The

Power of

Self Improvement

(A Little Change Can Go A Long Way)

ZeeDan CH
Copyright © 2020- All Rights Reserved
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Disclaimer
The information contained cannot be considered a substitute for
treatment as prescribed by a therapist or other professional. By
reading this book, you are assuming all risks associated with using
the advice, data, and suggestions given below, with a full
understanding that you, solely, are responsible for anything that may
occur as a result of putting this information into action in any way –
regardless of your interpretation of the advice.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 What is self-improvement?

Getting the best out of this book

Use your imagination

Renew your mind

The Value of Persistence

Conquer Fear

The Fear of Failure

The Fear of Success:

Other Types of Fear

Leave your couch: Get into the action

Read books

Invest your time in skills

Hone your goals

The Power of Goal setting

The Process of Goal Setting

Determining your goals

Use the SMART principle.

Tips for achieving set goals

The Simple Power of the 80/20 Rule

 Breakdown your life into element

Increase/Delete

Prioritize

Change Your Beliefs

Pitching ourselves against others is the best way to improve

There is only one strategy to win

We have the tendency to fall for what we already believe

Failure is not always bad.

Emotions are not a sign of weakness

Learn to Say NO

The Power of Positive Thinking

Choice is the first step.

Meditate

Positive affirmations

Stress less

Be kind and grateful

From Positive Thinking to Successful Life

Don't try to compare yourself with others.

Understand the money mindset

 Forgive yourself for any financial mistake.

Make budgeting a happy place.

Maintain positivity

Friends that tear down

Look for people who share your vision

Get a mentor:

You are your own greatest fan

Conclusion

Introduction

Do you know that the most important person is you? Yes, you. There

is absolutely no one that matters more than you do. You are the
single most important entity to walk the face of the earth, and this is

because you are so unique that no one can be you. So why does
this not seem true to you? Why does it seem like you are headed for

nothing at all or even close to failing? Well, this is why this book has
been written, it is specifically for you. When it comes to becoming

better or transforming into that better version of yourself that you

have always dreamed of, there is no other way to get there than to

improve yourself. In our world today, everyone is competing, striving

to be better than others, but not everyone makes it. But we would let
you know, there is no need to rush when you are on the journey to

self-improvement, and there is no need to fail either. The best ways

to get you from where you are right now to the top have already

been outlined. Many successful people have walked your path

before, they have experienced your frustrations and felt your pains.
So why don't you just take the same steps and get the desired

result?

When it comes to self-improvement, it not just about eating the right

meal, reading the right books, or building the right kind of system.
No, it is much more. It is a decision that could get you to a better

place in life, revolutionize your finances, and completely become a

game-changer for the way you view the world and the world views
you. And the decision is all up to you; do you want to remain where

you are or do you really want to scale up.

What is self-improvement?

Self-improvement is what describes each of the steps that cover the

development of abilities, learning new skills, potential building, and

enhancing one's quality of life. And this is all geared towards the
achievement of one's dream and ambitions. But this definition does

not still cover everything because I could sit on the couch all day and
watch YouTube videos (you know those ones that have really great
ads that scream at you to get off your couch). It is actually more like

an active term; you don't just read 'methods to be successful' and

expect what you know to get you rich. No, you actually go out there

and take steps that are aimed at building on what you have learned.

Getting the best out of this book

This book has been written to makes sure that anyone and everyone

that reads it gets the best out of it. Every chapter is relatable and
conveys the message with such a tone that speaks to you directly.
What you will get while you flip through the chapters is more than

just steps to make you successful; you will gain insights to give you
peace of mind, improved health, and energy that will never stop

flowing. And I have no doubt that when you are done, you would not
only have become a better person. But you would have an outlook
on how the world around you can become an even better place.

The aim of this book is quite precise, and while you might not find

exclusive excellence of impeccable penmanship, you will understand

how to enjoy and master a delightful new sense of well-being. The

chapters have stories that you can practice and would help you

understand all that needs to be done concerning self-improvement.

To get all these amazing 'benefits,' try to pay attention to the details

in each chapter and act on them. You could get a small journal

beside you or a highlighter and take note of portions that speak

directly to you. By the end, you would be able to make reference to

these parts over and over again.

It All Starts with The Mind

"A positive mindset can build a positive physical and mental

structure for an amazing life" Hormuzd Dossabhoy

One of the greatest assets that every man possesses is his mind.

The dream of a mighty billion-dollar empire and that of ceaseless

innovations all starts from the mind. Once I had a discussion with a

colleague, he had just delivered a powerful speech at a conference,

and it was all about the power of the mind. So, I asked him how he
could get his mind from the wandering blur that a lot of us

experience to a weapon that took him straight to the halls of

success. Some of the things he told are what I would be sharing with

you.

