weight loss is never easy

We all want to change something about ourselves. There is always something that we want to change in life.  Dealing with something that we want to make different is not always easy but we have to figure out the best method to make it happen.  Many people are trying to change the way that they look and their weight.  This is going to be a very challenging idea and something that takes a lot of willpower. 

How many times have you tried a diet and failed?  This can be very disappointing.  It is hard to realize that you are not losing the weight that you want and be the size that you have dreamed about.  However, with the right state of mind and a little bit of help, you can make your dreams a reality.  

The one thing that you can do is make sure that you keep a positive mind and always keeps telling yourself that you are better than someone that quits.  You are someone that is important and that should give your diet the best possible try that you can. Being positive is all part of making a diet work for you.  

Make sure that you are serious about your weight loss plan. You need to know that there is no room for failure and that you are going to make this happen for you.  Sometimes we may not be able to succeed at a diet because there is something else going on in our life.  Maybe we have a problem that lies deep beneath that we are having a hard time dealing with.  If this happens we need to seek help for it and get started on a good method of healing.

Staying focused is something that is very important too.  There are many reasons why we need to be sincere and realize that this is something that we really want to do.  Being controlled is something that is a necessity when we want to drop weight and make ourselves seem healthy.  We need to know what we have to do in order to make our goal a reality and be the weight that we want to be.  

Take some time to listen to your heart and what you want to be.  Are you ready for the challenges that come along with dieting and not being a failure?  Is this something that you are physically and emotionally ready to do?  Make sure that you are strong and able to handle this type of process.  Being ready for the challenge is something that you should realize so that you are not losing sight of what the impertinence is.  

If things are not going your way you need to figure out a plan to make it right.  Make sure that you are checking out the options that you have and all that is going on.  Give yourself time to make your weight loss a goal that is going to happen for you.  There is no need to pressure yourself into something that you are not ready for.  

Remember you are not a failure you are a success story.  As long as you have dreams and goals set for yourself you are going to make it all happen.  Giving your best shot and keeping sight of what is important will give you the help and the reinforcement that you need.  Just be positive and never give up on yourself.  

Review the Journey

As we move into 2016, take a look back over your own journey. Spend some time reminding yourself of everything in your life that’s changed for the better, and then invest a little time in appreciating how far you've come. Here are some questions to get you started:

• What progress have you made in your career? How has that benefited you?
• How has your financial situation improved? How does that make you feel?
• Who are the people in your life who matter the most to you? How has your relationship with them improved over time?
• What have you learned? Have you taken courses, learned from a mentor or your own experiences? How has this impacted your life?
• What new habits have you created? How have those improved your life?
• What obstacles have you overcome? How is your life different as a result?
• What experiences or opportunities have you taken advantage of that have had an impact on your life today?
• What have you done that has made a difference in the lives of others?

Spending some time feeling good about everything that you've accomplished is a powerful exercise. Often, we confuse acknowledging our accomplishments with bragging or arrogance but there’s a big difference. 

People who brag about their accomplishments do so to cover up their own insecurities and put others down in the process. Acknowledging your own successes just means owning who you are and channeling that understanding into creating an even better version of yourself. 

Whether you choose to chat about success with a friend or just pat yourself quietly on the back doesn't matter. Both are equally powerful, and you may be surprised at the impact counting your successes has on your mood and your motivation.

Top 50 Best Success Quotes

A great quote is like a double-shot of inspiration straight to your brain. Here's a compilation of 50 amazing quotes about success. Top 50 Best Quotes About Success selected by By Spencer Lanoue / Source: Inventor Spot

 1. "We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret." Earl Nightingale

2. "There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed." Ray Goforth

3. "If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work." Thomas J. Watson

4. "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." Pablo Picasso

5. "Create experiences that leave you in awe, for these will be the highlights of your life." Ryan Blair

6. "Failure is not in your vocabulary; rather, you convert all working experiences, be they positive or negative, into fuel for future success." Anonymous

7. "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absense of fear." Mark Twain

8. "Repetition is the father of learning, I repeat, repetition is the father of learning." Dwayne Michael Carter

