I send these thoughts out daily from Monday – Friday to thousands of email inboxes around the world and the topic and format of it varies on any given day.

Some days, it’s just an idea to think about to start your day, other days a specific strategy to implement, other days a realization to ponder, still other days, an inspirational story.

They’re NOT your typical cut and paste quotes of “Just do it!” like other motivational newsletters.

They’re written in my own unique way that you can’t really appreciate until you start receiving them in your email inbox.

You never really know what you’re going to get on any given day which I think is part of its appeal as it makes people want to open and read it but what you can guarantee is that it will be something motivational and inspirational and help you slowly help improve your mind by nourishing it with rich mental protein.

The results of it have been phenomenal.

If you go to my main site and scroll down on any given article, you’ll see the rotating box of testimonials along with the newsletter sign up box that displays a small sample of what people have been saying about the newsletter.

I highly recommend you take some time to read through them. Most of the testimonials were very long and I had to cut out a lot of words so they would fit in the box. You’ll see the success that people have had by receiving these M.I.T’s and you’ll also notice something interesting as well – that people have testified that on some days, they got the EXACT M.I.T. they needed that day.

So what’s the secret behind its success?

Why have the M.I.T’s been FAR MORE effective than plunking down thousands of dollars for a 3 day self improvement seminar to only get pumped up for those 3 days and then to revert back to your old self after a couple of weeks?

The answer is very, very, very, simple and so, so, so effective.

It’s because of CONSISTENCY.

That’s it.

There is NO OTHER self improvement tool out there like these M.I.T’s that CONSISTENTLY provide you with RICH mental protein to change your beliefs, your mindset, the way you perceive the world, the actions you take, etc.

It’s the ONLY thing of its kind out there.

Most people don’t take the proactive approach to do this – to feed their mind everyday with rich mental protein.

The M.I.T’s do it for you – they make it EASY – it’s right there sitting in your inbox in the morning. All you have to do is read it, think about it, and apply it.

It may not sound like much – but just do it for a month.

I guarantee you will begin to see results with it,

Add to that, at the end of each M.I.T,, you will see a link either to a current article of the day or a brand new one – that way, it’s easy to read all the articles on this site, one day at a time.

This is where this service is FAR MORE SUPERIOR than any seminar, any book, any tape, you read and plunk down money for because with all that other stuff, it just wears off.

EXCEPT THIS.

Some people might think that it’s too much given that this newsletter gets sent out 5 days a week, Monday – Friday.

“Oh no! It’s too much email.” they say.

But they forget that one important concept – CONSISTENCY.

You see, those people who aren’t willing to do this, who aren’t willing to take advantage of this FREE service – they don’t have what it takes.

They really don’t and I pity them for it, especially because it’s SO EASY as I practically do everything for them, including delivering everything to their doorstep.

Think about it.

They do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except check their email and read it. The actual M.I.T is only a couple sentences, at most a couple of paragraphs. It will only take them a couple minutes each day. It sets their mind right for the day. Implants helpful beliefs. Improves their mindset. Helps them think more positively. Helps them take more action toward their goal. Helps them make breakthrough realizations. Expands their comfort zone and the list of benefits go on and on and on.

But no.

Spending 1 -2 minutes a day reading an email 5 days a week – that’s too much for them.

Let me ask those people a question.

Does Tiger Woods practice golf once a week or once a month?

Do people who want to lose weight only exercise once a week or once a month?

Does anybody ever really get good at anything or make SIGNIFICANT LASTING CHANGE in their lives without doing something CONSISTENTLY?

You see – those people who don’t want to sign up – they don’t realize they’re trapped in their current level of thinking.

I even wrote an actual M.I.T about this concept that describes it in more detail:

“It’s VERY easy to shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to trying new things that might help us.

Otherwise, you’re always going to be trapped at your current level of thinking.”

I’ve done EVERYTHING I CAN ON MY END when it comes to this newsletter.

I spent my own money for the service that allows me to send all these emails to thousands of people in over 120 countries around the world. I spend time daily thinking about what the message is I want to send for the next day. I spend time crafting it, honing it, really making it sound right so that people get the message it’s trying to impart and they apply it. I select an article of the day as well and include the link and I format everything in one nice email and then send it.

The people who have signed up and read it Monday through Friday – they are the one’s whose lives have improved.

They are the ones who are moving up a level, not the ones who scoff at this idea and think it won’t help, who are only trapped at their current level of thinking.

And ultimately, they are the ones who will have made LASTING change.

Simply put, if you’re not consistent, your success will be NON EXISTENT.

So if you haven’t signed up for the newsletter, do so today by clicking here so you can start reaping the many benefits of the M.I.Ts like thousands of others have around the world.

And did I mention that it’s ABSOLUTELY FREE?

AND that it comes with a FREE ecourse on how you can maximize the power of your mind (which when you read, will help you appreciate the M.I.T’s that much more)

I can’t make it any easier for people to take advantage of this FREE service that has changed so many lives around the world.