You see, while we were growing up, there have been certain things

that we have heard or practice and they have placed limitations on

our minds. For example, we took tests and wrote some exams that
we did not do well. The scores that we saw on the board started to

influence our minds, and we somehow believed that this was the

result of our efforts. This might not be the exact thing that happened
to you, but it could be related. Sometimes, many subconscious

limiting factors bring down the way we create great imaginations with

our minds.

One great example of what the mind can create is one of the biggest

brands in the world "Coca-Cola." It was crafted from the single great

idea that lit up in the mind of a drug clerk. With the power of
imagination, Asa Candler was able to create a thirst killer that not

only served this purpose but became something even bigger.

Imagination is one of the tools that could really help you explore the
power of your mind.

Use your imagination

Your imagination is one of the best tools that are available for you. It
is a place where you can build the biggest empire or set up the

biggest obstacle. This can come by using any one of the two types of

imagination that exist. The first is the synthetic imagination that

allows you to put together old information to create something new. It

is the inventor's power and is critical for people that belong to the

category of ‘creatives.’ The other is the creative imagination that

allows humans to explore ideas from an infinite bank of intelligence.

You can create new things, explore new ideas, and tap into hunches

and inspiration. These two minds are instrumental in improving

yourself, but that cannot be done in one single process. There would

have to be a process of mastery, assimilation, and action.

Renew your mind

Like before, some of the thoughts that you have built up would only

stop you from becoming a better version of yourself. This is why you
need to get updated on what you know. Don't leave your

imaginations to run on limiting thoughts and ideas, instead get

materials that would help you utilize the power of your mind better.

For example, when I was going to start out as an entrepreneur, I

didn't really know how to go about it, but there were books and study
materials. So, I decided to spend an hour every day reading or

studying something related to my business. Coupled with the power

of my mind, the result was explosive. I was able to avoid a lot of

mistakes and, although there were some challenges, most of them

had already been explained in books I read.

Your mind is like the soil that churns out resources that work for your

day to day life. So, whatever goes in does not come out the same,
the mind works on it and improves it. And that works for both good

and bad, so it's really about you starting with a decision of what you

want to pay more attention to. The advantage of the power of your

mind and imagination will put you on the right track to self-
improvement.

The Value of Persistence

A lot of people have become stuck in the rut because they prefer

perfection to persistence. It is like they want to make sure that every

plan is perfect before they execute it. But Michael Jordan and

Thomas Edison beg to differ. Let's start with Thomas Edison since
he seems more old school. Well, Thomas Edison is very popular

today for as much of his success as he is for his failures. But what

some people do not know is that, in his youth, Edison was

considered unteachable. When he was thirteen, he started to sell

newspapers but spent most of his free time reading scientific and

technical books. At 16, he became a full-time telegrapher and had

the opportunity to travel the world. At a time, Edison transitioned

from been a telegrapher to becoming an inventor.

Edison invented quite a lot of things, and the amount he received for

his patent allowed him to set up a small laboratory. When Edison

started working in the practical incandescent bulb, it was not a new

idea, many had tried it, but they had failed. Unfazed by the failures of

many before him, Edison undertook the project. The amazing thing
about Edison was that he spent one and the half years slaving on his

invention. In this period, he had a record failure that should have a

place in the Guinness book of record 1000 times. Imagine how crazy

that seems. I know I get frustrated after 4 to 7 attempts to fix the car,
and it's still not working. But persistence drove Edison; it was not

successful at first try. It was a failure for the first 1000 times, until one
and a half years later.

Another important person that we can all relate to is Michael Jordan.

When he was in high school, your favorite basketballer and award-

winning athlete of all time, Michael Jordan was told he was not any
good. And what more, he was sent off the basketball team. It's hard

to imagine, right! But Jordan was not going to let someone else

determine his future, so he went on to practice more, and well, we all

know the rest of the story.

Mike Cuban, the owner of NBA Dallas Mavericks and a billionaire,

once said that "You only have to be right once. I tried to sell
powdered milk. I was an idiot lots of times, and I learned from them

all." Like Jordan and Edison have shown, nobody really cares what

happens in the hallways of failure. What matters is what comes out

of it. Nobody puts up a portrait of someone who tried and tried again

and gave up. They only do that for those that persisted and became

successful. When defined, persistence is the act that allows you to

achieve your desires by not giving up. Your effort and drive are not
slowed down by failed attempts; instead, you have your eyes on the

prize of greatness.
When it comes to self-improvement, it can be easy to look around us
or recall some of our past situations and think, 'why don't I just give

up?' But that won't work; like Jordan told himself that he can

determine his future. It was just a story in the present and would
soon become part of his success story only if he persisted. Some of

the highest achievers in our world today were not born into perfect

families; in fact, some of them were never born perfect. Take Hellen
Keller; for example, she was born with sight and hearing intact, but

at the age of 19 months, she was afflicted with an ailment that made

her blind and deaf. This impaired the behavior of Hellen also, but she

didn't let this weigh her down. She went on to become a great
author, an educator, and the first deaf and blind woman to graduate

from a college in the US.

