Bill Bartmann is the ultimate underdog, survivor AND achiever. He was homeless at age 14, a member of a street gang and a high school dropout. He then took control of his life by taking the GED exam and putting himself through college and law school.

Bill Bartmann hasn’t looked back since. His achievements speak for themselves:

• “National Entrepreneur of the Year” (twice) by USA Today, NASDAQ, Inc. Magazine, Ernst & Young, and the Kauffman Foundation
• Forbes Magazine list of the 400 wealthiest Americans
• American Academy of Achievement’s "Golden Plate Award for one of the 20th Century’s Most Extraordinary Achievers" (an award previously bestowed upon five U.S. Presidents and three Nobel Prize winners)
• Borrowed more than $3.1 billion from 120 different lenders for more than 180 separate transactions - all for privately held startup companies
• Acknowledged by the Nilson Report as having created the "Largest, Best Trained, and Most Efficient Debt Collection Operation in the World"
• Acknowledged by BusinessWeek Magazine as "One of the Top 30 Family Friendly Companies" in the United States
• Acknowledged by BusinessWeek Magazine as "One of the Best Entrepreneurs"

The road to success has not always been easy, though.

Tragedy struck when Bill’s former business partner committed fraud and sent the company into bankruptcy. Although Bill’s former business partner told prosecutors that he had acted without Bill’s knowledge, admitted his guilt and was sent to prison, Bill was indicted on 57 felony counts relating to his partner’s activities.

Five years later, after a 2.5 month long trial where the government called 53 witnesses and produced over 1,000 exhibits, Bill rested his case without calling a single witness or producing a single exhibit. The jury unanimously acquitted Bill on all counts.

This experience would have crushed most people, but not Bill. He now travels the country inspiring many by sharing his story of how he created success and overcame near insurmountable obstacles.

Bill is deeply passionate about helping people reach their potential and achieve their goals.

Drawing on his own experiences, he has outlined 9 Steps to Achieve Any Goal:

1. Make Sure Your Goal is Your Own. Spend a solid amount of time figuring out what YOU really want. Think of all the people who are pursuing goals for other people. It’s not worth it. It’s the saddest realization to wake up at 50 or 60 and realize you’ve been chasing something you don’t really want for most of your life.
2. Make it a Promise. Use the word ‘promise’ instead of ‘goal’. Most people don’t reach their goals. Thinking about goals actually sets your mind up to fail, because not reaching goals is quite normal. When you make a promise, you don’t think about something you’re going to ‘attempt’ or ‘try’ or ‘strive to do’. You expect to keep promises. When you make a promise you really want to keep it, so your mind starts working for you to reach your goal.
3. Clearly Identify Your Promise. Most people are vague when they come to goals. They say “I want to get rich” or “I want to be famous.” But you need to know the specifics of what you want. How rich? How famous? If you can’t clearly identify your promise, you’re going to have a difficult time achieving it. When you can clearly see your promise in your mind’s eye, it becomes so much easier to achieve.
4. Identify You Personal Motivator. In order to achieve a significant goal or promise you’re going to need a lot of motivation. You need a good motivator, something to keep you fired up when the times get difficult. This can be anything that keeps you passionate and focused. Maybe someone once told you you couldn’t do something, so it’s the idea of proving this person wrong that keeps you motivated to carry on. Or maybe it’s your children that help you keep your eye on the prize.
5. Create a Promise Plan. It isn’t enough to have a clear promise and a personal motivator. You need a plan. You need to map out and write down the who, what, where, when, why and how of your promise. Your promise should include all the components of a proper business plan.
6. Review Your Plan Regularly. Take 20 minutes each day to review your promise plan. Focusing on your goals makes them all that much more attainable. Analyzing and refining your plan gets your brain working for you, showing you things that you hadn’t thought of before. Your promise plan becomes better and more efficient.
7. Tell Yourself You Will Achieve It. Repeat to yourself over and over again that you will reach your promise. This concretizes your promise in your mind and builds confidence in your ability to reach it.
8. Tell Others About Your Promise. When you tell someone else about your promise, it gives you additional motivation to make it happen. The more people you tell the better. This may be scary, but it gives you an additional incentive to realize your promise. In addition, many of the people you tell will come forward to offer support or resources to help you reach it.
9. Visualize the Final Result. A powerful tool to help you realize your promise is visualizing the final result. What does it feel like? What does it look like? You need to be able to see yourself in the moment of success.