Also, there’s another reason to sign up because in 2 weeks, I am going to have a MAJOR announcement for ONLY subscribers to the newsletter (as it will only affect them) that will help them in more ways than the current M.I.T’s, the articles, and dare I say the books too on this site (yes, even the books, yes, even The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich). Yes it will be THAT good and in my opinion, one of THE MOST helpful things on this site and I can’t wait to announce it.

You definitely don’t want to miss out on it so sign up today .

P.S. – I’ve closed comments to prevent any questions or speculation about the announcement. I don’t want to get sucked into giving away any clues as I want it to be a VERY pleasant and total surprise!

In the pursuit of any worthy endeavor, we always tend to look for that ONE knockout punch, that ONE home run shot, where we can just do that ONE thing and accomplish our objective.

The efficiency of it is what lures us in.

But the hidden trap people will always fall into is this:

While looking for that one “home run shot”, they neglect to consistently apply the small strategies that will also help them to accomplish their objective.

That’s where all the work is done and most likely, there’s where you find the path TO that one knockout punch, that one home run shot.

Here’s a simple example to illustrate.

Six pack abs is something some people would love to have.

But they don’t want to do what’s necessary to do it.

They want to look for that one “the home run shot” – whether it’s take this magic pill and you’ll get your six pack or wear this lap band on your waist while you watch TV and watch it give you a six pack.

All futile attempts as we all know.

But what if instead of looking for and pursuing that one home run shot, a person consistently applied some small strategies to help them get to their objective.

What if they walked for 30 minutes a day, did 1 hour of fun cardio (kickboxing, dance, boxing, etc), and kept a sensible low fat diet?.

If they applied those small strategies, they would be able to reduce their body fat, hence making their “six pack” visible as they got rid of the fat covering it up in the first place.

But people don’t do that.

They don’t like applying small strategies consistently.

They like to look for the home run shot and rationalize it by saying the time and effort spent to find it is worth it because all they have to do is hit it.

The problem is that it will take them a long, long time to find it (if it even exists) and even if they do find it, it may not be enough.

They could’ve spent all that time and energy on applying small strategies consistently and making REAL progress.

It’s also one of the main reasons why people don’t apply the advice they hear all the time - write down your goals, take action, save 10% of your income – if they did that consistently, you’re going to see a HUGE difference between someone who ignores all that and spends ALL their time and effort looking for that ONE home run shot rather than apply all the small strategies consistently.

There’s another reason that exacerbates this kind of behavior.

Companies know that people inherently look for the easy way out, that home run shot, so they base their marketing on that accordingly.

And people fall for it.

When one home run shot doesn’t work, they move on to the next on and the next, never really making any tangible REAL progress.

Contrast that with what REALLY works - what people don’t want to hear – the consistent application of small strategies and you’ll see the difference.

Imagine a baseball game where each and every player at bat tried to hit a home run.

They swing for the fences on every pitch.

The result wouldn’t be very pretty.

Maybe you would hit one home run once in a while, but nothing really consistent.

After a while, after seeing no results, it’s easy for the team to get dejected, to not even try.

But what if you got some singles in, some doubles, and the bases got loaded?

Even though you hit a single, you score a run.

And can you imagine if you hit a home run then?

You get 4 runs instead of just 1 had you hit it with no bases loaded.

The EXACT same home run hit, yet two vastly different results – all because one team consistently did all the small strategies while looking for the big home run shot while the other team just solely looked for the big home run shot.

There’s another side to the consistent application of small strategies that most people don’t see too – the momentum shifts in your favor. The other team gets nervous when all the bases are loaded, there’s electricity and excitement in the air – the possibility of hitting a grand slam becomes palpable, it’s within your grasp and in essence, the odds begin to stack in your favor WHEN you take the time to apply the small strategies consistently.

Don’t get caught up in looking for the home run to the point where that’s where you spend all your time.

Consistently apply the small strategies that will help you get to your goal – that’s what works and that’s what will help you find the “home run shot” and to hit it.

And when you do, it will make the results THAT MUCH sweeter.

It makes sense because it makes it easy.

Just do exactly what the other person has done and you will get what you want but ultimately, that kind of reasoning is flawed.

What works for some people will probably not work for you simply because we are all different.

By requesting the exact way someone else did “x” and trying to copy it, you dishonor yourself. You overlook your own talents, abilities, and more importantly, you lose power of responsibility and your power to create YOUR OWN WAY to do “x”.

That’s not to say you have to start from scratch and create a brand new way. You can always learn points from other people’s ways that you can incorporate but you ultimately want to make your own way as that’s the best way.

Take the example of losing weight.

There’s a million diets, a million different types of exercises to do, and a million different pieces of advice on how to go about doing it.

Nobody wants to sift through all that clutter so they want someone to show them the EXACT way.

They find somebody who did it and request the EXACT way on how that person did it so the person tells them the exact way on how THEY did it.

Let’s say their EXACT way was to count your calories and make sure you don’t consume more than you burn, run 2 miles everyday, and drink caffeine (I’m keeping the exact way very simple for illustrative purposes).