So, you see, your values are not in your past experiences or

circumstances that surround you. Just like the first chapter, you are
capable of doing extraordinary things. Just learn not to give up and
keep on chasing your dreams.

Conquer Fear

On the journey to self-improvement, one of the challenges that you

would face is fear. Self-improvement should include things that you
do to get the very best for yourself. But what happens when you are
scared to try something new, scared to learn a new skill or leave that
situation that is dragging you down. The reality is that, for a lot of

people, it can be difficult to leave familiar territories. So, you prefer to

sit on your oars and just watch how things play out.

But fear is normal, no one would attest to the fact that they have not
been scared at one stage of life. Whether it is leaving home for

college or going into an interview room for your dream job. Or

starting a business that would take a lot of time and effort to build. All
these are pretty rational, and you don't have to feel awkward about

them. But where the problem really comes in is when you allow fear
to stop you from getting things done. So, to help you on this self-
improvement journey, here are the types of fear we all encounter and

how to overcome them;

The Fear of Failure: being scared of failing is at the top of the 'fear
list.' In fact, if you ask me, it has drowned so many potentials before

they could even begin. Imagine a quarterback is sent the ball in a

football match, but he is even too scared to move his legs. We don't
need to deliberate what would happen to him; he would be crushed

by the opponent. Don't allow the fear of starting to crush your dream,
in any situation, you owe yourself the attempt to keep getting better.
The Fear of Success: this seems like it is in the wrong place, but it
really isn't. Sometimes we want to start something new, like, maybe
finally begin to work on ourselves to become better. Better at the job,

better physically, better mentally, but there is just this fear of what
this 'upgrade would bring.' The reason most times is because we are

contented where we are, we are handing the business well, have

great friends, and so exploring new potentials scares us.

Other Types of Fear: the two mentioned above are really the most
common type of fears. But there are others like fear of criticism, fear
of embarrassment, and fear of loss. For this, know that there is

nothing that you could do that would satisfy the general populace.
So, I had a discussion with a friend of mine who was the principal of

a school on how the school was doing. And he told me, "You know,
one thing that I have come to discover in my many years of leading
people is that everyone would never like you." He got into examples

of how he had crafted policies and made adjustments anytime

someone grumbled in his early years. But that would only affect
others. But as he got more experienced, he learned how to manage

criticism and not act on them. This is a great way to improve

yourself. You understand what is best for everyone and have taken
time to carefully observe what works and what doesn't before you
make the switch. With time, even critics would start to see how
reasonable the plan was.

One of the ways to improve yourself is to recognize the things that

you fear and address them. This is a very good way to grow as it
helps you to recognize the areas that you have come up short and
then try to grow.

Leave your couch: Get into the action

After tuning your mind to the possibility of improving yourself and

working on your fears, the next thing that you need to do is get up
and get going. There is so much to do when it comes to self-
improvement, but don't let that overwhelm you. The key is to take it

one step after another until you get to where you need to be. I used
to have an old friend who would ring me up, and as we finish the
conversation, he would ask me, "laid any eggs recently." It was an

old joke that he and I were in on, and what it came from was the
phrase sitting ducks. Well, if a duck sits for too long, it could as well
lay an egg.

You don't need to sit around waiting for the next best chances or

opportunity to hit you across the face or drop on your head. There
are several things that you can do to get yourself there, some of

these things are;

Read books: there is nothing as obvious as this. Someone once

said that you would only become as good as the information that you
are exposed to. Well, this could not be closer to the truth. The

information that you feed your mind is what fuels your creative
mentality. It is what helps you to create that extra bit of edge that
helps you weave great ideas in your mind. So, you could get books

on leadership, critical thinking, management, or even books on

improving personal health. Very soon, you would be amazed at how
your outlook on life would have changed.

Invest your time in skills: skills are so important that they can
literally help you become better in every aspect of life. When I
started writing, it was a breakthrough period in my life. I got to

become more disciplined, become more dependent, and started to

work on even improving myself better. Look at something around you
that has your fancy and work on it.

Hone your goals: self-improvement is all good, but when your goals

are all over the place, you will take so long to improve that you might
even get tired along the way. Try to get a journal where you write
your ideas and ambitions and then work on setting your priorities on
achieving some of them. We would discuss this more in improving
yourself with the 80/20 rule.