Most of you probably already know about the Law of Attraction. It goes a little something like this: In a nutshell, The Law of Attraction says that you attract into your life whatever you think about. According to The Law, your thoughts (both unconscious and conscious) dictate the reality of your life, whether or not you’re aware of it.

In order to work with this energy, you must practice four things:

1. Know what you desire then ask the universe for it
2. Focus your thoughts upon the thing desired with intense   feelings and emotions, such as gratitude or enthusiasm
3. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is already acquired
4. Be open to receiving what you desire

OK, that seems straightforward enough, you might say. But is it?

Most of us have poor ‘thinking' habits. Instead of focusing on what we desire and the feeling of already having it with an overall sense of gratitude and joy, our minds are cages of negativity. We engage in negative self-talk; we worry constantly; we think the same mundane thoughts over and over; we think the worst of other people; and the list goes on.

The challenge (and the solution!) is to practice The Law of Attraction every day of your life—to make it a habit.

Relaxing on the sofa once a month for 10 minutes and thinking about the promotion you want isn’t going to cut it. It’s about using The Law each day to change the way you think and act to ultimately achieve the life you want and deserve.

Here are THREE TIPS to Help You Get The Law of Attraction Working for You:

Just Do It

Maybe you’re already reading books about how to achieve success in different facets of your life, whether it be wealth, happiness, health, or relationships. But are you really doing anything? Most people stay at the level of thought and analysis. It’s time to act. Remember you are supposed to behave as if what you desire is already yours. People forget this point.

Many people find the old “fake until you make it” philosophy helpful here. If you’re shy and quiet, but want to be confident and heard in the boardroom, push yourself to speak once or twice every meeting. If you want to be happier, smile at your co-workers (even if you don’t feel like it!). After a while, these actions become second nature, and even enjoyable, because they’re aligned with your desires. Combining thoughts and actions that are positively reinforcing will help you attract what you want faster.

Surround Yourself with Positive People

Have you ever been having a great day and then you run into ‘that’ person? You know the one. They might be rude or inconsiderate or arrogant or maybe all three, but you nonetheless walk away from the interaction feeling slightly ‘icky’ or deflated. Maybe some of the people closest too you have this effect. That’s a problem. These people are literally giving off bad energy, and you’re absorbing it. It’s difficult to stay positive and focused on your desires when confronted with a barrage of negative vibrations. And guess what, they want you to pick it up. Bringing you down brings you in sync with their negative state, which reinforces their thoughts and actions.

Now think about a different scenario. Who are the people in your life who lift you up? The people where you walk away from a conversation with them and you feel energized and happy. These are the individuals you want to (and should!) be around. You want to be happier? Hang out with happy people. You want to be healthier? Become friends with people who live and breathe a healthy lifestyle. Being around people whose energy and actions are aligned with where you want to go is a sure fire way to accelerate The Law of Attraction.

Get Clear

There are a lot of bad ‘askers’ out there. It’s very difficult to achieve what you desire when you don’t actually know what it is that you want. If there is confusion or anxiety or tension around what you desire, that’s what you’re going to get, more confusion or anxiety or tension. Remember, the universe delivers to you what you give your attention and energy to, not necessarily what you want.

Achieving clarity about your desires is one of the most crucial steps in manifesting what you want. For some, this process can be tricky. Abraham-Hicks has a helpful concept for this problem. It’s the idea of contrast. The exercise is to think about circumstances in your life that you don’t want.  Most people find it easier to identify what they don’t want than what they do. It follows that once you’re clear about what it is that you don’t want, it’s easier to pinpoint what it is that you do.

