Sasha Xarrian

There are many in America right now that are losing their homes.

My children and I lost our home shortly after my divorce. Losing your home, a loved one, a business, a job, or any other significant thing or person in our lives brings forth vast and unsettling emotions.

Our sense of security, identity, and safety is threatened.

We wonder if we will survive. We wonder how we will survive. We feel pain, anger and a sense of tremendous loss.

At one time or another we will all experience this in our journey through life.

Sometimes we merely survive the upset.

Sometimes we are left with unresolved anger and a lingering or lifelong feeling of unjustness and unfairness. Read More…

A couple weeks ago we put up the first part of Raymond Aaron's seemingly insane polar race (click here to see it >>). And now we've got part 2 of the series.

More than just the polar race, this mini-movie asks the question, "How much can one person do, if they put their mind to it?"

Throughout history, individuals have continued to amaze people and Raymond Aaron's case is no different. Check out part 2 of this mini-movie and see for yourself:

After watching this, I've got one question for you:

If you could be known for just one thing in your life, what would it be?

Let your imagination run wild. It could be anything from being the best parent in the world to climbing Mount Everest in record time. Drop a comment below and share your thoughts with us.

P.S. Stay tuned for part 3 of the movie to find out what happened to Raymond Aaron on this frosty goal.

It's easy to develop bad habits, but when it comes down to the good ones, it's a little bit tougher.

I'm sure most of us have been through a similar scenario. Maybe you've set a new year's resolution for yourself or to accomplish a new goal you needed to create a new habit. Yet, try as we might, we often fall prey to laziness, procrastination, negative self-talk, or disorganization.

You get the idea.

But with a little help (and a few tips and tricks), ingraining new good behavior can become just as easy. Check out this article below from ZenHabits on 29 ways to create a new GOOD habit.

The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

From ZenHabits.net

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle Read More…

A couple weeks ago we put up a video from Raymond Aaron, the nation’s number #1 success and investment coach on procrastination (click here to watch that video >>).

But it doesn't end there. He's about to do something that 99% of all people would call extraordinary and highly dangerous: a polar race to the North Pole. He does some pretty crazy things (one of them involves a meat freezer and a rather interesting story about a shovel) just to complete his goal.

Check out the first part of this mini-movie on the story of Raymond Aaron and how one man could accomplish so much, jump all these hurdles, and bring so much positive change to the world.

Whether it's a polar race, a new business venture, a drastic life change, our lives are filled with adventure. But after watching this video, I want to know what you think:

Do you think what Raymond is doing is inspirational or just plain risky?

P.S. Stay tuned for part 2 of the movie to find out what happened to Raymond Aaron and this icy adventure.

If you haven't heard the news, Jay-Z was recently interviewed by Oprah. While I didn't watch the whole interview, one thing that struck me was his take on life and in particular the books that had influenced him.

Love him or hate him, Jay-Z is a genius. He hasn't forgotten his roots, is an entrepreneurial whiz, is a champion giver to charities, and let's not forget his incredible ability to make money (his net worth is estimated to be at $150 million).

And if you give his list of books a look, you'll realize this millionaire rapper is a lot deeper than he appears.

If you're wondering, here is his list of books. Doubtless there are more that have influenced him but these are the top 6:

The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield Read More…

Procrastination is a terrible curse that saps your energy, lowers your self-esteem, robs you of productivity, steals your sales and promotions, lessens your income and ruins your reputation. Well, if it's so darn bad, why do you do it? Even worse, why will you do it again!! That's the bad news.

There is good news, actually GREAT news. FinerMinds is excited to bring you the world expert on busting procrastination, RAYMOND AARON so that it won't ever hurt you again. And, the way to destroy procrastination is presented in this brief video below.

Raymond's got another secret prepared for you. In this 2nd video, you'll discover the 3 steps to make every goal an instant success >>

At first glance, the title might make you cringe a little.

I mean, it's against everything we've been taught, right? That success is always earned. But if you believe in that 100%, where does that leave failure? It also means that failure is always earned. It's your fault if you fail. Entirely.

And this is why in societies such as ours and most of the world's, people take work too seriously and too personally. It creates a certain pain that honestly, is pretty damaging.

In this awesome speech by Alain de Botton, he talks about moving beyond job snobbery, letting the focus off our me-centered lives for a little bit, and ease up so that we can all enjoy our work and careers. As the saying goes, "The world doesn't revolve around you."

