Ten Strategies For Your Success
Ten Strategies For Your Success
Legal Disclaimers
This ebook is presented to you for informational purposes only and is not a
substitution for any professional advice. The contents herein are based on the
views and opinions of the author and all associated contributors.
While every effort has been made by the author and all associated contributors
to present accurate and up to date information within this document, it is
apparent technologies rapidly change. Therefore, the author and all associated
contributors reserve the right to update the contents and information provided
herein as these changes progress. The author and/or all associated
contributors take no responsibility for any errors or omissions if such
discrepancies exist within this document.
The author and all other contributors accept no responsibility for any
consequential actions taken, whether monetary, legal, or otherwise, by any
and all readers of the materials provided.
It is the readers sole responsibility to seek professional advice before taking
any action on their part.
Readers results will vary based on their skill level and individual perception of
the contents herein, and thus no guarantees, monetarily or otherwise, can be
made accurately. Therefore, no guarantees are made.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Anchoring Exercise
Stacking Anchors
Anchoring Tip
2. Changing Beliefs
What is a Belief?
Physiology
10
10
11
5. Being at Cause
12
6. Creative Visualisation
13
13
14
15
16
Cancel Exercise
16
16
Self Talk
17
17
9. Gratitude
18
Gratitude Exercise
18
10. Affirmations
19
19
19
20
Conclusion
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Introduction
Thank you for downloading this eBook. It is packed with important information
to help you become more successful in life. I have included a number of
exercises. Doing the exercises is really important. Having the knowledge is
great, but applying it will really make the difference in your life. Life rewards
action!
I have been interested in Personal Development and Self Improvement for over
20 years. I am a certified practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
and have attended many other short courses over the years. Applying this
knowledge has changed my life in so many ways. I found my ideal partner and
have been happily married for over 10 years. I changed career several times
without obtaining further qualifications. Four years ago, I moved from London
to Sydney in Australia. I found a new job within a week of arriving and made
many great new friends within a few short weeks. I have also appeared on TV
several times.
All these things happened by applying the principles in this eBook, believing in
myself and taking action.
At times, it took me out of my comfort zone.
However, the results were worth it in so many ways.
Now its your turn!
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Anchoring Exercise
1. Start by thinking of a positive emotional state that you would like to have
more of. Examples include confidence, relaxation, playfulness, courage,
motivation or focus.
2. Now think of a time when you had the positive emotion that you identified
in step 1.
3. Now go back to that time and relive the experience in your imagination.
Think about where you were, who you were with, how you were talking,
how people were responding and how that felt at the time. As you relive
this experience, you will notice that you feel more of this state now. Keep
reliving this experience until you feel a powerful emotional state right now.
4. When you are reliving this experience fully, touch your thumb and index
finger together for a couple of seconds. Congratulations! - You have just
created an Anchor!
5. Now get up, have a walk around and return to the present.
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6. Lets test this new Anchor. When you are ready, touch your thumb and
index finger on the same hand together for a couple of seconds. You will
notice those positive feelings returning as you do this. If you dont, then
repeat the above steps several times. As you practice, you will get better
and each attempt will create a stronger association between the anchor and
the emotional state you want to recreate.
Stacking Anchors
This process involves anchoring several emotional states one after the other.
It can be used to create a very powerful emotional state. For example, to
combine the emotional states of confidence, courage and motivation, you
would start by reliving a time when you felt very confident and anchor that
feeling. You would then relive a time you felt courage and anchor that feeling
in the same way (e.g. by touching the same finger with the thumb). Finally,
you would relive the feeling of motivation and anchor that with the same finger
and thumb.
Anchoring Tip
When you are experiencing a positive state in your life right now
(e.g .confidence, motivation, fun, laughter etc, anchor it, so that you can
recreate that state in the future. This can be more powerful than reliving the
experience after it has happened.
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2. Changing Beliefs
What is a Belief?
