Personal Improvement

It’s great to plan for the future, but it can also be counterproductive to focus on your major goals in the future tense. When you project something into the future, it will stay in the future. The idea is to center your goals in the present moment.

Instead of saying “I will have x by this specific date”, practice closing your eyes and visualizing what it would be like to already have attained your goal. Create a vivid feeling of having, doing, or being exactly what you want.

Engage not only a clear mental picture, but go a step further and engage you other senses. Hear the sounds and feel the physical sensations associated with your goal. Even bring your emotions into play and really feel what it will be like to take possession of your objective.

Revel in the moment as if you’re getting ready for a great victory celebration.

This type of active visualization can be used in place of traditional future-specific goal affirmations. And you can achieve amazing results with only a few minutes each day.

Practice taking time out during your day to really bring your goals into the present moment with you. Put as much realism and feeling into this as possible, and force yourself to smile during the process as this will create a happy vibration.

A great time to perform this type of affirmation is just before bed each night. This will allow your unconscious mind to work throughout the night on aligning itself to the accomplishment of your goals.

By combining this technique of present tense realization with traditional timeline specific goal setting you are likely to see huge improvements in your overall results. In other words you don’t need to throw your target achievement dates out the window, just practice thinking in terms of “I have” instead of “I will have”.

Stay positive and remain diligent and you can have anything you want!

Harv Eker first coined the term “wealth blueprint” in his best-selling book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. This is a revolutionary concept in the self-development and wealth creation world, while at the same time being based on long-standing psychological principles.

The premise of the wealth blueprint, also called the financial blueprint, is that each of us has a specific way of thinking and feeling towards money and success that is buried within our subconscious minds. These thoughts and feelings come from our childhood, what we are told by others, what we see on television and read about, and what we experience early in life with regards to money.

Great evidence of the Harv Ekers’ financial blueprint theory can be seen in the behavior of most lottery winners. For example, almost 80% of people who win major jackpots are seriously broke again within only two years!

Most researchers believe this happens because these winners do not feel comfortable with or deserving of great wealth and financial success. If you think about it you can probably identify one or more people in your life who seem to have a way of sabotaging themselves whenever they are close to monetary success.

In fact you might even be able to see this behavior in yourself if you look closely enough! I admit that I discovered a seriously flawed financial blueprint after reading Harv Eker’s book and taking his philosophy to heart.

Prior to my realization I had created numerous successes through my business. But I invariably found some way to discredit these events and throw a wrench in them to avoid long-term success.

Before reading Secrets of the Millionaire Mind I had no idea I was doing this. But now it’s so clear, and I see the blueprints of other people all the time.

And the really powerful point to the concept is that a blueprint can work for an individual’s benefit as well. How many business people do you know who seem to bounce back from a fall no matter how bad it is?

Think about big time investors who lose everything, only to be incredibly rich once more in a year or less. This is a direct result of their financial blueprint being set for great success and wealth.

Each of us, according to Eker, has the ability to change our blueprint and structure it as we see fit. But this involves real work, and the first step is taking an honest look at your current blueprint.

Here are a few basic tips to help you determine if you have a healthy financial blueprint:
Do you ever use terms like “filthy rich” or “obscene amount of money”? Beware that this kind of talk is very detrimental to your plans of achieving success! Think about it; why would you want to be filthy, obscene, etc.? This is a very powerful negative subconscious message that needs to be avoided.

Also, when you see someone who is obviously very rich and successful how do you feel toward that person? Are you happy for them, or do you resent them and mutter things like “rich jerk: under your breath?

If you are jealous and bitter about other people’s success, it’s a clear sign that your blueprint might be in trouble. Because how can you honestly expect to achieve something you feel angry or spiteful about?

Most people don’t take the time to think about these things. But as Harv Eker points out in his books and seminars, most people aren’t rich either!

