There are a number of ways to become wealthy.

You can inherit it.

You can win it, as in the lottery or gambling.

You can preserve and grow it, such as in investments.

Or, you can build it through a business venture.

Regardless of how you do it, having prosperity consciousness is paramount. Why? Because our results in life will eventually align with our mindset…there is no way to avoid it.

This is why 33% of lottery winners are broke after 5 years, regardless of the amount.

This is also why short-term business successes don’t last for many people.

Most people’s prosperity consciousness is NOT supportive of the life they say they want.

They say they want wealth, but their predominant thoughts say otherwise.

Having a prosperity mindset is far more than just wanting nice things. It’s really much more about perceiving the world as inherently abundant.

When you come from a place of abundance…you ALWAYS see possibility. You become very proactive and creative as opposed to reactive.

We all know people who seem to live with their glass half empty. Actually, many people live thinking they don’t even have a glass.

This is not about what is happening in the person’s life. This is about their view of what is happening and their desire, commitment and belief in shifting it.

Unfortunately, much of the world tends to program people for lack and limitation.

Look around you at the media. Look at how you were raised. Look at your friends and family. There is no judgment here, however most of us were not given the tools to see the world abundantly and to believe that we truly deserve to live out our greatness.

Instead, we are constantly surrounded by messages that tell us we aren’t enough, that we don’t have this or that, that we can’t do this or that and that success is a matter of fate, luck or some other force outside of ourselves.

I’ve done seminars for years with young people and have talked about prosperity consciousness. In rooms of hundreds I ask them to finish the statement…

Rich people are _____________ .

What do you think the answers are?

Stingy, stuck up, lucky, arrogant, mean, jerks…

Occasionally, we get some supportive ones like generous, friendly and happy. But almost without exception, 75-80% of the responses are negative descriptions.

Ironically, 95% of the room say that they want to be wealthy.

If you understand this very basic idea, you are more than halfway home to understanding how to create wealth.

If you believe that rich people are…say…jerks, then subconsciously you will continue to sabotage your success because you don’t actually want to be a jerk. As long as you continue to relate being rich with negative attributes, you will undermine your own efforts to create success.

The reality is…

Rich people aren’t anything…other than rich. Everything else is subjective and based on the individual person.

I know plenty of broke people who are stingy, stuck up, lucky, arrogant, mean, jerks…

Money has nothing to do with it.

To begin creating wealth, you must rewire yourself for abundance.

Take inventory of how you view wealth, money and success.

Take inventory of how you hold your self-worth.

Begin seeing possibility in everything…even if you go with your first choice. Look for options. Prosperous people always see choice, rather than limitations.

When faced with seemingly either/or situations, stop and try and figure out how to have both.

This is a great practice in prosperity.

Know that you were born into this world whole and complete. You are still that way regardless of how many messages you hear to the contrary.

Choose now to take on one area of your life. How can you shift your mindset to be more abundant? How can you create greater choice?

Pick an area – business, relationship, self, spirituality, health – and design exactly what you want from a place of total abundance.

Squash any thought of lack or limitation as you do this.

Decide your course of action and just go for it.

Take action now. Your dreams are closer than you think.

This post isn’t what you think.  I am not going to talk about the Pagan vs. Christianity debate about Easter or how ironic it is that we have chosen large pink bunnies and chocolate eggs to somehow represent Jesus rising from the dead.

That stuff is funny enough on it’s own.

But as I sit here Easter Sunday morning looking over my backyard in full bloom, the sun bouncing off the pool and a light breeze flowing in through a set of oversized windows…I started thinking about something else.

I love celebrations.  It really doesn’t matter to me what they are for…I just love to celebrate.  I love to celebrate events, accomplishments and most of all…I like to celebrate people.

I started thinking about all the efforts we put into the holidays and occasions mainly because they have become traditions in our families or religions.  We bust out the decorations, rush to the stores (repeatedly) and create elaborate stories for our children.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I think it’s great.  I love holidays.  More specifically, I love what they have the power to support us doing.  They inspire connection.  They cultivate the desire for people to come together.  They get us to stop the noise, sit back for even just a few minutes…and reflect about life and the relationships we have with each other.