9. "Top Achievers are improvisors, not perfectionists. If you want to create more success in your life you have to move forward not knowing all the answers." Douglas Vermeeren

10. "Weak people talk and do not act, strong people act and keep quiet." Eliphas Levi 

 11. "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Michael Jordan

12. "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out." Robert Collier

13. "All success in life, whether material or spiritual, starts with the thoughts that you put into your mind every second of every minute of every day. Your outer world reflects the state of your inner world. By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny."  R. Sharma

14. "The only thing that can stop you is the doubt that you carry in your mind." Chae Richardson

15. "Unfortunately, there seems to be  far more opportunity out there than ability. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation." Thomas Edison

16. "Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life." Dr. APJ Kalam

17. "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Thomas Jefferson

18. "Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always some one to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising to tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has it's victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them." Ralph Waldo Emerson

19. "How you see the world first determines your attitude, and then your attitude determines how the world sees you." Mark Amend

20. "As soon as you realize that you don't need anyone to make it in life. That's your first step towards success." Vusi Ndlovu

21. "Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change." Anonymous

22. "The starting point of all achievement is desire." Napolean Hill

23. "All progress takes place outside the comfort zone." Michael John Bobak

24. "You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing." Philippos

25. "There are some things you can't learn from others. You have to pass through the fire."Norman Vicent Peale

26. "Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy." Anonymous

27. "Seek first to understand, then to be understood" Stephen Covey

28. "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy." Dale Carnegie

29. "When in doubt, act boldly, as if it were impossible to fail. In essence it is." Steve Pavlina 

30. "If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission." Anonymous

31. "When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers." Ralph Waldo Emerson

32. "An object at rest tends to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay in motion." Isaac Newton

33. "The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have." Norman Vincent Peale

34. "The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude." Ralph Waldo Emerson 

35. "Capital isn’t scarce; vision is." Sam Walton

36. "Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners." Robert T. Kiyosaki

37. "Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is." Anita Roddick

38. "Action generates motivation; not the other way around." Mark Amend

39. "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill

40. "I’ve been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have." Russell Simmons

41. "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly." Proverb

42. "There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." Nelson Mandela

43. "Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do." John Wooden

44. "Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." Mark Victor Hansen

45. "Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them." Vaibhav Shah

46. "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." Albert Einstein

47. "Success belongs to those who believe in the power of their ideas." Michael Irwin

48. "Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them." Orison Swett Marden

49. "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts breaks their bonds: your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person than you ever dreamed yourself to be." Patanjali

50. "The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors." Napoleon Hill

How Do You Define Success in Your Life?

Often, in our society, we define success in terms of material positions and monetary wealth. We often think about success in terms of whether or not someone is rich in terms of net worth. However, is being rich in money and things actually success? It doesn't have to be. Some ways that others use to measure success are:

By Asking yourself: 
Do you feel happy -- not just at work, not just at home, not just in those fleeting moments when you do something just for yourself, but overall
Are you relatively healthy? Do you take care of yourself? If you have your health, a good quality
of life is more likely. Money doesn't help you much if you are too sick to do anything with it.
Is your family in good health, and offering you the chance for good social interactions, money isn't as important.
Do you you have a winning personality and good friends to rely on, that often means that you have good success in your life. You can’t replace those social interactions with money.

Think about your situation and your life. In many cases, a good life isn't dependent on building up vast stores of wealth. Instead, true success is more likely in good health, good friends and family, and a feeling of peace and contentment with the choices you've made.

In many cases, financial success is defined more as freedom. If you are able to cover your needs without going into debt, and if you have the ability to enjoy some of your wants — even if you have to plan ahead and save up to do so — that is often considered financial success.

If you are, you're successful. The happier you are the more successful you are. If you aren't happy it's time to rethink how you define success, and start making changes to your professional and personal life that align with that definition, because what you're doing now isn't working for you.

And life is way too short for that.

Success is a combination of happiness and self-satisfaction which comes after hard work for something and you did numerous thing to get it and after applying all the effort, dedication, hard work

When one gets his or her dream, goal or aim that is called success

Success is an end result as well as a journey and the definition falls upon your own personal mantra and values. You may value and measure success as seeing a goal and achieving it or perhaps smashing it out of the water. You may see success as a process of enlightenment and your way through life. Success can be small or big and depending on your competitive nature you make see a success in a small win or maybe that is just a small step to what you consider success.