So the person thinks to himself – “If I copy that exact way I will be able to lose weight too.”

But he can’t.

He can’t copy it.

He hates running.

He hates counting calories.

He doesn’t like taking too much caffeine.

Is the method of doing all those things to lose weight wrong?

No.

They’ve worked for the person who used it.

But it’s not going to work for the person who’s trying to copy it exactly because it’s just not the right way for him.

He hates running, he hates counting calories, and he doesn’t like taking caffeine.

But what if instead of running, he does boxing?

Instead of counting calories, he prepares meals ahead of time so he doesn’t have to count the calories all the time?

Instead of taking caffeine, he takes a different supplement to boost his metabolism?

This way, he’s still following the guidelines that made the other person successfully lose weight, but more importantly, he’s able to stick to this way because he created his own way - one that he likes.

When you create your own way, that’s when you’re well on your way.

By doing so, you make it fun and interesting for yourself so you’re that much more compelled to go through with it in the long term.

Creating your own way gives you that sense of personal responsibility and infuses you with personal power.

Don’t give that up by taking the easy way out and copying the EXACT way of others.

If you do so, you’re playing it “safe” because if things go wrong, it’s easy to blame others.

Look at the ways that successful people have chosen to do “x”.

Then take the underlying principles from all those ways and choose your own specific methods to incorporate those principles into your own way - your own unique creative way of doing “x”.

By doing so, you empower yourself, you flex your creative muscles, and you create a plan for yourself that will be much more conducive to you following through on because it’s your own way, one that fits YOU like a tailored suit, so you don’t have to take on a suit that fits another perfectly, but is so small on you that you can’t breathe and so big on you that you trip over yourself.

Nobody can show you the EXACT way.

But you can CREATE the EXACT way - one that’s just right for you.

It got me thinking that I should start preserving all the information on this site in case something should happen to it, or my computer, or me personally.

In a way, I’m grateful for the bugs that hit my site and computer because it proved to be the kick in the rear I needed to get this project underway.

I spent the last two weeks compiling the information on this site and I really had a great time doing it.

However, there was no way I was going throw all the articles in one PDF because nobody would read all 2,000+ pages of it. There’s no value in throwing it all together if nobody reads an ebook because it’s so big.

Therefore I decided to split The Best of BrianKim.net into various volumes that have articles put in logical order to really add value to the reader (if you’ve read my book The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich – you know why it’s so important to arrange things in logical order and sequence).

I’ve done EXACTLY that with The Best of BrianKim.net – Volume I.

I did that by taking all the articles from the beginning of the site – July 2006 to December 2007 as a starting point, which turned out to be a total of 187 posts, 13 of which were just announcements.

That left 174 solid articles.

I then tried to order them individually but that proved to be too hard as the topics were so random and the articles too many.

Then I divided the articles into categories and logically deduced what I thought would be the best 3 categories to include and start in Volume I – to really lay down a solid mental foundation for the reader, to really strengthen the mind of the reader, and to help the reader create a “mental makeover” if you will in order to program the right mindsets into it.

There are a total of 56 articles in these 3 categories which comes out to about 180 pages for the length of The Best of BrianKim.net - Volume I ebook (the rest of the articles will be logically categorized and put in future volumes).

I’ve also included in the introduction of Volume I my reasoning behind choosing these 3 categories as well as why I put them in the order I did.

I also have Exclusive Post Commentaries on some of the 57 articles in the volume that give you some additional thoughts and insights I had while reading them once again.

Nobody else will ever see that except those who get a copy of this volume.

Also because this is a special launch event for me as it kicks off the first phase of the preservation of BrianKim.net, I’ve decided to add The Best M.I.T’s from 2006 – 2007 VOLUME I to the mix as well!

I’ve taken the BEST 101 M.I.T’s (Motivational and Inspirational Thoughts) from 2006 - 2007 based on reader feedback and my own personal favorites and put them all in one 40 page ebook.

Those who’ve been newsletter subscribers from day one will LOVE this as it’s a great trip down memory lane and those who haven’t subscribed will love getting it in “concentrated” form.

I must warn you when you read the M.I.T’s all at once, it can really give your mind a workout because the topics are so random and they’re written in a way that makes you think and see things you saw before in a different light. When I was going over it, I could literally feel my mind “working out” and expanding so I’m excited to let other people experience that as well.

This is usually where I would include testimonials from readers of the articles and subscribers to the M.I.T’s but if you’ve seen the revolving box of testimonials on the newsletter sign up page and if you’ve read any of my articles, I think you know these two volumes will be well worth it.

I’m excited to get this out and I think it will be VERY beneficial to anyone who has read my articles and/or signed up for my newsletter and will also allow them to “hoard” (according to one reader email I got) the information on this site in case something should ever happen to it, in essence to own a piece of BrianKim.net history, and to benefit from the articles in the 3 categories I’ve chosen as well as the logical sequence I’ve put them in, and the exclusive post commentaries in them too.