What I am sitting here pondering this morning is what we need to do as a species to genuinely celebrate ourselves more often.  To honor ourselves, our connection to each other, our need for each other, our divinely guided creativity, and our ability to truly make this world whatever we choose it to be.

I am up for THAT holiday.

What if we took just a little bit of that special something (I may call it love) that the holidays seem to inspire in us and choose to be aware of it every day?

Can we possibly hold this much love in our hearts next Thursday when there are no menorahs to light, no Cadbury eggs to eat, no jolly fat men in funny suits to sit on, no fireworks in the sky to watch, no dead prophets to remember and no feasts to devour?

I know for most people it’s far easier to celebrate some “thing” or “event” than themselves or another person.  We get to change that.

We are worth celebrating.

You are worth celebrating.

I am worth celebrating.

So as we move through this year of 2010 amidst one of the most interesting times our generations have ever known, I want to make this one simple request of you…

Start celebrating life every day.

Take the same energy you put into getting the house ready for the holidays and put it into your kids every day, your work every day…your SELF every day.

For me, this is what these celebrations were designed to do…reconnect us to the divine love that is within us all and our power as human beings when we choose to realize just how amazing we all are.

Celebrate life.

Please share your thoughts and share this post with everyone you truly celebrate.

No, this isn’t about Og Mandino’s classic book.

It’s about my 5 yr old son, Brennan, and his talent for persuasiveness.

Many people talk about how they “aren’t a salesman” or a “salesy type person,” with great pride as if being in sales is a disease to get rid of.

The reality is, we are all in sales.  Some are just in denial.

If you are a teacher, you are constantly selling and reselling your students as to why it’s so important to learn, why each lesson is valuable and why they need to put their best effort in.

If you are a police officer, you are maneuvering for premium shifts, promotions and persuading people to follow your hunches and instincts.

If you are in a relationship…well, don’t even get me started.

If you are a parent, then your salesmanship is constantly being tested.

Unfortunately for us, we are out manned, out skilled and out worked by our kids.

Kids are naturals and my son is no exception.  He is relentless and doesn’t take no for an answer.

It’s 10:45 am and he has already asked me for a lolly pop 5 times.  5 times.

Did he get his feelings hurt when I said no the first 4 times?  Nope.

Did he take it personally? Not even a little.

Did he use other tactics like cute faces, pitched voices and the promise to “be my best friend?”  Of course he did, and he did it with style.

Did it matter to Brennan that I said no 5 times?  Absolutely not.  What mattered was what he wanted.  He was singularly focused.  He was intentional.  He was committed to getting what he wanted.

And you should be too.

We so often in life allow the circumstances of our world to impact our choices.  We react as opposed to respond.  We let temporary feedback throw us off course.

The surest way to get anything in this lifetime is to decide what it is you want, set a clear intention that you will attain it and go after it with passion until it’s yours.

Don’t stop until it’s yours or you decide you really don’t want it any more.  Awaken your inner 5 yr old incredibly powerful, always persuasive, wonderfully present little salesperson and get to work on accomplishing your goals and dreams.

Now, excuse me…I need to go deliver a lolly pop.  Brennan is riding his big wheel in the rain and being beautifully a kid.  He just shouted…”I want a lolly pop,” with a huge smile on his face.

Hey…just because I teach it, doesn’t mean I can resist it.  I think he wants a red one. (Don’t worry…it’s organic.)

We have heard it a million times in business, school, relationships and life in general.

It’s the small things that make the difference.

Then why do the vast majority of people keep searching for that magic bullet, that secret ingredient, that special something to catapult them to success?

Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Vince was a pretty talented guy. You know, Starry Nights, Irisis and like a gazillion other amazing masterpieces. We remember him for great things. Monumental things. Brilliant things.

And yet he says it was all about the small things.

Thoreau said this, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. Simplify, simplify.”

Henry was a pretty talented guy too and produced some literary masterpieces on his own.

Now, I am not suggesting you go cut off your ear or go find a cabin in the middle of the woods and close yourself off from the world. I mean, if you think that’s what you need, go for it…but there are likely other routes to take.

In our insanely fast paced world, we often try and do it all. We imagine ourselves into this huge life and often think we are going to get their with one great leap forward as if there is that one thing that will propel us forward into greatness.

