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Tips to Help You Make This Your Best Year Ever

By Ruben Gonzalez

Count your blessings daily. Doing so will keep you in a positive state of mind.
Surround yourself with positive, encouraging, successful people. They will pull you up no matter what the circumstances.
Come to terms with the fact that in life there is no free lunch. Stop trying to get something for nothing. Doing so is a waste of time and energy you could be using to go after your dream.
It's not what happens to you, it's how you handle it.
Deliver more than you are paid to. Make yourself indispensable to others.
Focus on your strengths. Find an arena you are suited to play in, have the courage to get started, have the courage to not quit, and decide you will give it all you've got for as long as it takes to get the job done.
Live this day as if it were your last. Treat others as if it were their last day.
Take your projects seriously but learn to laugh at yourself.
Don't neglect the details. Excellence comes from taking care of the details.
Smile more. It makes you more approachable, and makes it easier to build your dream team.
Constantly ask yourself, "What is the number one thing I could do in the next 15 minutes to get me closer to my goal?" Then do it right away.
Break down large goals into smaller more manageable goals.
Find a mentor who believes in you, who will support you, and who will push you toward your dream.
Don't let others rain on your parade. Avoid negative people like the plague.
Decide to find the seed of good in every adversity.
Decide that you are willing to do whatever it takes to realize your dream.
Realize that true happiness lies within you. Happiness is the product of the quality of your relationships and of the degree of control you feel you have in life. Every time you make excuses, you lose control and become unhappy.
The past does not determine the future. No matter how many times you have failed, the next time you could succeed. If you don't believe me, just read Thomas Edison's biography.
Take full responsibility for your results.
Protect your attitude. Your attitude determines your altitude. Average talent with great attitude will beat out great talent with bad attitude every time.
Read biographies then model your life after the lives of successful people.
Don't complain about your circumstances. Decide you will make your own circumstances.
Don't kid yourself. Life is hard. Success takes time and massive action.
You only live once. Go for the Gold. Decide you will not simply exist. Decide to live an exciting life. Don't just take up space. Make a difference so you will be missed when you are gone. Decide to leave a legacy.
Be willing to pay the price of success. No pain no gain.
Vividly imagine what your victory will feel like. Replay that victory all the time. It's your preview of coming attractions.
Act in spite of your fear. No guts no glory.
Whenever in doubt, go with the bolder choice.
Base your plan on your strengths.
Humble yourself to the leadership of those who have done what you want to do. Ask for help and you will succeed faster.
Believe in yourself. Persist in the face of challenges. Don't take "No" for an answer.
Celebrate every small victory.
Follow your heart.
Constantly look for ways to simplify your life.
Anger gives people courage to do things they usually would not do. Whenever you are angry, don't waste your anger doing negative things. Harness the energy in your anger to reach your goal.
Embrace change. Change brings opportunity to win.
If you're not failing you are playing too safe and you are not growing. If you want to succeed faster, double your failure rate.
Bite off more than you can chew.
Live your life with passion.
Read good books, listen to self-development tapes, and attend seminars.
Forgive others quickly. Being angry at someone else is like drinking poison.
Make your dream so exciting that it takes your breath away. Then, be willing to fight for your dream and future.
Every time you make an excuse, you give away control of your life. Stop making excuses.
Don't live life through others. Be the hero in your own life.
Watch less TV. Your TV is keeping you from your dreams. TV wastes hundreds of precious hours of people's time - time they could use to make a better life for themselves.
Establish a mission and a purpose for your life.
Burning desire creates the power to succeed. Develop a passionate desire for your purpose. How badly you want it to happen will determine if you do make it happen.
Never blame, whine or complain.
Talk positively to yourself. Never bad-mouth or criticize yourself.
Be a good finder. Look for good in everything that happens. Developing a positive mental attitude is a decision. A decision that helps you have a better life.
Put your dreams in concrete and your plans in sand.
Write down your goals every day before you turn on your computer. It takes less than two minutes and helps you start off the day in a more purposeful, focused manner. Doing this will make you more productive than 95% of people in the world.
Imitate the perseverance of the people you admire.
Read 15-30 minutes a day from a positive self-development book.
Become a part of a support group. Hang out with people who have goals and dreams similar to yours.
Know yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses. That knowledge will help you understand why you act the way you do. Learn about the four personality types.
Help others reach their dreams.
See challenges as an opportunity to become stronger.
Do what you fear and the fear will disappear. Facing fear is called courage. Running from fear is called cowardice. Do you want to be known as a courageous person or as a coward? It's your choice.
If you want to win big you have to be willing to lose big.
Focus on your goals, not on your obstacles.
You will only see it when you believe it.
Don't let other people's opinion of you become your reality.
When the why is big enough, the how will take care of itself.
If you are not excited about your dream, don't expect others to get excited about your dream.
Don't listen to the naysayers in your life. "Impossible" is just the opinion of somebody who does not believe as much as you do.
When somebody laughs or makes fun of you, that person should stop having any influence in your life. They are holding you back from your purpose in life.
Whenever somebody compliments you, they have just seen a glimpse of your greatness. The compliments you get over and over are a clue to where your gifts lie. When you use your God-given gifts to realize your dream, you make the world a better place.
Associate with big thinkers. Big people don't laugh at big ideas.
Success is all about guts and vision. Knowing what you want, and having the guts to go after it.
As long as you don't quit, you've still got a chance.
You'll either pay the price of success or the price of regret. The price of success weighs ounces. The price of regret weighs tons. It's your choice.
Set high goals for yourself. If you're not headed anywhere in life, you're headed nowhere.
Wanting to win is not enough. You have to be willing to prepare to win.
Take more chances. You'll never know what you were missing in life until you dare to pursue your dream.
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. To get better results you must constantly adjust your approach.