Since this is a special launch, you can get the two volumes (The Best of BrianKim.net – Volume I and The Best M.I.T’s of 2006 – 2007 Volume I) for only $19.95! (I will probably be selling them separately afterwards so buy today and save!)

Click here to get your copies of the two volumes today!

We would take a test and then ask our friends afterward what they thought they got on the test.

You could always find yourself getting these three types of responses.

Response A: The person expects the worst case scenario with the logic being if he does fail, at least he was right and if he does better than that, he’s happy that he exceeded his expectations.

Response B: The person sets very high expectations, which has the potential of setting up that person to fall big time and if he does, it sends him on a downward spiral that’s hard to get out of – a lot of questioning and self doubt starts to plague him.

Response C: The person has no expectations so whatever the results are, it doesn’t affect him/her at all compared to the other two responses (which seems to be the best response to have at first glance).

Here’s where the dilemma arises.

If you choose Response A, the worst case scenario, it’s not a very helpful attitude to have – to always expect the worse. It can sabotage you and result in a negative self fulfilling prophecy.

If you choose Response B and set high expectations, it’s really easy to crash and go down that dark deep hole that’s very hard to climb out of.

If you choose Response C, which logically sounds the best, there’s no sense of a “drive” to do the best you can. If you never set expectations, it’s hard to progress. It’s hard to get to improve. You can’t improve. You will always stay at the level you’re in right now because you never get to measure anything to see how you can improve.

People find themselves in this dilemma when setting a goal.

Do they expect the worse so they can be at the very least, right and if they do better, be happy about it? But doesn’t that just divide you in the process? Isn’t that just shooting yourself in the foot before the game even starts?

Do they expect the best but get hit so hard that they don’t go on with their goal when the results don’t match their expectations?

Or do they expect nothing and hope they magically progress to achieve their goal without setting any sort of expectations at all?

It’s a tricky situation to be in but the answer is simple.

Let go of the need to set expectations in the BEGINNING of your journey.

You should though expect the final goal to be achieved.

It’s going to happen.

It’s a done deal.

It’s just a matter of time.

What you should NOT do is set expectations as to what the results will be of your actions, AT LEAST IN THE BEGINNING.

You take one action AND EXPECT NOTHING.

You don’t expect to fail.

You don’t expect to hit a grand slam.

You expect NOTHING.

And you see what happens.

If that one action doesn’t return anything, then you do another and EXPECT NOTHING.

You keep on doing this until you see some return on your action.

Then you have a foundation to build upon.

Then you have some data you can play with to use to START setting expectations.

For example, let’s say you set a goal to lose weight by x date.

You expect to.

It’s done.

It’s not a matter of if in your mind, but when.

You try diet #1 for two weeks.

Nothing happens. You don’t lose any weight.

You try diet #2 for two weeks.

Nothing happens. You don’t lose any weight.

You try diet #3 with some boxing for two weeks and you find you lost 1 pound.

Now you’ve got something.

If you stick to diet #3 and your boxing regimen for two weeks, you can reasonably expect to lose 1 pound during the course of those two weeks.

Now that rate might be too slow so you would want to do something to speed it up so you set an expectation of losing two pounds in two weeks and then take some action accordingly - maybe some extra running early in the morning and you see what that does and if it works great! If not, that’s ok because you still lost one pound and you scratched off a method that doesn’t work.

You keep on taking action, getting results, and with more and more results, you’re able to set better expectations that aren’t too low or too high, that will propel you to improve, to progress, to get better results, to help you better measure the impact of your actions which you can then leverage to progress even more, which helps you move faster and faster toward your goal.

You can’t expect anything if you don’t have any data to base those expectations on.

That’s why you shouldn’t expect anything IN THE BEGINNING, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOTHING to base those expectations on.

As you go through your journey, it will be EASIER to set expectations and they will become more and more accurate and allow you to progress, to improve so that’s why you SHOULD start setting them later on.

Set them high too early - it’s easy to fall, to become discouraged, and quit.

Set them too low, it’s easy to say tell yourself you were right if nothing happened, to have that defeatist mentality, to shoot yourself in the foot before the game even starts, to adopt the habit of negative thinking and then quit.

Expect nothing in the BEGINNING so it’s easy to avoid that emotional rollercoaster and detach yourself in order to look at the results objectively and start using them to set reasonable expectations that aren’t too high or too low in order to measure, improve, and to progress.

It’s the right way to go about setting your expectations so you can do your very best.

Add to that, there’s also a great serendipitous event too as the video of Steve Job’s commencement speech at Stanford university is on the front page of Youtube today.

It’s a great serendipitous moment because that speech was the inspiration my very first article, How to Find What You Love to Do, which was passed around to tens of thousands of people the very first day I posted it.

It’s what launched my site and I am forever grateful for that article really putting my site on the map of the Internet.

For those of you who haven’t heard the speech, I’ve embedded it here for you to see it for yourselves.

Also, here’s the link to How to Find What You Love to Do, which was was inspired by the speech.