It doesn’t work that way.

Of course, there are exceptions. There are those occasional one-hit-wonders in life. There are the Tin Tin’s of business and entrepreneurship. (anyone who didn’t grow up in the 80’s is now Googling “Tin Tin.”)

People who struck it big on seemingly a single attempt. “Kiss Me” by Tin Tin was said to be written in 24 hrs after the band was signed by their label. It’s still on the radio today. Yeah, I know Tin Tin is the guy who went on to form Duran Duran…but he wasn’t at the time…he was just a dude who wrote a song.

It happens…but very, very, very, very rarely. Did I use enough “very’s” to make the point?

More often, it’s the Sinatra’s who make it. I tried to find exactly how many songs he recorded, but it was tough to find the exact number. The most accurate account I could find was 1285.

1285!

And that’s probably a little low.

Wow! That’s a serious body of work. That’s 25+ songs a year over a 50-year career.

That’s enough to make you feel lazy, isn’t it?

It was the countless number of hours writing and recording in the studio, consistently over his career that made The Chairman great.

It was the countless performances he gave to crowds of all sizes that made him great.

When he was first starting, he played rooms where only a dozen people showed up.  He sang his ass off anyway.

It was the thousands of martinis he drank and women he flirted with…

Okay, I got carried away.

So, what’s our lesson here?

Small forwarding, positive actions over time create enduring success.

Or as Jeff Olson calls it in his bestselling book…the Slight Edge.

It’s the seemingly insignificant things that when we do them don’t seem to make a difference that over time either create greatness or perpetuate mediocrity.

In relationships with ourselves and others…

It’s getting off work a little early once a week to pick your kids up from school and spend some uninterrupted time together.

It’s having family dinner consistently together so you can just talk.

It’s bringing home flowers on a Tuesday…that’s not her birthday, anniversary or mother’s day.

It’s rubbing his shoulders without being asked.

It’s setting aside “us time” and “me time” consistently…not just when you can’t take it any more.

It’s meditating, working out and reading…at least a few times EVERY WEEK.

It’s eating that one raw meal a day.

These are all seemingly insignificant things that add up over time…and over time they contribute to the body of work that is our lives.

In business and marketing…

It’s making new contacts and exposures to your business every single day.

It’s putting out 1 single piece of good content online every day.

It’s being of value in the social media space with your dialogue and interactions.

It’s stepping up to lead even when you may not think you are ready.

It’s stretching yourself past your comfort zone…and doing it with joy.

It’s doing the thing NOW, not tomorrow or next week, but NOW!

I know that we sometimes seem to get a lot of conflicting information in the world of personal development. Some advice teaches us to focus on getting the big parts of our lives in order, to focus on vision, to make sure the most important things are our priorities.

These things are all true.

But we don’t get where we are going by leaping the chasm. We get there by putting one foot in front of the other and simply taking a step forward.

It’s really not that hard.

And that’s the challenge.

It’s simple.

So most people miss it.

Do the small things anyway.

Choose what you want. Create the vision. Decide what things need to be done to move your forward towards your goals.

Then just get started…and stay consistent…even when you don’t feel like it.

Hold your vision in mind while focusing on what’s next. What is the next thing you need to do? Then just do it.

Check it off the To-Do list.

This is so much more than just staying in action. It’s adopting a belief system that success is the culmination of many small influences and actions. It’s “a knowing” that the thing you are doing right now is either moving you closer to or further away from what you want.

Let’s go get it done.

But please, please, please…do it with style. Put YOU into your daily actions. If you are going to show up…SHOW UP!

Show up with 100% of who you are – whether it’s parenting, being intimate, marketing, training, talking to a prospect, learning from a mentor, taking care of yourself, working out, being quiet or making a difference for someone.

So what are you waiting for?

Go get jiggy with it.

Here’s one way right now for you to get jiggy. ReTweet this post for me to your followers. Be valuable for other people and repost a link to this article for your Facebook friends.

Looking forward to seeing your version of “My Way.”

“Daddy, I want a light saber.”

“Okay Brennan, I promise we can get one before we leave.”

This started at about 3pm while we were at Disney last weekend.  I heard it again at 4pm and again at 5pm.