These tips all have something in common. They help you get active

and start thinking about exactly what you want to achieve. One of the
greatest problems that unproductive people face is the inability to be
focused. They are all over the place and achieve less than they

actually should. But when you read books that help you realize how
the world around you work, and you adopt that to learning and
honing your goals, it becomes easier to become an achiever. Self-

improvement is not just about you; your potentials are just too great
to centered only around being the best for yourself. No, it's for the
world around you, Thomas Edison created a light bulb, which is why

I can be writing so comfortably at this hour. Bill gates got the brains
to build Microsoft, and it is his product that has made writing this so
easy for me. So, when you improve yourself, the result that you

produce transcends time itself, whether globally or even for those

who are around you.

The Power of Goal setting

The way your burger and fries go together is the same way goal
setting and self-improvement works. You just can't have one without

the other. This is because setting goals give you a proper

perspective as you begin your journey on self-improvement. Let's
look at someone who used the power of goal setting get to the top;

Walt Disney lost his first job because the manager thought he lacked
the power of imagination. Even when he went on to submit his Walt

Disney theme park ideas to over 300 banks, they all turned him
down. But Walt had goals, and it directed his focus and his

determination. Today, the name of Walt Disney theme park is known

all over the world, with merchandise that is worth billions.

Self-improvement in itself can be achieved in different ways, it has a

unique meaning for different people. For example, a businessman

who wants to go on the journey of self-improvement would not trail
the same path that an actor would take. Edison, on his own part, had

a passion for inventing and his work at the telegraph and the 1,000
failures that never stopped him were all in his journey to self-
improvement. All of these people have one thing in common, they

have a dogged determination that was unwavering even in the face

of failure. This is what setting goals can do for you.
The Process of Goal Setting

Determining your goals

This can be one of the most challenging steps in setting goals, and it

has to do with discovering precisely what you want for yourself.

These processes should not be rushed; in fact, you can take as
much time as you need (but try not to take months). Also, you can

set goals for just about anything. It could be for your education, for
your career, finances, and every other thing connected to you.

Use the SMART principle.

When you are setting goals, don't just write down things that are
vague, non-accomplishable, or unrewarding. Follow the smart
principle with;

S – Specific; don't beat around the bush while writing your goals,

write what you specifically want, and follow through. Try to answer
questions like who, what, where, when, how as you set your goals.

M – Measurable; create goals that have benchmarks. This would

help you measure how far you have come and how much farther you
are from achieving your goals. Also, you get to have a reward
system that makes you feel good about the progress that you have

made.

A – Achievable; try to leave out goals that are out of your reach.
Although the context of this is difficult to define, as almost no dream
is too big. But start small and grow big.

R – Relevant; check out what you love to do, your passion, and your
life and set goals that align with your values. You can even set goals
that you have set before and did not achieve, but now things are

well-suited to help you achieve them.

T – Timely; you need a time frame for your goals. It could be 6

months, 1 year, 5 years, or even ten. Just make sure that it is

progressive enough to keep getting you better along the way.

Tips for achieving set goals

After setting your goals, the process of achieving them is not going
to be a piece of cake (except you set a goal to finish a cake before

the day runs out, or even two). But here are some tips that have
worked out for many people over the years;
Set goals that have a positive tone, try not to set negative

with your goals. For example, I would not eat junks today
 can sound better when put like this. I will try out meals that
are positive for my body today.
Break your goals down into bits; for example, if you have a

five-year goal, try to create benchmarks that you can

measure at the end of each month or even days.
Focus your significant effort on things that would cause

your goals to work out.

Create a vision board and tick pictures that are related to
your dreams on it. This helps you to train your focus.

You can also use a reward system, where you reward yourself as

you complete each step that leads to your goals.

After setting your goals, the truth is that you need to make sure that
you are on track at each time. So sometimes, try to take a break,

review and reassess your goals. You can do this at intervals, it helps
you to enjoy the process, which is essential. The most crucial thing
in self-improvement is not the destination, it is the journey.

The Simple Power of the 80/20 Rule

Improving yourself can be very great when you have one main aim
that you want to achieve. But what about when you have nothing

planned yet, and you are interested in so many things. For example,
I had this friend that was wanted to become everything. He would
take an online course about marketing for like a week, and then

before that week runs out, he was back to studying software

development. He was just all over the place. At the end of the year,
when asked what he was doing currently, he would say something

like, "well, right now, I'm just really between interests."

The problem with my friend is that he had the fundamental problem

of lack of focus. He was not able to focus on activities that would
provide the result that he needed. And instead of focusing on what

he wanted for the long term, he kept chasing after short term goals
that never added up to anything. This is exactly what the 80/20
principle is all about.