You can begin right now to create healthy thoughts and feelings about wealth, success, and money. In doing so you will be rebuilding your wealth blueprint to serve you better. Check out Secrets of the Millionaire Mind for an in-depth explanation of the wealth blueprint and a complete list of Eker’s famous “wealth files”.

Mainstream society tends to define intelligence through very limited parameters. From pre-school through the collegiate level a person’s intellectual worth is quite inaccurately determined solely by his or her ability to work with numbers, remember details, and handle language skills.

Students who do not excel in mathematical operations or the ability to communicate via accepted linguistic structures are often labeled as “slow”, inept, or worse. Even outside of the classroom people are measured and judged smart or dumb by virtue of their skills with numbers and written/verbal communication.

It’s right to celebrate a talent with numbers. And it’s good to honor an ability to master sentence structure or remember, manage, and communicate written information.

But these skills are far from being the only determinants of strong intelligence. In fact recent scientific studies have identified multiple types of intelligence.

In addition to the verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematic intelligence recognized and rewarded by the standard academic system, researchers at Harvard have identified the following types of intelligence:

Visual/Spatial Intelligence – This measure of intelligence manifests in the visual perception of the environment, the ability to form and manipulate visual imagery, and the orientation of the body and other objects in space. Simply put, an individual with great visual/spatial intelligence might excel at graphic arts, sculpting, observation of the environment, freehand carpentry, and so forth.

Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence – This of course deals with one’s physical dexterity, fine motor skills, and the ability to learn and express via physical movements. A person with enhanced bodily/kinesthetic intelligence might excel at sports, dancing, sex, and/or have a natural ability to work with hand tools or solve problems through physical means.

Musical Intelligence – This expression of intelligence is fairly self-explanatory, and pertains not only to understanding/producing harmonious music, but also to rhythmic timing, dance response, and the intuitive relation to natural sounds and melodies.

Interpersonal Intelligence – This form of intelligence is often manifested in the ability to understand, communicate with, coordinate, and even manage other human beings. People who are smart in this area find it easy to form relationships and maintain harmonious interaction within overall groups and communities.

Intrapersonal Intelligence – This expression of intelligence is the ability to understand the self, and to interpret and work with thoughts, emotions, instinctive reactions, and intuitive notions.

Naturalistic Intelligence – This form of intelligence involves the ability to observe, understand, and work with the natural world of plants, animals, and even weather patterns and geological phenomenon. Strong organizational and classification skills are typical of this intelligence range.

Dr. Howard Gardner deserves our gratitude for initiating the studies that have categorized this wide range of different intelligences. In the near future it is likely that even more will be done to uncover and organize the less traditional types of human intelligence.

Reviewing the list above, and being aware of the standard verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematic intelligence patterns, where do you feel your genius lies? Don’t be modest here; it’s very likely you have active or latent talents within one or more areas of intelligence.

Spend some time observing yourself and being honest about the things that come naturally to you in life. Refer to the basic list of intelligence types and see if you can match yourself with some of the traits mentioned.

Understand of course that I’ve only made a very basic outline in this article. Each form of intelligence can be greatly extrapolated on.

Often undervalued by mainstream (and especially elitist) society, these additional forms of intelligence have played a critical role in human survival over the past several thousand years! Furthermore all manifestations of intelligence, not just the two facets that are nurtured and praised by our stunted educational programs, color the vivid and wonderful nature of humanity.

It’s time we as a species transcend the limitations of “traditional” definitions of intelligence and embrace our greatness in the many forms it becomes manifest. A good program of personal development can help you uncover your unique genius and therefore work from your strength centers.

If this article appeals to you, it’s likely you’ll also enjoy the concept of Strengths Psychology, or the identification and emphasis of your natural areas of proficiency. I believe this goes hand in hand with finding your own personal areas of intelligence, and it’s an important step in the process of becoming your ultimate self.

I highly recommend a very simple, fun, and enlightening program from the Gallup organization called Strengths Finder 2.0. I think so highly of this program I got copies for my mom and sister and I recommend it to all my business associates as well.

Check it out and let me know what you think.