Success is working constantly towards your dream.

Success is the feeling that arises within us when a task or work done, is being accepted by others and they are satisfied with our performance.

Success can be attained only by a person who has a peaceful mind.

True success is based on our personal set of beliefs, our values, and the choices we make throughout our lives. As our values and ideas shift, our definitions of success will change, as well.

Thoughts to help you clarify success

1. Clarify what success means to you.

Go ahead—be brave, bold, and most importantly be honest with yourself. Only you define what is and isn’t possible—not someone else. If everyone had to share how they define success, what would you say?

2. Pursue goals that are both important and priorities in your life.

In his book, Open, one of the world’s greatest tennis players, Andre Agassi, talks about the first time he earned the No. 1 ranking in the world. He said that he felt empty and unfulfilled. It wasn’t until Agassi won the French Open and put his tennis earnings toward building charter schools for underprivileged children and helping others that he felt a deeper sense of fulfillment (and he met his wife Stefanie Graf).

The takeaway is that being No. 1 may equate to external success but it does not necessarily equate to fulfillment. Do your goals add meaning to your life?

3. Believe that you can achieve success (or top 1% moments) from any starting place in life.

It’s never too late to make a positive decision and turn your ideas into action.

In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” What would you love to achieve in your life?

When you are ready to accept nothing less than walking on your true path to success, you will have a renewed sense of empowerment, and you will start to see new opportunities.

TOP 1% BOTTOM LINE: Success is not defined by what society or others think is right for you but by what makes you feel whole and adds meaning to your life. It’s never a comparison. Only you know what makes you smile and leaves you with a greater sense of fulfillment

Thoughts for the day

You’re successful when you like who and what you are. Success includes achievement…while choosing and directing your own activities. It means enjoying intimate relationships and loving what you do in life.

If your goal is to lose weight then remember that success is not just a number on a scale or clothing label. It is the achievement of living with maximum energy and having built the habits that make good, healthy choices seem natural to you. · The process is often just as important as the physical progress. A body transformation cannot happen without a mental transformation as well.

If your goal is to be happy with your life think about the fact you can design your life so that you love your job and work when you want to.

One bucket list request too many

Ken and Edna 

Ken and his wife Edna went to the state fair every year,  and every year Ken would say, "Edna, I'd like to ride in that helicopter."

Edna always replied,  "I know Ken, but that helicopter ride is fifty bucks, and fifty bucks is fifty bucks."

One year Ken and Edna went to the fair,  and Ken said, "Edna, I'm 75 years old.  If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another  chance I want this as it is on my Bucket list"

Edna replied, "Ken that helicopter ride is fifty bucks, and fifty bucks is fifty bucks."

The pilot overheard the couple and said, "Folks, I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don't say a word I won't charge you a penny!   But if you say one word it's fifty dollars."

Ken and Edna agreed and up they went.

The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard.
He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word...

When they landed, the pilot turned to Ken and said,  "By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't.  I'm impressed!"

Ken replied,  "Well, to tell you the truth,  I almost said something when Edna fell out, but you know... "Fifty bucks is fifty bucks!"

Belief systems

Have you ever wondered what kinds of beliefs you have stored away in your unconscious that silently influence your choices, take a good look at your life, including your friends, your loved ones, your job, and even your health.

The life you currently live is a reflection of your beliefs about what you are willing to accept and tolerate. This is the vital difference that separates people who live abundant happy lives from those who don’t.

For instance, people who continue to stay in abusive relationships, work at jobs they don’t enjoy, or struggle financially, do so as a result of the beliefs they hold.

Yet there are individuals in society who will never ever accept being unjustly treated, living just above the poverty line, or working in professions that do not make full use of their gifts.

These individuals are those who stand out in the crowd: the entrepreneurs, pioneers, and leaders who refuse to allow the opinions of others to dictate how they live their lives.

They do this not because they are better or more gifted than everyone else, but simply because their beliefs do not allow them to do otherwise.