A belief is an acceptance or knowingness that something exists or is true for
you. Our beliefs control the decisions that we make and the actions that we
take.
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2. Now ask yourself why this goal is difficult to achieve or out of your reach.
Write down your answers. These are your reasons. Some common reasons
include.
Im not good enough
I dont deserve this
Im not smart enough
People like me dont achieve this
I cant do this
I dont have the experience
I dont have enough time
Im too old (or too young)
Im not a good listener, speaker, parent etc.
3. Now take each reason and question it. Get your inner critic involved. Argue
against them and prove that they are wrong. The goal here is to prove to
yourself that these reasons are not true. The table below provides some
examples of reasons and questions to challenge them.
Reason
Challenging Questions
I cant do this
Well done! - You have just identified some limiting beliefs. These were your
reasons. You then started questioning them and hopefully proved to yourself
that your reasons are not true.
One of the best questions to ask yourself is What do I believe to be true
that isnt? This question will really help you challenge some of the limiting
beliefs that you currently have. Perhaps it was this question that changed
Roger Bannisters mindset into believing that a mile could be completed in less
than 4 minutes.
Whether you think you can, or you think you cant - youre right - Henry
Ford.
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Playing full out gives a powerful message to your unconscious mind that you
are going to give this task your complete attention. Do this regularly and it
becomes a habit.
There are other benefits too such as:
1. You make others raise their game. Being fully present in a meeting or
project has a noticeable impact on others. You raise their energy and
enthusiasm.
2. You learn more. When playing full out, you are leaning forward, fully
engaged, you will absorb and take away more information.
3. You change more quickly. We know that it can be difficult to change.
Its a lot harder if youre half-hearted or not fully committed. By playing full
out, you accelerate your rate of change.
4. You get a whole lot more done. If you are 100% involved in a meeting,
task or project, you will learn more and do more in less time. This leaves
you with more time to have fun or focus on whats really important in your
life.
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you are hearing. You may need to do this a number of times and thats OK.
Sometimes a minute might go by before you become aware that your mind has
wondered. Thats OK too. However, as soon as you notice, gently bring it
back to what you are listening too.
Physiology
Another technique is to adopt the physiology or body language of someone
that is playing full out. A person playing full out while listening is likely to be
sitting forward, with head up, eyes on the person speaking and probably
nodding every so often. By applying this physiology, you will notice that your
concentration and listening skills improve.
This is also a good technique to apply when feeling down. Try keeping your
head up and smiling. You should notice an immediate change in emotional
state. It is impossible to feel down with your head help up high!
When doing an activity that is challenging for you, imagine how a person who
has great confidence and ability would do this activity.
Take on their
physiology and notice how you feel now.
Create a sense of urgency with whatever task you are doing. Set a time
limit on larger projects. This will give you the mental shift to become more
fully involved and will stop procrastination. This can also challenge your beliefs
about how long you think a task should take.
Playing full out also means working smarter rather than harder. I once
heard a saying that managers do things right, but leaders do the right thing.
So, are you doing the right things? - The actions that will take you towards
your goals? It is much easier to play full out doing activities that you are
passionate about or inspire you.
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5. Being at Cause
This is another statement that I often hear at seminars or in personal
development books.
You can choose to live your life at Cause or at Effect.
Being at Cause is about taking responsibility for everything in your life. It is
about being decisive about what you want in life. It is about having choice in
how you react to people and situations. It is about seizing the opportunities
available. Being at Cause gives you the power to change.
Being at Effect involves blaming others or circumstances for how you feel or
for what is happening or not happening in your life. You become dependent on
others to feel good about yourself. If you are waiting for something to happen
or someone else to change, then you are at effect and have given away your
power and choice.
Something might happen to you that appears to be outside of your control.
You might lose money because of the recession or develop an illness. It is
easy to blame someone or something else for that situation that arose.
However, when you do this, you feel helpless and give away your power to the
situation that caused the problem. This is an example of being at Effect.