For example, you might dislike your job, but you don’t know what else is out there for you. In this case, think about the things that you don’t like about your job. Perhaps you discover the part that you don’t like is having to work in an office environment and all the things that go along with that: staff meetings, office politics, a nine-to-five work schedule, etc. If this is the case, your desire might be to work from home or freelance. Getting clear about what you want will bring you that much closer to it.

Nearly 25% of Americans report occasional sleeping problems, and insomnia is a chronic problem for about 10% of people. The difference between feeling rested and refreshed versus groggy and irritable is enormous. Without adequate sleep, you feel like you’re dragging through your day, unable to concentrate and deliver your best.

Many turn to sedatives as a ‘cure’ for insomnia, but this can actually make the problem worse over time. Strong sedatives do not produce a natural, restful sleep. You can also become dependent on or tolerant of these drugs. When this happens, the same dosage no longer produces sleep, which often leads to increasing the dosage. Stopping these drugs causes withdrawal and insomnia.

There are many causes of sleeplessness. Poor sleep habits are a major culprit. Other factors include anxiety, stress, depression, aging, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, and conditions such as arthritis, overactive thyroid and heartburn. Often there is not just one cause, but a constellation of factors inhibiting a good night's sleep. It is also important to work with a health care provider to diagnose and address more serious conditions causing sleeplessness.

When people have trouble sleeping, they often get upset and frustrated and attempt to force themselves to sleep. This just makes the situation worse.

A more beneficial approach is to look for ways to relax and eliminate stress if you can’t sleep. This is where meditation comes in.

Regular meditation before going to bed brings you into a relaxed and clear mental state, preparing the mind for restful sleep. Ten to 15 minutes of meditation as a regular part of your bedtime routine can have huge payoffs on your ability to fall asleep easily.

In fact, a study associated with the Stanford Medical School found that combining meditation with cognitive-behavior therapy showed clinically significant improvements in several nighttime symptoms of insomnia. A significant correlation was also found between the number of meditation sessions and a reduction in sleep-related arousal.

In addition to meditation, there are a few other key behavior changes that will help you get to sleep faster. Make sure to avoid alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine. Both nicotine and caffeine are stimulants, and alcohol disrupts the proportions of various important sleep stages. Don’t eat a heavy meal before bed, as this may cause heartburn and discomfort. Establish a regular bedtime, but don’t go to bed if you’re not tired. Exercise regularly, but not two hours before going to bed. Finally, use the bedroom for bedroom activities only, so this space will be associated with falling asleep, preparing for your day and other good things that happen in the bedroom!

You’ve been so good all week: packing healthy lunches to eat at work, snacking on fruits and vegetables, avoiding sweets, and not eating after 8 pm. And then Friday comes. It’s reward time. It’s been a long week. Hot wings and beer it is. Then Saturday arrives with the promise of a BBQ or a brunch and, of course, Sunday wouldn’t be Sunday without mash potatoes, gravy and a few slices of roast beef.

Now it’s post-Sunday dinner and you’re comatose on the couch with your pants cutting into your waistline. Sound familiar? Perhaps the foods and the activities are different, but many of us treat the weekend as a chance to cut loose gastronomically.

No problem, you say to yourself. I’ll just eat healthy all week. But the reality of the situation is you could be packing on nearly 10 extra pounds by the end of the year if you eat like this.

According to a recent study from the Washington University School of Medicine, regularly overeating on the weekends can result in significant weight gain. Moreover, your healthy eating all week long doesn’t compensate for all the extra calories you’re consuming on Saturday and Sunday.