The 80/20 principle, also known as the Pareto principle, was named
after the founder, and Italian economist known as Vilfredo Pareto.
The rule states that 20 percent of one's activities usually account for

80 percent of the results. There are 2 categories for all of your

activities, there are the vital few and the trivial many. When applied
to your goal setting and productivity, the result is simply remarkable.

Let's apply the rule to your lifestyle in the next few steps;

Breakdown your life into element

Look at everything that you are doing right now; things like
schooling, online courses, work, and maybe even fitness practices.
You need to include most of your activities. Of course, you can add

things like sleep, and even if you are going for piano practices, add it
up. After listing them out, then add a percentage to each of these
elements. The percentage is just a raw estimate as you cannot really

select a value that works for you. For example, if you have a 20-hour
lecture every week, you can divide that value by the total number of

hours in a week.

Increase/Delete

After you assign a value, the next step is to check out what activity is

contributing to your long-term goal. If you don't have one, then pause
for a while. Try to think about what you really want to be. Someone
once said that the longer the time you set your goals for, the better

you would set them. So, try to look at 10 years down the line, what
would you like to be. You can also look at activities that would
improve who you are and add them to your to-do list. You don't need
to identify this immediately; you can take it slowly until you can pick

out exactly what you have passion for.

This goal setting activity is pretty serious as it would determine how

you would pick how you want to improve yourself. We have
discussed this in the last chapter, so let's keep checking this out.

Draw a table and start to pick out the activities that are vital to
attaining your goals. This is your 20 percent.

Prioritize

The simple fact is that you can be anything that you start out to be,

all you have to do is set your priorities right. After you have
determined what you have passion for, everything you selected in
the previous step becomes your priority. This means that you pay

much more attention to them.

One thing about the 80/20 principle is that it helps you to maximize

your time to take care of the things that you are good at. It's a win-
win situation, you get to focus more on the things you have passion

for and produce even better results.

 Change Your Beliefs

Self-improvement is not a one-size-fit-all, that means it isn't spandex.

You need to understand who you are before you start to take steps

to improve yourself. If not, you would end up right where you started
and that can be quite frustrating. So, in this chapter we are going to
be looking at some of the things that people do wrong when it comes
to self-improvement. And here they are;

Pitching ourselves against others is the best way to improve

Growing up, we have been trained with this culture of competition.

You always have to be the best in the class, you need to race to the

door to be the first, you have to study hard to be the best in college.
All these are well-intentioned, but they wouldn't really get you far
when it comes to life. Everyone has something that they are good at,
and it does not really matter what it is. Self-improvement is not a
competition where you are always gunning to be ahead of others.
Instead, look at it as being the best that you can be for yourself and

others around you.

There is only one strategy to win

Reading books by people who are already successful is great, but
don't be fooled into thinking that you have to do exactly what they
did. I was having a chat with my friend, Cindy, recently and she said

something that almost knocked my socks of. She said, "do you know
that for everyone who testifies to being successful for following a
particular business model, there are a thousand others who it did not
work for." Don't be discouraged from reading books and working to
enlighten yourself, but never let it steal your individuality. In Mark
Mason's books, 'the subtle art of not giving a fu*k' he talks about how

trying too hard can be quite bad for you. Learn to balance things up,
and don't allow the stigma that society has fueled for years to be
your drive.

We have the tendency to fall for what we already believe

Have you ever noticed that some of the things that you believed
years ago seem like gibberish when you think about them now?
Well, that is what happens as you evolve, know that knowledge is

progressive. So, when you are thinking about setting goals or putting
down your aim and ambitions, don't be too rigid. You would fare
better by being a skeptic than you would be when you are
delusional.
Failure is not always bad.

Society has always adapted a kind of stigma with failure, and once
you fail once, there is a label that they stick to your head for a very
long time. This reminds me of a particular website that employs

freelancers, and you are given a rating based on the last ten ratings
of your client. This means that if you have done 200 jobs and have
gotten 5 stars at about 198 of them if you get one star twice for the
last two orders, you are immediately moved to a lower level. Now,
this also works for a lot of business. Nobody cares about your track
record when you make that one mistake that sinks the company

finances. But don't ever let this be your approach to self-

development. The story of Edison and Walt Disney is a great
example, failure is allowed as long as you are willing to get right
back up and move on.

Emotions are not a sign of weakness

Emotions are one of the things that actually determine who you are.
But positive emotions like empathy and love have been associated

by many to weakness. But this isn't true; emotions are like vehicles
that help us in conveying our purpose. They develop our outlook on
life and help us to make better decisions. It is not bad to love others,
it is not a sign of weakness to treat people fairly, it is not bad to put
others before us. Don't let the competitive mentality that is

predominant in our society strip you of your 'humaneness.'