Fortune favors the brave. Boldness has magic in it. Don't play it safe. Start taking more chances.
Winners have the courage to get started and the courage to endure.
Do the things you fear or else fear will control your life.
Commitment creates opportunity. Stop talking and start doing. Think less and act more.
The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making excuses, is the day you start moving to the top.
Believe that there is an opportunity in every challenge. Your job is to find it and to take advantage of it.
If it is to be it is up to you. Nobody can succeed for you. You have to make it happen. There is no one to stop you but yourself. Decide you will make it happen.
Take a leap of faith. Leap and the net will appear.
Fear is a smokescreen. Act in spite of your fear and the fear will disappear.
Fly with eagles, and you'll start to think, feel and act like an eagle. Hang around with turkeys, and... well, you get the picture.
People of integrity expect to be believed, and they're willing to let time prove them right. Be a person of your word.
Invest in yourself. The better you are, the better your results will be.
"If you're going through hell...keep going!" - Winston Churchill
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George Patton
It's human nature to be lazy - to want to coast. Therefore, constantly strive to improve, because he who stops being better eventually stops being good.
You're not finished when you are defeated. You are only finished when you quit.
The greatest predictor of future success is how driven and passionate you are to realize your dream. Passion is much more important than talent.
Have fun. You can't get passionate about anything if you are not having fun. If you are not having fun you are probably doing the wrong thing.
Believe that you are the master of your own destiny and that you can create your own future.
Focus on doing things that will improve your odds of winning. It's all about improving your odds.
All your actions have consequences. If you sow massively, you'll reap massively.
There are more opportunities today than there have ever been. If you can't make it in the U.S., you can't make it anywhere.
If you have an intense desire to achieve something, it is a given that you have the ability within you. Your job is to figure out how.
Always expect the best. We tend to get what we expect.
Be willing to try different approaches on the way to your goals.
Create a crystal-clear picture of what you want to accomplish.
Serve others. Your rewards in life will be proportionate to the value of your service to others.
Think about the future instead of the past. Focus on what you can do today to improve your future.
Discipline yourself to focus on the solutions, not on the problems.
Find out what other successful people in your field are doing, and do the same things yourself over and over.
Whatever you think about all the time will grow in your life.
"Work smart, not hard" is a joke. If you truly want to succeed, you'd better work smart and hard. The harder you work the luckier you'll be.
When opportunities appear, move quickly. Doors of opportunity close as quickly as they open.
You can't do anything about the past, therefore, remove the words "I should have..." from your vocabulary. "Should haves," create unnecessary guilt, suck the wind out of your sails, and take away positive energy that you could use to do something today.
Constantly ask yourself, "What can I do right now to reach my goal?" Then, do it right away.
When you move boldly in the direction of your dreams and goals, unseen forces will come to your aid.
What would you dare to do if you knew you could not fail? What are you waiting for? Do it now!
Act as if it were impossible to fail. Everyone is afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is acting in spite of your fears. Face your fears and conquer them with swift action.
Winners understand that the road to success is filled with failures and challenges. Winners fail their way to success. One big success cancels out all the failures.
Assume that success is only a matter of time. Resolve to learn something from every setback, and decide that quitting is not an option.
Your persistence will fuel your self-belief and your self-belief will fuel your persistence. But you have to decide that quitting is not an option.
Positive self image does not come from people praising you. Confidence and positive self image comes from competence. From being good at whatever you do. And that comes from practice. Confidence and positive self image come from constantly facing your fears and refusing to quit.
Successful people talk about and think about what they want to happen. Unsuccessful people talk about and think about what they don't want to happen. You attract what you talk about. What are you talking about?
Make no small plans. Small plans and dreams don't have the power to inspire you and motivate you. Have a dream that takes your breath away. Only such a dream will motivate you to act.
Everything you do is either getting you closer or further from your dream. Everything.
See things and people as they can be, not as they are.
Winners are willing to do the things losers are not willing to do.
Think big. Focus on the possibilities, not on the problems.
Control your thoughts and you control your life.
The faster you stop operating from a state of wishful thinking and get passionately committed to your dream, the better your life will be.
Limiting what you are willing to do limits what you achieve.
Know when to listen and know when to speak.
The books you read and the people you associate with will determine where you are in five years.
You determine your habits. You habits determine your future.
Nothing of value comes without effort. Decide you'll do whatever it takes. Decide you are willing to pay the price.
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.
High achievers have a drive that most of us can't even begin to imagine. They work every day at catching their breaks. They are ordinary people with extraordinary drive and work ethic. You can develop the same drive.
Once a year, read "How to Win Friends and Influence People," "The Magic of Thinking Big," and "The Power of Positive Thinking."
Every morning, get if front of the bathroom mirror, and serious as a heart attack, tell yourself what your dreams and goals are. Repeat this every time you are in front of a mirror. Do this and in time you will become unstoppable.
Success is a decision. It's all up to you.
Develop people and leadership skills. The only way to accomplish great goals is by building a team and working through other people.
What you believe will determine what you will do. What you do determines your results. Change your beliefs, and you'll change your results.
When you work hard enough and long enough that you start believing that you deserve to succeed, you'll start acting like a deserving person and success will come to you.
When you achieve your dream, pursue another dream. That's how to live a life of adventure.

If you will embrace and consistently and persistently apply these principles, you will amaze people with all you accomplish. People will say you are lucky but you'll know luck had nothing to do with it.

Chase your dream. Never Quit.

From Ruben Gonzalez's critically acclaimed book, "The Courage to Succeed."