That article got a lot of great responses and led me to create a higher version of it – my ebook How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do and Get Paid For Doing It: The DEFINITIVE Guide to Finding and Successfully Pursing Your Passion so I thought with the timing of graduation and the serendipitous Steve Jobs speech video event, it would only be fitting to offer that book as the monthly special offer.

The special offer for June will also include two bonuses along with the ebook – a workbook you can use to find what you love and a special report of 3 real life stories of those who found what they loved to do and got paid for doing it.

I will also be throwing in the Best Bonus ever offered on BrianKim.net – How to Get Rich: The Sorely Needed Logical and Structured Essay That Won’t Be Found Anywhere Else Today.

If you read the article preview of it here, you’ll know that at the end of it, I said I would release it as a bonus to my monthly special offers so I want to keep my word on that.

One reader got angry at me last month as he waited for this bonus but never saw it. He didn’t realize it was part of the exclusive premium subscription offered last month so to that reader, I keep my promise and deliver it here for you as a bonus for the special offer this month (you know who you are ).

Here’s a small snippet of what people have been saying about the book and the best bonus ever offered on BrianKim.net.

“Have you found your passion? If not, don’t waste any time getting started. This ebook is the best way I know of to do that. (In fact, it’s going on my Resources page.)” – Hunter Nuttall

“The concept of finding what it is that we are passionate about is something that so very many people struggle with. After reading Brian’s Book, I can honestly say that the system contained in his book is the best one that I have seen yet.” – Aaron Potts

• It’s specific – you’ll learn “What” and then “How”. First you find ‘what’ it is you truly should be doing with your life – your calling. Once you know what this is (and you will) then you move on to ‘how’ to make it pay. If you know you can’t be happy while you’re working a dreary, dead-end day job that doesn’t leave you with enough energy to pursue your dreams, then take my advice – buy this book now and get moving. Life is short! Stop wasting time!” – Rebelzen.com

“I cannot verbalize the amount of change brought into my life by reading your articles and your books. I simply cannot believe that there is someone out there who is the voice of the truth and is not out there throwing pieces of information to consumers and getting them hungry for more.

I cannot thank you enough for the work you’ve been doing and please never change your style. You are like the voice of reason in the success/self-improvement industry. There’s no magic purple clouds and fairy tales in your stuff. It’s pure, hard-hitting, easy to understand and apply information. The $40 invested in your books is chump change compared to the gold that lies within. In fact I think you ought to charge at least double that amount!!” - Ergest Xheblati

Again, these are just small snippets of what readers have thought of the book and the bonuses. You can read the full testimonials on the special monthly offer page.

For the young readers who are just graduating high school or college, for those of you who are looking for ideas for a new career thanks to the recession, for those of you who have no idea what to do for a living, for those of you who want to do something else than what you’re currently doing, for those of you who are sick and tired of all the vague advice given to find your passion, who want practical, logical, structured advice, this special offer is for you.

This offer will only last for 72 hours so take advantage of it before it expires!

Edit: The special offer has expired. Sign up for the newsletter to get notified for future special monthly offers!

I’ve been dealing with some technical issues on my computer as well as some small issues on the site but no worries as everything has now been resolved.

It looked like I got a nasty bug along with some spyware that several programs could not fix so the entire past week was spent backing up all the data on my computer and site and making sure everything was saved. I had to completely reformat my computer, install a fresh copy of windows and now everything is up and running smoothly.

Before I go on to elaborate on how misfortunate events have turned into great ideas and realizations, I just want to implore all to regularly back up data, scan your hard drives for malware, and use anti virus programs and update them.

If you go to download.com, you can download some great free anti virus and anti spyware programs like Malware Antibytes, AVG, Superantiyspware, and Spybot Search and Destroy.

Also, it would also be wise to get an external hard drive to back up all your data, along with some flash drives, and maybe even another computer in case everything goes south. I have a netbook that’s great for that.

It’s easy to assume things will always be the same on your computer and that you won’t get infected, but you never know.

Please back up your important data and scan your drives regularly for trojans and viruses.

Now on to the good stuff.

These misfortunate events made me realize that it’s important I start preserving all the articles on my site in case something happens to my site, my computer, or me.

It’s an idea I had before due to emails from readers but an idea I never really kicked into gear until now.

Usually, I get 9-10 emails every month from people telling me that the archives link isn’t working on my site. I check it out and sure enough, it’s not working, but when I try the next day, it’s working fine. The reason is probably because people are clicking the archives links when a ton of other people are clicking it too. It usually happens on heavy traffic days like Wednesday.

One reader emailed me saying he panicked and wanted to “hoard” all the articles in case something happened. I have to admit, I did chuckle when I read that email but it made me realize that I should start preserving the articles on my site in case something does happen and the events this past week really put that as my primary objective.

But I didn’t want to throw all the hundreds of articles on this site into a 10,000 page PDF file.

I wanted to something better, something that would really benefit the reader.

Break down all the articles, add to it, put them in logical order, as well as add some other surprises that would really give insight and benefit the reader.

I’ve made this a top priority and in the coming weeks, very soon, maybe as soon as next week, I’m going to introduce the preservation of this site in terms of volumes.

