action and the confidence that you create from tackling your fears empowers you to do more. Success begets success. Go for it.

The second negative thought that jeopardizes our full potential is excusivitis- the failure disease. "I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too short. I don't have enough time.

I'm not smart enough. But my health isn't good. I'm unlucky. I'm shy. I may get laughed at. It's never been done before."

Excuses can mire us in paralyzing inertia where we begin to believe that we're incapable of taking the leap.

"Go deep into your study of people, and you'll discover unsuccessful people suffer a mind-deadening thought disease-- excusivitis. Like any disease, excusivitis gets worse if it isn't treated properly."

"Study the lives of successful people and you'll discover this: all the excuses made by the mediocre fellow could be but aren't made by the successful fellow," writes David Schwartz in "The Magic of Thinking Big."

We are what we think and when we are self-deprecating, our negative thoughts manifest themselves in our own personal struggles. Life is much sweeter when we maintain positive expectancy and pursue our dreams with passion.

The sweetest fruit is at the end of the limb; although the risk is greater, so are the rewards. The majority of people are satisfied with the fruit that has already fallen off of the tree and is laying on the ground. Picking up that fruit doesn't require any risk, any effort or any motivation. But who wants the mushy spoils when life can be deliciously juicy?

The third challenge to setting unlimited goals is the obstacles that we encounter in their pursuit. Obstacles are what we see when we take our sight off of the goal.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up. No use being ridiculous about it," says my friend Michael Scott Karpovich. What a funny guy. Actually, giving up is the easy way out. Winners never quit and quitters never win. Be a winner and stick to your goals.

A fourth block to success is mental laziness. Goal setting is not corny. It is the primary tool for success. My new friend, Marissa Benton, says that it's been shown that only about 10% of Americans set goals. Out of the ones who do, 90% achieve them. Since the results are so rewarding, why doesn't everyone do it?

Be. Do. Have. If you do nothing, you'll have nothing. You must be a friend to have friends. If you do great things, you'll have great things.