Always remember that your self-worth comes inevitably from you.

Whether you fail or succeed, it is all within you to determine and take
responsibility. Remember that you should do every day to evolve;

make sure that your mindset is not majorly influenced by all the
circumstances surrounding you while you were growing up. But
instead, let it be fuel by the positivity and true value of the person
that you want to be.

Learn to Say NO

Learning to say 'No' is a simple act that many people have not
learned to do. And this is because we feel so pressured by the
expectations that society, family, and friends and placed on us that
we don't want to disappoint. We have already talked about the 80/20
rule, and most of the things that we say yes to fall within the 80

percent that does not help our goals in any way.

We have all been in situations where we kept saying YES to
everyone and eventually ended up with loads of work, no personal
time, and a mental breakdown. Impulse buying involves having no
restrictions and buying everything you come across. This is

something you do need to learn to say NO to. I'm sure you can relate
to this. You get your allowance or salary, and before you can say,
Jack Robinson, all the money is gone. If you fit into any of these
columns, this chapter is for you. In fact, it's for everyone. You might
have made new year resolutions at one point in time, where you
planned to stop, but "Oh no," you just weren't strong enough or not

consistent enough.

Why else should you say NO? Ever simply had a plan but kept
putting it off. When you feel like slacking off, you're ready to take all
the excuses and distractions that come your way. In a plan to lose

weight, you first have to be firm with your decision to eat less. When
you get that offer of "Would you like some dessert?" or "This new
meal tastes amazing, would you like to try it?' Your reply should be,
"Thank you, I'd rather not." You might have had an offer to go on a
road trip with friends, but you weren't financially buoyant. Rather

than flexing and ending up in debt, turn down the offer. You can
always go on the next one or just simply organize something that's
within your budget. In another scenario, you have a project deadline,
and in moments like this, you find all sorts of people calling to
distract you from your objective. Unfortunately, if you don't prioritize
your options, you will lose yourself. You need to be honest with
yourself, your friends, and those around you.

This sounds pretty easy, and it can be. You just need consistency
and devotion. Internally, you need to have decided based on your
long-term goals. Understanding why you should say NO is a priority.
Someone might need you to say YES to by-pass moral and ethical
standings just because he/she is your friend. This will eventually blur

your vision and send you towards a downward spiral. Little enough,
you should say NO for your peace of mind.

Remember, saying NO might seem hard, but once you understand

where you're heading and your personal well-being, you're good to

go. Also, remember to voice out your reason, and you will be on a
well-paved road to self-improvement.
 The Power of Positive Thinking

There is a popular phrase in physics that stayed with me for quite a

while, and it was "opposites attract." Although this rule is true for a
lot of things, it does not work for a positive mindset. You cannot
attract positive things by simply thinking negative thoughts, but it's so
easy to have negative thoughts. Juts the fear, the worry, and the
assumption that something would go wrong is enough to set the ball

rolling for your mind. But don't get it wrong, positive thinking is not
just a feel-good term that is supposed to send you off all warm and
fluffy. No, it actually entails the fact that you can leverage moments
of happiness to open up your mind and build skills that are great for
other parts of your life.

On its part, positive thinking is an emotional and mental attitude that

you have when you expect majorly good and favorable results. It is
not the fact that everything is going well, but you have just chosen to

focus on the things that are working. It is an attitude that mainly

stops you from accepting defeat but keeps getting you back on track
over and over again. Additionally, a person who thinks positively
sees the good in people and focuses more on been optimistic in their
outlook of life. This mindset is a gem, and people that have learned
how to think positively usually serve as a source of motivation to
those that are around them.

The logic behind how positive thinking is quite simple, it is the fact

that happy people think healthy thoughts. And this healthy thought
breeds healthy habits that truly makes a great impression on their
entire life. Try to notice something when you talk about the things
that you want and how you would get it. You become happier, and in
this process, endorphins are released from the brain. These
endorphins have been discovered to give you a euphoric feeling and

contribute to your general well-being. Amazingly, this starts a cycle in

the brain, when you get into thinking a lot positively, the brain
connects synapses and stimulates them. This would lead to those
thoughts developing in habits and behavior. You must have felt this
before when you suddenly hate something, for example, you no

longer like the smell of coffee. Actually, you don't, but since you feel
upset anytime you are at work, and the coffee machine is not that
far. Your brains associate that feeling with the coffee.

But how do you break the cycle of negative thinking and start to think
positively?
Training your mind to only accommodate positive thoughts can be

quite a journey. But it is completely achievable, your mind has all that
you need to focus on one single thought per time, and this can be
achieved with the power of focus. When things happen around you,
remember that circumstances should not define you; you should
instead define how you respond.