You will see Volume 1 of The Best of BrianKim.net coming out in the coming weeks so in retrospect, while it wasn’t fun dealing with all the issues on my computer and site, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

I’ve already begun the experience of compiling Volume 1 and I have to say it’s been a really fun and uplifting experience. It’s been a great trip down memory lane and I’m excited to introduce it and tell readers what it will be all about and in what ways it will benefit them.

Napoleon Hill’s words have never sounded better – “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.”

You just have to find it.

It’s one of the major causes of inaction, procrastination, the obsession with perfection, and a host of other issues.

People are afraid to fail.

If they fail, they think their self esteem might drop, they might feel humiliated, embarrassed, lose self confidence - the reasons for the fear are many.

But fear it no more because you’re going to learn how to rid of it by giving yourself permission to fail.

So how do you go about exactly doing that?

Realize this.

YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL.

It’s inevitable, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:

IT’S NATURAL.

I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH.

IT IS NATURAL FOR YOU TO FAIL.

I really hate to break it to you but you are NOT PERFECT.

Neither am I.

And since YOU, the SOURCE of all your actions is imperfect - it ONLY MAKES SENSE that your actions will in turn, BE IMPERFECT AS WELL.

It makes NO sense for you to expect your actions to be perfect, if the source from which they stem from, which is you in your entirety, is imperfect.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

Our actions HAVE TO BE IMPERFECT BECAUSE WE ARE IMPERFECT.

Really think about.

Really let that sink in.

Then feel all that weight get lifted off your shoulders.

Feel that chill run down your spine.

You’ve just taken one of the biggest steps you can in giving yourself permission to fail.

The second point I want to make is this.

It’s UNNATURAL to assume you’ll hit what you’re aiming for 100% the first time.

It’s unnatural to assume you can go DIRECTLY from point A to point B in a PURE, SINGLE, STRAIGHT LINE fashion with no mistakes represented as jagged edges or zig zags.

It’s unnatural.

Nothing is straight.

Nothing.

Things just appear straight – from afar.

You can find the straightest razor blade on the planet, but look at it under a microscope – it’s not straight.

Nothing in nature is straight.

Nothing in the universe is straight.

And neither will your efforts be.

You journey from point A to point B will not be straight.

It will be jagged.

It will zig zag.

It will go up and down.

And all that’s what helps you get to where you want to be.

You give yourself permission to fail, take some sort of action and fail.

You didn’t get to Point B from that one action.

And you’re not crushed at all because you expect it.

You don’t give up, curse yourself, beat yourself up over the failure.

It’s natural.

You are imperfect, therefore your actions are imperfect.

But you did something and you look at what happened as a result. You get the feedback and then you do something else based on that feedback.

You fail again.

But that’s ok.

It’s natural.

To be expected.

It’s as natural as you breathing.

You did something, failed, and you look at what happened as a result. You get that feedback and then you do the next step accordingly with respect to not just that feedback, but the feedback from the first failure too.

Rinse and repeat.

You will fail again and again and again as you should, and with each of those failures, you slowly gain information from the feedback that you BUILD UPON EXPONENTIALLY so you get closer and closer to Point B faster and faster.

The edges aren’t as jagged or zig zaggy anymore.

It’s beginning to smooth out.

But the journey will never be straight.

No journey ever is.

No plane, ship, car, bike, or tricycle ever travels in a straight line.

Ever.

The driver is ALWAYS constantly adjusting course.

And that’s how they all inevitably get from Point A to Point B.

Give yourself permission to fail by realizing that it’s natural for you to fail.

It’s as natural as you breathing.

You are imperfect, therefore your actions will be imperfect.

Realize also that it’s NOT natural for you to go from point A to point B in one swift straight line.

It’s natural for the journey to be all over the place at first, but with time, it will get smoother, as long as you course correct based on the feedback you get.

Things in the beginning will not look straight at all simply because you’re too close to it in the beginning. You notice everything, every little detail and mishap.

But as time goes on and your experience grows, you stop viewing life under a microscope.

You start to “zoom out” and look at the big picture.

And what you’ll find is that yeah – over time, your journey did look like a straight line, but definitely not a perfect one.

Just like everything else under and around the sun.

When you first started out on your self improvement journey, everything was fresh and exciting.

The books pumped you up. The tapes you listened to on your way to work pumped you up. The seminars you went to on the weekends really did a number on you.

The sky was the limit. The information was all out there. It was gold. You just had to learn it ALL to improve yourself and set and achieve goals.

But then something happened.

You discovered after a while that the books, tapes, seminars just didn’t cut it for you anymore.

You didn’t get that “high” anymore.

It’s as if you developed some kind of immunity to it because you got so used to it.

So you keep on looking for that next high, going deeper and deeper but seemingly going nowhere at the same time.

You read, read, read, looking for that next high to put you into action but can’t find it.

You need stronger and stronger stimuli but nothing happens.

Why?

Because you’ve read enough of those books to the point where you realize they all say the same things.