You then decide to resolve the situation. You become aware of the many ways
to make money or deal with a health concern. You take action. If one thing
doesnt work, you explore other possibilities until you reach your goal. This is
an example of being at Cause.
It is pretty hard to live your life entirely at Cause. I know I dont some of the
time. However, being aware of Cause and Effect (as you are now) will help you
to identify times when you are at Effect. You can then change your thoughts
and actions to be more at Cause.
If it takes some time to change your situation, being at Cause will allow you
to react to that situation in a positive way. After all, stuff happens, and its
how we react to the stuff that happens that really matters.
Finally, being at Cause means that you consider the consequences of your
actions on other people, while not taking responsibility for their emotional
wellbeing. Thats their job, although they may not know that yet! Believing
that you are responsible for the emotional wellbeing of someone else, places a
heavy burden on you and can be pretty stressful.
Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause
and effect - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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6. Creative Visualisation
Did you know that your unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a
real experience and one that is vividly imagined. Read that again! So, it really
doesnt matter whether you actually experienced the situation or simply
visualised it. Your unconscious mind has still faithfully recorded the images,
sounds and feelings.
Also, if there is a conflict between your willpower and your imagination, then
your imagination will always win. Read that again! So, if you are trying to
lose weight by following a strict diet and you imagine the sight, smell and taste
of your favourite food. Guess what, you are going to eat that food and then
probably feel frustrated, because you gave in to your willpower.
Creative Visualisation is a wonderful technique. Its fun to do and a nice way
to improve your emotional state at the same time.
You need to really believe that this technique will work. This will help you
stay focussed and practice regularly.
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The more
2. Sit in a comfortable chair (or lie down). Close your eyes and become aware
of your breathing for a couple of minutes. Then imagine a white light over
your head. See that light going over your head and face, relaxing all the
muscles in the face, neck and shoulders. Then imagine this light moving
down your body relaxing your arms, torso, buttocks, legs and feet.
3. Now imagine that you are sitting in your favourite cinema (or at home
watching the TV if you prefer).
See yourself on the cinema or TV screen
having achieved your goal.
Notice what you can see, hear and what
people are saying to you. Look at all the details, including how you look,
your posture and what you are wearing.
Notice other people smiling,
enjoying talking with you if thats relevant to your goal. Be as specific as
possible. If the goal is about earning $100,000, see that money on your
bank statement.
4. Now, jump into the Cinema or TV screen, so that you are now the actor in
your own success movie! Continue to notice what you see and hear as
graphically as possible.
Make the images as big and as colourful as
possible.
Now notice what you are saying to yourself.
Your internal
dialogue or self-talk. If its useful to your goal, notice any smells, taste or
touch sensations.
5. Now that you are visualising this goal with all your senses, notice how you
feel. You should feel good. Now really intensify this feeling.
6. Finally (and this is optional), you can Anchor this feeling as I explained in
the Anchoring section of this eBook. This will make it easier for you to
relive this experience in the future.
Your imagination is like a muscle and it will improve with practice. So, if your
Visualisations were a little fuzzy, keep at it. Practice regularly and continue to
add as many details as you can. This will help implant this memory into your
unconscious mind.
You can also visualise with your eyes open in the same way as you would when
day dreaming. This is great for fitting in some visualisation while doing other
tasks such as walking, using public transport or even when staring at a
computer screen.
If you can dream it, you can achieve it - Zig Ziglar
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Thats a lot of
All your thoughts are stored in your unconscious mind. If you have a certain
thought frequently (positive or negative), then this thought will create a
greater impression on your unconscious mind. This causes the thought to
come back to your conscious awareness more often.
The unconscious mind tends to take everything literally. Remember about not
thinking of a blue elephant? The unconscious doesnt know the difference
between a positive and negative thought. It just faithfully stores this
information and then uses it again in the future. So, it makes sense to make
your thoughts as positive as possible.
Cancel Exercise
Before you change your thoughts, you first need to become aware of them.