We weren’t trying to deny Brennan of his trust light saber; we were just waiting until we were on our way out before buying one.  Honestly, we were afraid for the other patrons.

My son wielding a glowing weapon can do some damage.

As it got dark, we saw light sabers everywhere.  It was actually very cool looking.  Multi-colored sticks ripping through the air.  Kids on Dad’s shoulders were flailing them everywhere.

Towards the end of the day, we were moving pretty quickly from one ride to the other, trying to get another ride on Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain in.  My son, being 5, was exhausted after a long day.  In fact, in line for Space Mountain, he nearly fell asleep.

As I mentioned in my last post, he is just under the height for Space Mountain.  He got on the first time, but the last time they denied him.

He was so tired he didn’t care.

So here we are, running from amazing ride to amazing ride, Brennan is nearly asleep on my shoulder and as soon as we walk outside what do you think the first thing he said was?

“Daddy, I want a light saber!”

I’ve often said that my son is my greatest teacher and this is not different.  This is how life is.  We set a goal for ourselves and start working towards it but life doesn’t always just lie down for us.  We get focused on something and start working towards it.

Life has a way of setting up lots of distractions for us, in my opinion, as a way of seeing just how committed we are.  Some of these distractions are a ton of fun and valuable, like Thunder & Space Mountain and the Haunted Mansion.  Or in your daily world it may be more like TV, Facebook, exercise, reading, running to the store or playing a game (poker, Xbox, Wii, you name it).

Some distractions aren’t fun at all.  Health issues, relationship issues, drama of any kind, business & job challenges, real estates woes…life like to throw lots of curveballs.

There are lots of strategies for success in life, but one that I absolutely believe is paramount is having a focused commitment.  Once you get clear about what you want, set your sights on it, declare it to the Universe (in Brennan’s case this was me)…you need to stay completely focused in what you want until it’s yours.

We often get met with a little adversity and shrink.  We get distracted and loose focus.  We have people telling us we can’t and we believe them.

Very few things in life matter other than what you want and your commitment to getting it.

As you are setting up your week for yourself, figure out what your light saber is for the week.  Figure out that one thing that you absolutely must have or create.  What project will you complete?  What goal would you walk through fire to attain?

Get clear, get focused and stay committed so when you ask the Universe, “I want a light saber,” it will have little choice like me but to give it to you.

Lesson 29 – Although often intense, it’s important to remember that it is just a game.

Lesson 28 – Learning to know when someone is telling the truth will save you lots of heartache and money.

Lesson 27 – At any time, you should be ready to change gears and shift your strategy.

Lesson 26 – When correctly positioned, the world looks drastically different.

Lesson 25 – If you consistently get your money in with the best of it, you will always come out ahead over time.

Lesson 24 – Sometimes you need to just stand your ground and let people know you are here to play.

Lesson 23 – Logic can take you incredibly far, but playing without heart will always leave money on the table.

Lesson 22 – The right move at the right time can make all the difference.

Lesson 21 – Sometimes you just have to say, “What the F!” Shove your chips in the middle and gamble.

Lesson 20 – Take care of your body and mind.  You need both in good shape to play well.

Lesson 19 – You are capable of playing Aces the same way you play 7-2 offsuit. Attitude is everything.

Lesson 18 – Math is important.

Lesson 17 – It’s the core fundamentals, mastered over time, that make someone great.

Lesson 16 – Nothing brings people together like a shared passion.  Poker is the social lubricant of this generation.

Lesson 15 – Your attitude often changes when you are short stacked or the chip leader. Power and attitude are a choice.

Lesson 14 – Perception is far more important than reality.

Lesson 13 – One decision can make or break your current results, but you can always play another day.

Lesson 12 – Going all-in is a powerful move.  Strong committed actions are usually rewarded in powerful ways.

Lesson 11 -  No one can bet for you, fold for you or call for you. Learn from others, but play your game.

Lesson 10 – The only thing worse than making a ball call…is making it twice.

Lesson 9 – When emotions run high, you often don’t think clearly.  Control your energy, own your space.

Lesson 8 – Be patient.  You can’t win the tournament on the first hand.

Lesson 7 – Discover your style, develop your skills, play your game and don’t get distracted by what other people think.