It’s all in front of you.

Persistence, focus, believe, achieve, set goals, write, etc., yet you can’t seem to make any headway with all that information.

All this information but no action.

Why?

You can’t put your finger on it.

There’s something there.

Something that’s holding you back.

You don’t know what it us, until now.

Here it is.

Finally.

Once and for all.

The problem with 99.9% of all the self improvement information out there is that it’s simply just a bunch of ideas.

THERE IS NO SYSTEM.

99.9% of all the self improvement information is IDEA BASED and it usually presents itself in this kind of format.

10 Qualities All Successful People Have in Common
The 24 Principles You Need to Master Success.
The Top 5 Characteristics of People Who Set and Achieve Goals.

0.1% of the information is SYSTEM Based.

And the great thing about SYSTEMS is that it TAKES ALL THOSE IDEAS AND PUTS THEM IN LOGICAL ORDER TO MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU TO TAKE ACTION AND APPLY THEM.

It’s when you put all those ideas in the right system that everything “clicks” into place and you no longer have to go search for your next high or feel the need to read every last book to find that missing idea because THERE IS NO MISSING IDEA.

You were just missing THE SYSTEM.

You have too many ideas and no system to make sense of all of it.

Think of it like this.

All your life, you thought you couldn’t build a house.

But one day, an inspirational speech makes you think you can. An inspirational book. A motivational speaker.

“Yes you can!” - they all proclaim to you.

So you read the books.

The books say you need x, y, z to build a house.

Concrete, nails, wood, hammers, drills, plans for the house, nuts, bolts, etc.

So you get all that but you want to make sure you have EVERYTHING.

So you read some more books and sure enough you found you’ve missed some things.

Pipes, paint, glass, etc.

And you repeat this until you’ve amassed pretty much all the materials you need.

Now it’s time to start building.

But you don’t know how.

You don’t know how to start.

To just do it.

To just take action and build the freaking house.

You have all these materials around you, but you just can’t get into action.

You can’t build the house.

So you go back to your books again, but all they’re telling you is you need x, y, z.

But you already know and have x, y, z.

And you’re stuck.

Can you see the correlation here?

All the books are telling you that you need to be focused, persistent, you need to believe, etc.

That’s great and all, but those ideas can only take you up to a certain point.

Beyond that, they’re of no use, UNTIL THEY CAN BE ARRANGED INTO A SYSTEM.

The materials you have to build the house are of no use, until they are arranged into a system.

A system like:

You get the architecture plans for the house.
You dig a hole for the foundation with bulldozers and shovels.
You pour the concrete with a concrete truck.
You let it dry.
You do the framing with the wood and nails you have.
You install the windows with the glass you have.
You do the roofing.
You do the electrical work.
You do the plumbing, the HVAC.
You insulate, put up drywall, paint the walls.
You do the carpet and flooring, etc., etc., etc.

Now granted some self improvement books do manage to put some ideas into a system, but not into the MAIN SYSTEM.

It’s a SUBSYSTEM like doing the roofing or the electrical work.

And moreover, people apply that subsystem, but in the wrong order of the MAIN SYSTEM.

A classic example is the idea of thinking big and the subsystem to do it.

It’s a great idea.

Think big. Sounds cool.

And here’s the system to do it:

Think of a huge goal that’s way out there. Shoot for the moon because if you miss, at least you’re among the stars is the phrase most commonly used to justify it.

Write it down. Visualize. Tell other people about it yada yada yada.

That’s the subsystem.

But the problem is they put it in the beginning of the main system.

I won’t go into detail as to why that subsystem should not be in the beginning of the main system of achieving goals as I’ve already covered it in a previous article entitled The Myth of Thinking Big.

There’s all these ideas, but no system.

And even if some books wise up and try to arrange ideas into a system, they create subsystems at best and put those subsystems in the wrong order of the main system.

This is the “thing” people are missing, the “thing” that they can’t quite put their finger on, but the “thing” they know is responsible for their lack of progress.

- Responsible for their constant reading but never applying.

- Responsible for their addiction to reading everything on self improvement.

- Responsible for their quest to find that missing “idea” that will do it all.

But therein lies the problem.

It’s not ONE idea.

The magic pill is not one idea.

It’s a SYSTEM.

A system that takes all the ideas and puts them all in the right order and makes it easy to take action and apply them all.

If you read my books, you’ll see they are NOT just about a collection of ideas.

Anybody in the world can do that.

It takes something else to get to the next level up and arrange them all into a system.

And it’s when you do that, that you transcend everything that’s out there.

It’s what I did with The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich.

It took all of Hill’s ideas and PUT THEM INTO A SYSTEM:

The NATURAL Process of Goal Achievement.

Here’s an email I got from a reader who read it recently and applied what he learned to make great progress with it because he learned the SYSTEM - The Natural System, or Process of Goal Achievement.

“First I just wanted to say thanks for your site. You have inspired me more than most “gurus” out there. I love your style of writing and all your knowledge.

- Efrain E. Guerrero

It’s not enough to write about ideas.