In the Washington University study, researchers tracked the food intake, exercise and body weight of 48 adults, aged 50-60, for one year. Prior to the study, the researchers determined that those participating consistently gained weight on weekends.  At the beginning of the study, participants were divided into three groups. Group one reduced their daily calorie intake by 20%, group two increased daily physical activity by 20%, and the control group didn’t change their eating or their exercise habits.

During the one-year study, all three groups consumed significantly more calories on the weekend compared to the weekdays. The calorie-restricted group stopped losing weight on the weekend and the exercise group gained weight. In addition, other research shows that people who maintain their healthy eating throughout the week are 1.5 times more likely to keep off those unwanted pounds.

You might think eating sensibly all the time is impossible. Chances are you’re probably right. Every once and a while it’s fine to indulge—have a slice of chocolate cake, treat yourself to a cheeseburger.

It becomes problematic when the diet ‘cheat’ meal or day stretches into the ‘cheat’ weekend. If you’re indulging all weekend and every weekend that means you’re overeating 29% of the time, and it’s going to show.

Here are a few tips inspired by Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietician, to keep you on track with your weekend eating:

1. Keep Active: Take a walk in the park or head to the gym. Staying active will help you burn extra calories and keep you from feeling sluggish. Watch out for feeling sluggish. It can lead to getting cozy on the couch with a bag of chips!
2. Eat Breakfast: Start the day with a meal that includes protein and fibre to keep you satisfied until lunch. This will help you control the urge to snack.
3. Plan Ahead: If you find it challenging to eat regular meals on busy weekends, use a food diary to plan your menu. If you’re going to be out all day long, pack healthy snacks to prevent hunger.
4. Choose Healthy Restaurants: If you’re dining out with friends or family, choose restaurants that you know have a number of healthy options.
5. Limit Alcohol: Watch the number of drinks you have. Cutting out two drinks over the weekend will save you around 300 calories. If you’re at a party, try having a glass of sparkling water in between alcoholic beverages. You’ll feel better in the morning too!
6. Portion Control: If you’re at an event where there is food, make sure you watch your portions when it comes to the high calorie treats. Also load up on foods like salads because they're healthy and they'll keep you full.
7. Avoid the ‘Last Supper’ Mentality: If you blow your diet on the weekend, don’t wait until Monday to get back on track. Start with the next meal or snack. The ‘last supper’ approach – i.e., I’ve already binged, so I may as well enjoy what I want until Monday – makes it more difficult to resume your healthy eating routine.

Matthieu Ricard, cellular geneticist turned Buddhist monk, talks about the different between happiness and pleasure in his book Happiness. He suggests people’s confusion of pleasure for happiness is a common error.

Pleasure, as described by Ricard, is a fleeting experience dependent upon circumstance, on a specific location or moment in time. By its very nature pleasure is unstable. The sensation it elicits soon becomes neutral or even repugnant. An example would be eating a delicious chocolate cake. The first few bites are divine, but after reaching the point of being full, to go on would make one feel ill. The cake would taste too sweet and rich, and to continue eating it would be uncomfortable.

Pleasure is exhausted by usage. It’s nearly always linked to an activity and naturally leads to boredom if repeated continuously. Happiness, in contrast, is not necessarily dependent upon circumstance. Happiness does not mutate into its opposite, but instead flourishes and endures with experience. Authentic happiness is not connected to an activity. Rather, it is a state of being.

While pleasures are produced by contact with pleasant stimuli and end when that contact is broken, genuine happiness—lasting well-being—is experienced so long as one remains in harmony with their inner nature.

When speaking of happiness, Ricard refers to the Sanskrit word for this state of being: sukha.

“Sukha is the state of lasting well-being that manifests itself when we have freed ourselves of mental blindness and afflictive emotions. It is also the wisdom that allows us to see the world as it is, without veils or distortions. It is, finally, the joy of moving toward inner freedom and the loving-kindness that radiates toward others.” ¹

Listen to a talk given by Matthieu Ricard on the Habits of Happiness.

¹ Matthieu Ricard. 2003. Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill. New York: Hachette Book Group.