Lesson 6 – Seek first to understand, then crush your opponents.

Lesson 5 – When making a move, do it confidently or don’t do it at all.

Lesson 4 – Scared money always loses.

Lesson 3 – You can’t lose what you don’t bet, but you can’t win much either. Go Big or Go Home!

Lesson 2 – It’s rarely about the cards you’re dealt, but rather how you play your hand.

Lesson 1 – Mindful Observation plus strategic action generally yields great rewards.

Remember high school? For some people it was at absolute blast and for others it was four years of torturous hell. For most people it was some of both.

What I remember most about high school was the feeling of not quite fitting in. I was popular and all and had many external successes, but as you know, our mind often creates an entirely different reality.

I spent a lot of energy trying to be like other people that I thought were cooler, better looking, smarter, funnier, had a better body…you fill in the blank.

It wasn’t until years later as I dove into personal development work that I found out many, many people experienced very similar things. Like me, tons of people lived (and are still living) through comparing themselves to others.

What’s the deal with that?

It’s fricken exhausting, isn’t it?

Why do we run from our own self-expression?

Many people have been doing it their entire lives.

At some level, many people would rather imitate others than just be who they are, as if somehow, the knock-off version of someone else is better than the original version of themselves.

From a business and marketing perspective, this is a slow death. It would be easy to say that this happens because we teach people to model successful people. We say to find someone that has what you want and model them.

Doing what successful people do is certainly a way to success, but unless you model successful habits while developing your authentic self-expression, it’s easy to lose yourself in the process.

Is success worth it if you are just a carbon copy of a bunch of other people?

I think this is one of the big reasons people fail in this world. They don’t trust themselves.

I can speak from personal experience that I have had many incredible ideas that I stuffed away for fear of whether they were good enough, only to act on them years later when I got the balls.

Waiting doesn’t work.

Filtering your ideas against what the rest of the world is doing only dilutes your value.

Vanilla is a pretty boring flavor.

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
- Howard Thurman

Yes, come alive.  That is it.

When it comes to marketing, blogging, copyrighting and presenting your business…sure there are some fundamentals that you want to learn and put in place, but nothing and I mean nothing, can replace your spirit.

If all of your articles, posts and blogs read just like a hundred other people in your niche…why would anyone follow you?

Be fricken original.

We see this all the time online. People model others but forget to make their work their own. The result is bland, boring copy.

Don’t be that guy.

Find your sweet spot. Identify what really lights you up.

Then, focus on letting your own light shine instead of trying to borrow a tiny bit of someone else’s.

“There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.”
- Martha Graham

So, my dear friends, it’s time to get jiggy with it. Go get your freak on! Your authentic, true to yourself, completely original, flava boiling over…self-expression.

Choose today, right now, to do ONE THING that celebrates your self-expression. Let the tiger (or tigress) out of the cage. We want to hear you roar.

It’s time the world sees what you (the one and only you) are really made of.

Please comment if you connected with this post and tweet/re-post to your heart’s desires.

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Your life is your own creation.  It’s your game.  What rules are you playing by?  Are your belief systems about money, success, family and business serving you or getting in your way?

Enjoy this short video inspired by the Jedi himself.  Please share it with your networks and share your comments below.  People all over the world need to understand how to get out of their own way to create success.

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Children are brilliantly in the present.  In many ways, they are fearless.  Fortunately, they have yet to be “trained” into being rational or thinking that they can’t do something.  What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Can you connect with that fun, courageous, unlimited, powerful and FREE child within you and let go of self-limiting beliefs?

What is really fun about this video is that I didn’t say a word to my son before we started filming other than, “Brennan, we are going to make a video.”  His presence and comments are priceless!  Help make Brennan famous – share this post with your networks, retweet and please leave your comments below.

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Do you trust your intuition or are you strictly dominated by left brain critical thought?  What can we learn from the 40 Inch Jedi (my son) about the power of honoring our feeling and trusting in our internal guidance system?

Enjoy this short video inspired by the greatest teacher I know.  Please make comments and share your thoughts.  Retweet and share with your networks.  Let’s support as many people as possible to begin to think about how powerful it is to tap into our inner guidance and intuition.