Here is a great exercise to help you identify and then change negative
thoughts right away. You can do this exercise at anytime or anywhere, and
ideally whenever you become aware of a negative thought.
When you notice a negative thought, mentally say the word Cancel to
yourself and then gently change this thought to something positive. Thats it.
The key here is to do this gently and whenever you remember.
What you are doing is catching the negative thought, before you start to dwell
on it. You are also strengthening your mental muscle. The one that lets you
choose what to think.
Have fun with this exercise and dont beat yourself up if you forget or have
many negative thoughts. We all have to start somewhere.
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Think of the thoughts that you consciously initiate or change as being part of
You. All other thoughts (although useful sometimes) are simply mental traffic,
as your unconscious mind replays old thoughts.
The only exception is when
an intuitive thought appears. That is your unconscious mind processing
information and coming up with a solution for you.
Detaching the You from your thoughts, makes it easier to detach the negative
feelings that come from negative thoughts as well. Its like you are creating
some distance between You and your thoughts.
Self Talk
Many people think by saying things to themselves. This is known as Self-Talk
or Internal Dialogue. When becoming aware of your self-talk, notice what you
say to yourself and how you say it.
Is your self-talk loud and authoritarian? - perhaps sounding like a parent or
school teacher. If it is, ask yourself, would I speak to my best friend like that?
- probably not! Also notice the words that you use and ask yourself again,
would I say this to my best friend? - probably not!
Thinking of it this way is a great way to change the tonality and language that
you say in your own head.
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9. Gratitude
One of the keys to happiness is being grateful and appreciating what you
already have. When day to day life is broadly the same, the mind tends to
ignore the good things and focus on the things that we want.
We do
something different like go camping for the weekend and we suddenly
appreciate our creature comforts again. Or you have an injury that makes you
less mobile and you really appreciate being able to walk or run again when the
injury heals.
Or you spend time away from a loved one and you really
appreciate it when he or she returns.
The mind tends to notice differences and ignores things that are the broadly
the same each day. Thats why we often take people or things for granted until
they are not there anymore.
Gratitude is simply appreciating what you already have. Noticing things to be
grateful about on a daily basis is a great way to feel happier. Do this regularly
and it becomes a habit and starts to influence your personality in a positive
way. It feels good too. Being grateful is also associated with increased levels
of energy, optimism and empathy.
Regular thoughts of gratitude will impress your unconscious mind and you will
start to notice more things to be grateful for. It is also a key component of the
Law of Attraction. By being grateful for what you already have, you send out
a signal to the universe that you want more things to be grateful about. So
you attract new people, opportunities and things into your life by giving out a
vibe of gratitude.
Gratitude Exercise
1. Write down a list of all the things that you are grateful for. Consider all
areas of your life such as your career, friends, home, relationships, health,
finances, interests and possessions. Aim for a list of 20 or more things that
you are grateful for.
2. Refer to this list often, ideally once a day as a minimum.
memorise it.
3. Take a few minutes each day to really appreciate what you already have.
4. When you notice negative thoughts, you can mentally say Cancel and
then replace them with something in your life that you are grateful for.
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10. Affirmations
An affirmation is a carefully worded statement about something that you want
in your life. It is a sentence or phrase that you repeat regularly to yourself.
Affirmations are a great way of impressing what you want on your unconscious
mind. The more often you think, say or write down your affirmations, the
more your unconscious mind thinks they are real. Your unconscious mind will
then start bringing into your conscious awareness, people, situations and
things that will help your affirmation become true for you.
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Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed reading this eBook and have started applying these
strategies and techniques in your own life right now.
Did you do the exercises? - If not, go back and do them NOW! Becoming
successful involves taking action on what youve learnt. Doing the exercises is
also fun and helps you learn more about yourself. Remember Life Rewards
Action!
If you have any questions on anything covered in this eBook, please feel free
to email me at paul@permanentchangenow.com.
To your success and happiness.
Paul Thomas
Author
Ten Strategies for Your Success
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