Choice is the first step.

The first step to making sure that you are thinking positively is to

choose to do so. Although the execution is not as easy but make the
first step and decide that it is something that you want to commit to.
It is all about deciding to see the glass half full instead of half empty.

Meditate

Mediation is a great way to rejuvenate the mind and bring your

thinking back into focus. If your mind has been focused on negativity
for quite a while, think of meditation as when you need to tune out
and reset. When you do it long enough, you get a clean slate where
you can start to draw out all your positive thoughts.

Positive affirmations
These are phrases that can be repeated over and over again, about
the need to be positive. If you find yourself entertaining any negative
thought, you can easily flush it out with positive affirmation. And the

way they work is to get into your brain so much that they start to
make your attitude positive again. Motivational lines and quotes
really work well for this and remember you are your own biggest fan.

Stress less

People who are negative about things tend to stress over everything,
they are simply worried that something is definitely going to go
wrong. But it should not be that way. Learn to focus on yourself more

than you focus on things. And this is mainly self-inflicted. Spend less
time, working on other things than you work on yourself; in fact, this
is the basic principle for self-improvement. You definitely want to rid
yourself of negativity and just take time out to relax.

Be kind and grateful

Try to be grateful for the things you have instead of focusing on what
you don't have. And this includes for people around you too, let
everyone around you know how important they are and take every
chance you get to celebrate them. Kindness breeds gratitude, and

this is one big recipe for positive thinking.

The power of positive thinking can never be underrated, and it’s
something that you need to do. It is possible to apply the principle to
all the areas of your life and trust me when I say it breeds great
results. Let's check the next chapter and see how positive thinking
can be used to build a great financial empire.

From Positive Thinking to Successful Life

In the last chapter, we describe what positive thinking is and how you
can start to adapt it to your own life. But now, this chapter is

specifically how you can use positive thinking to get your life in track
for success. And the success here is not just about earning a million-
dollar, it cuts across making sure that you become an overall
success in every aspect. But first, let's look at a story for better
illustration;

I came across this story about a professor who entered a class and
announced an impromptu test. Everyone was obviously perplexed,
but the professor went on to distribute the test leaflet. The students
turned the sheet over, and all that they saw was a black dot. This

was quite confusing, but the professor insisted that there was no
form of mistake. So, the student proceeded to start writing on the

blank sheet. When the time was up, the professor collected the
sheet and started to read their answers. In the end, all the students
came up with was opinions about the position of the black dot, the
color, and the shape. The professor then explained to them that the
test would not be graded and that he just wanted them to think about
something.

All of them had focused on the black dot even though it was the
tiniest, almost negligible thing on that paper. This is what happens in
life, we tend to focus so much on the little negative things around us
that we take for granted the thousands of good things that are

happening to us. When it comes to positive thinking, no scenario

could paint the color better than this, focusing on bad outcomes
would only keep drawing you back. To be truly successful, you need
to learn those bad outcomes are a part of life, and they don't define
who you are. Like Thomas Edison and Jordan, you can always make
it, no matter the label that your past has placed on you. Here are

ways to adapt positive thinking to your life to become successful.

Positive thinking makes your mind clear of anything negative, so it

opens your mind to a future that is consistent with achieving your
dream. And this is just what we are going to apply to your business
or finances;

Don't try to compare yourself with others.

Social media and the internet, in general, have made it so easy to

reach people all over the world. But it has also allowed people to

post their glamorous lifestyle, net worth, luxurious cars, and other
things that could get you sucked into the comparison habit. You start
to see everything as a competition and want to be like that Instagram
icon, you see. However, don't let that happen. Most times, the
internet only shows us the surface about people, we don't get to see
what they are going through or the battles they are fighting. Positive

thinking is what could really help here, remember that you are
optimistic and only see the best about yourself. So, stop focusing on
things that others have, and you don't and just try to keep working to
make yourself better.

Understand the money mindset

In the last chapter, we explained how a positive mindset helps you

get your mind clearer, and you begin to think to have thoughts that
are not only positive but better. This is very important for your money

mindset. Positive thinking helps you to see things clearer and better,
and the more you think those thoughts, the more they affect your
behavior. Very soon, the combination of all the attitude that makes
up for positive thinking start to attract better business or financial
decision and gets you on your way to success. During your
meditation time, try to evaluate how your views have been shaping
all the decisions you have been making. Remember, you can use

this time to tune your mindset into revamping your attitude towards
money. You would also be able to review habits and beliefs that have
been affecting your ability to create goals and stick to them.

Forgive yourself for any financial mistake.