It is important to remember that we all play an active role in the creation of our belief systems, even if this occurs when we are vulnerable to the influence of others.

Once these beliefs are impressed on our unconscious mind, they become the rulebook that controls the direction of our lives.

All your successes and failures, then, are in some way influenced by this unconscious set of rules you have written. Whatever it is you wish to achieve, whether it be a skill you’re attempting to master, a subject you wish to learn or an illness you are struggling to overcome, your success will be determined by a single factor: the unconscious beliefs that make up your book of rules.

Much of the struggle you experience in life relates to the inner turmoil you feel when you make a new choice that conflicts with the set of rules you have created about life and simply forgotten.

To end this struggle and become the master of your own destiny, you must begin to master the unconscious beliefs that control you.

Being Present in the moment

When we achieve being loving with ourselves and others, life becomes the joy it is meant to be.  Learning to love yourself starts with learning to be present in the moment inside your body, and try to stay positive even when dealing with negative people. The bottom-line is that we should not instantly label someone negative just because their thoughts or ideas don’t align perfectly with ours.  When we have given them a fair and diligent look at both positions and they are obviously being negative for negative’s sake… we need a plan for how to make the most of the situation. Here are some ideas:

Success in life does not come from pacification or avoidance. To make consistent progress forward we have to consciously address the issues in our lives.  So what are steps we can take to make the most of the negative people and circumstances around us?

1. Look closely at what they are saying as an opportunity to check your own views and attitude. As Barbara Streisand (or for the younger one's the cast of GLEE) said in one of the songs,  "Don't Rain on my Parade", but if they are look to see what you can gain from their rain.

2. What is their motivation.  The easiest way to feel better about ourselves is by comparison to those that are in worse circumstances and some people are very good at doing this. However, focusing inward and striving for our personal best is rewarding way to feel better.

3. Remember that you are in charge of your situation and you should take 100% responsibility for your environment.  So often we think that it is the job, the boss the other person who  is responsible for our plight and we look for another situation  We have lost sight of the fact they have no control, we have the control and we need to regain it. Negative people and circumstances will always be with us. Try to be excited about that. without negative people there cannot be positive people. Do you want a world with no challenges, failures, or heartbreak? If so, you’ll have to deal with a world without achievement, success, and love.

Don't Quit

In an earlier post I talked about the poetry of life. I was given the following and I thought I would share. I think it points out that we need to think about living

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road your trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest! if you must; but don't you quit.


Life is queer with its twist and turns
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When she might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow;
You might succeed with another blow

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man.
Often the struggler has given up
When she might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down
How close she was to the golden crown

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
An you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit;
It's when things seem worse that you mustn't quit

Poem written by anonymous
 What is the poetry of your life at this time, are you thinking about quitting or success. If it is about quitting then I would encourage you to stay with it for a bit longer.

Many people dream of success.

Many people dream of success. To me success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents the 1 percent of your work that only comes from the 99 percent that is called failure. Soichiro Honda (1906-1991) Japanese industrialist

Recently I have learned of the theory of 10,000 hour rule.  Margaret Wente in her blog stated: A year ago, Malcolm Gladwell, the phenomenally popular Canadian writer published a book called Outliers, which took the world by storm. Outliers is an intriguing effort to explain how extremely successful people got that way. At its heart is something called the 10,000-hour rule, which is approximately the amount of time you have to invest in order to become an expert. Both the Beatles and Bill Gates put in their 10,000 hours (playing in seedy bars in Hamburg, or writing computer code) before they achieved greatness.
 
I am not sure how success is defined, and that is something to consider in the reading of the article and the book. Is success measured in popularity, monetary richness, or personal ideals or another way for you?  Does success equate to greatness or is it something more personal?

She goes on to examine the idea of the rule a bit closer and I think her column makes interesting reading. Is persistence the key to success, or is ability, luck and drive the key. I believe that hard work, luck and motivation are the keys life, along with the ability to learn from failure. Life is an adventure and in all adventures there are many paths, and experiences, I am not sure if these paths can be defined as success or failures. If one is motivated then some experiences means what lesson did I learn and how can I grow and continue. If one is not motivated then some experience means I was not meant to do this, what else can I do