The next level is SYSTEMS and that’s what makes all the difference in the world and that’s exactly what The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich does.

It gives you the natural system, the natural process of goal achievement.

When you read about it, you’ll realize you’ve used it too to achieve past goals without even realizing it because it WAS the natural system in the first place.

When you have a system, it’s easier to start, to DO, to get things done, to grow and in Efrain’s case, to start and get to the point where he now has a successful weight loss coaching business that he had previously been procrastinating on and feared to start.

If there is no system, all you’re left is a bunch of materials and tools around you.

And you can’t build anything.

It’s the case of many who read but never apply.

The tools are out there. They just can’t seem to pick them up and use them to build something tangible.

Because they lack the system.

It’s why people get stuck, always read think looking for that one secret idea that they can just focus on.

That one secret idea for some might be “positive thinking”m but we all know just by thinking positive nothing will happen.

You can do it till the day you die – nothing will happen.

It’s an IDEA, one that’s useful, but only one that is useful WITHIN a SYSTEM among many other ideas, carefully arranged and put in the right order that makes sense and makes it easy for the reader to take action and apply.

It’s no wonder why so many people who get into self improvement fall into that trap of always reading, never applying, looking for that secret idea that will pump them up, that will unlock it ALL.

It’s not the idea they should be looking for because it doesn’t even exist.

It’s the SYSTEM they should’ve been looking for in the first place.

But in real life, that doesn’t happen for most people.

Constant interruptions, lack of self discipline, poor time management are just some of the factors as to why people can’t seem to finish what they start.

They haven’t cultivated the completion habit.

You can’t develop momentum, make progress, in essence, get your “plane” off the ground if you constantly leave your tasks unfinished.

If a plane constantly moved forward and stopped, moved forward and stopped, not only would it never get off the runway, it would run out of runway.

Then it would have to move through dirt, rock, and shrubs which makes it that much harder for it to develop the speed it needs to takeoff and pretty soon, it’ll be too late.

They’ll be trees or a cliff that will make it impossible for the plane to take off.

It’s the story for most people when it comes to not finishing what they have started.

So how can you finish what you start?

Obviously the first thing to do would be to NOT select a task that you know you can’t finish in one sitting, in other words, a big one.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew when it comes to selecting to do one task at a time in one sitting.

That’s not to say you can’t do big tasks.

You just have to break it down so you know you can finish each task that you start within your own period of concentration time.

Each one of us has our own period of concentration time.

For some, it’s 30 minutes, others 15 minutes, and for others 45 minutes.

It’s the time they can spend in one sitting in total concentration and focus. After that time period ends, it’s no use to keep on going. They need to take a break and get their minds on something else.

Break your tasks down so they fit into whatever your period of concentration time is.

Find out what yours is by experimenting. See when you start to get antsy and need to take a break.

Make it easy on yourself to finish what you start by taking that period of concentration time into account when breaking down your tasks to fit that amount of time.

Next, be CRYSTAL CLEAR as to EXACTLY what you have to do.

In other words, make sure it’s ACTIONABLE the second you read what you have to do

It makes it far easier to start rather than to spend time to sit down and figure out what to do because by the time you do figure out what you need to do and get on it, your period of concentration time will have already passed and you’ll find that you can’t finish that task you started.

That’s not to say you can go back and pick up where you left off, but if you do, you’re only going to reinforce the fact that you can’t complete.

Which path do you think will help you build the completion habit?

Breaking down one big task into 10 small tasks and FINISHING each of those 10 tasks that you started ON THE SPOT – so you have a “record” of 10-0, or the other path of only finishing 2 of those 10 tasks on the spot, with the rest, having to stop in the middle and coming back to pick it up?

10-0 is WAY better than 2-8.

Yes, in both instances, the big task would’ve been completed, but the 10-0 way not only helps you finish the task quicker, it gives you a huge boost in solidifying the completion habit.

You were victorious 10 times in a row in finishing what you started in each of those 10 sittings.

That’s huge.

2-8 is a pretty bad record and doesn’t do much to solidify the completion habit.

In fact, it only reinforces that you can’t complete.

Plus, if you don’t complete the task you gave yourself for your period of concentration time in one sitting, you lose flow.

Flow of ideas, buildup of momentum, discipline, and confidence in yourself – you miss out on all that if you don’t complete ON THE SPOT.

You have to start from scratch if you quit in the middle of it.

Along with all this, it would be practical to have your own “fortress of solitude” where you know you’ll have no interruptions or temptations to kill time so you can finish each task you start.

Make it a habit to complete.

Give yourself those little victories so you come out with a no loss record.

Avoid the temptation to leave in the middle of your task.

When you start to finish ON THE SPOT, in one sitting, within the amount of your own period of concentration time, momentum starts to build on your behalf.

You work faster, get things done, results start to show, your confidence builds, you see yourself as a person of action, you start completing, and you see the rewards of it which just motivates you to keep it up and that cycle starts to solidify it, to the point where the completion habit becomes automatic.