You have learned from the previous chapters that getting into
business might not be a smooth ride; there are bumps along the way
that might make your rethink your decision. But that is what positive

thinking is here for, it’s that big papa bear that is cuddly and cushion
any negative emotion fighting its way to your heart. What am I
saying? it is the fact that positive thoughts can stop that remorseful
or regretful feeling that could discourage you and sap you of the
motivation you need to go on. Positive thinking is so great that when

you make mistakes, instead of seeing the negative sides, all you see
is another way that things cannot be done. And this takes you one
step closer to be better that you were before the mistake.
Make budgeting a happy place.

The word budget is enough to fill a lot of persons with a sense of

dread because they know they would have to cut off a lot of things.
But this should not happen, you can set gentle boundaries that help
you understand your cash flow. Although discipline is good, it does
not also help when you are too rigid; at the end of the day, you might

discover that due to your negative emotions, you are directing the
money into things you don't even understand.

Maintain positivity

We have already talked about the power of motivation, which is very

instrumental in your finances. Try to make sure that the first thing
that you do when you wake up in the morning gets your mind
working. Meditate and take a few minutes to go over your goals.
Then surround yourself with positivity. You can achieve this by

making sure that every one that is around you is oozing positivity.
The rule still holds true that when you are around people who
complain a lot, they tend to overcrowd your mind with their negativity,
and no matter your resolve, you start to get negative also. But when
the people that are closest to you are also positive, it would be

easier to get to your aspirations.

Being successful gets to be great when you have a positive mindset.
You tend not to see challenges as problems, but things that you
must overcome to be better. Imagine having this outlook to life,
where nothing hurts you. It's way cooler than worrying and

possessing this numbing fear that makes you achieve less than who
you are. So, start thinking positively and build success.

Friends that tear down

The last thing that you need to actually do is to think about your
company. Those around you would influence your thoughts and your
self-esteem. There was this guy that was opening up about some of

the things that had happened to him while growing up, to me. He
was an adult now, but he just could not get somethings rights, he
was failing in almost everything.

He had grown up in a neighborhood where people around him

thought less of him, everyone had a nickname for him, and it was

devastating for his self-esteem. But that was not what broke him, it
was the fact that his closest friends when he was in fifth grade, had
all become part of those taunting him when he got to tenth grade.
When he was finally able to escape to college, he had built high
walls, that he allowed no one near him. Also, the long years of
taunting had been damaging to his self-esteem, so that anytime he
tried to do something to improve his self, he ended up failing.

This same story has happened to tons of people that were at one
time bullied in high school. In fact, the effect is so subtle that it can

be difficult to immediately notice that this is the origin of the problem.

Most times, people who are not in our inner circle don't hurt us so
much because subconsciously, we don't expect much from them. But
why do you think the pain of back-biting and sabotage by close
friends hurt so much. Well, it is because we have built this high

expectation of them. This is why three major things could happen

when we keep negative people in our close circle, we could:

Let them limit our potentials by taking us down anytime we

have great plans.

Let them infect us with their negative beliefs.

Allow them to reduce our self-esteem.

All these things are possible only when you let it, and they can be

quite devastating to your self-improvement journey. So, you need to

be careful whenever you are choosing the kind of people that you
get close too. Some of the tips for building friends that help you
improve yourself and ultimately reach your goals are;

Look for people who share your vision: try to look for people who are
likeminded and share the same ideas as you. This would help you
get encouraged when you face any issue in your aspirations.

Get a mentor: friends are great, but have someone that has been
through some of the things that you are going through and make
them your mentor. This would help you for accountability and also
help you bypass some of the rigorous steps in your journey.

You are your own greatest fan: try not to place too much expectation
on your friends, remember that everyone is human, and there are
times that they would show some weakness. So, don't let anything
your friends do get to you. Just know that 'to err is human, and to
forgive is divine.'

Use the power of positive thinking: all the positive thinking principles
are actually something that you can embrace when dealing with
friends.

Friends are instrumental in helping you either actualizing your

dreams or giving up on them. So, when choosing your friends, look
for those that will help you improve, not those that are happy to see
you fall

Conclusion

You are done with the book, but what have you learnt?

This is an important question to ask yourself, all the steps and

practical lessons that have been included are effective for building a
successful life. Don't forget again that self-improvement is a journey,
a process, and not a leap from one point to another. No shortcut or

wheel picks you up and drops you at the destination that you desire.
So, when you are done, try to put everything that you have learned
into practice.

Lastly, I wrote this book out of a genuine desire to help. With all the

various stories and experiences that I have had during the years, I
am confident that all the stories and principle outline here would be
of great help. Most of them, like the story of Thomas and Jordan, are
true-life events and prove that truly, self-improvement is more than a
motor for financial increase. It's better than that, it improves who you
are and changes you into someone that the world around you

appreciate.