A few months ago we had an amazing article (actually one of our top rated articles) by Professor Srikumar Rao. It was called Happiness Is Your Birthright, You Have To Reach Out And Claim It!

And how right he was! The response to Professor Rao's article and Personal Mastery course taught at some of the best business schools in the world including Columbia, Haas, The University of California at Berkeley and London Business School.

But how did a business school lecturer become a personal development guru with a massive following ? And what about him caught the attention of CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine?

I'll be conducting two interviews with Srikumar Rao.

And it won't be just me interviewing him. In fact, you're going to help me.

What's your most burning question for Srikumar Rao?

If you've been following them. This should be easy. If you're new to his work. Check out his website AreYouReadyToSucceed.com

Also, Dr. Rao gave an awesome talk to Google's headquarters last year. He covered of course the connection between your self-awareness and happiness as well as work life success:

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted on when the interview will be released.

But before then, don't forget to ask Dr. Rao you're #1 question on happiness and the workplace.

The Challenge For You:

1. How happy you are in your work?
2. How do you feel about your career and life path?
3. Do you feel that you are following your passion and purpose?
4. How can ideas from the personal development field be brought into the workplace?
5. Does meditation, gratitude, positive thinking, visualization, intuition etc have a place in work life?

After you've posed those 5 questions to yourself, I want you to drop a comment and post this final question:

What's the #1 thing you want to see changed in your life when it comes to your passion, purpose and career?

Cheers,

Vishen

Hey guys,

Tons of you checked out that new videos from Gary Ryan Blair on goal setting and more importantly goal getting that we were sending you last week and if you're like me, then you were probably a little shocked (but in a good way).

The idea of the elusive connection that forms successes in our brain is amazing and I love the implications of what that means from a personal development point of view.

The video definitely opened up my eyes to a whole new perspective. From the idea of creating that connection between goal setting and goal getting to the pattern of successes or failures we end up in, Gary Ryan Blair made a really good point.

If you remember, there was a question posed after the video that asked: What you would like to accomplish in 30 days?. The replies were overwhelming. I thought I'd share some of the most touching ones here:

"Dear Gary, I have the hardest time in creating any goals. I feel like a dandelion seed and just travel where the prevailing winds take me. I've tried many systems, but have not found anything that helps me with goals. I'm 60, have raised 3 kids, been married for 35 years, but have an aversion (I guess ) to goal setting and achieving. It may have to do with my Dad who died before he could retire and enjoy the 'Good Life'. Your video is very good, but more help is needed for me to set and go for the goals I want.
Namaste"
- Fran

"Hi Gary,

Just like Fran above I've hit the 60+ years and have a hard time creating goals. I feel like a leaf on a river's surface floating where the waters take me.

Settings goals is difficut for me and even if I have mornings are a terribly unproductive for me. I have trouble getting started and keeping foccussed

Love to hear any positive suggestions.

Kind regards"
- Peter

"I have never achieved a goal that I wrote on paper, looked at everyday and psyched myself up on. I guess I was always waiting for the genie to appear. I guess the biggest goal I have in my life would be to find out what my true goal is."

"I agree. I am so overwhelmed with the many goals I have that I feel totally lost in even starting. Too many directions - to many choices - leaves me with stagnating procrastination. For the past 22 years I have been very successful (by doing what people told me was difficult to achieve). That gave me pupose and as soon as I reached the top, I resigned, to look for the next challenge. In 2006 my life changed completely, I stopped working and now I am really stuck in too many directions of options. Can anybody assist out there with some wise words?"
- Hannelie

"Great video and I agree setting goals is the easy part achieving them can be elusive. I have set goals and fallen short of achieving them. It is much harder to set a goal when you have failed and the more times you fail the harder it is to dream."

I can't help but notice that most of these comments have to do with following through on a goal and how to even choose a goal to start with. And it doesn't matter where you come from. Everyone's got problems with goal setting and goal getting, be it with your finances, your love life, your health, or your career.

Gary Ryan Blair

I'm really glad this was brought up in the comments because Gary is hosting a teleseminar with Alex Mandossian, nonetheless, on how to pinpoint your goals, position yourself for success (he's got a cool 10-step method for this), and how to inject a lil' discipline into your life.

You guys may have realized already how much of a goal setting nerd I am. I've even done some blog posts on it and a few presentations for my team too. I've already signed myself up for the teleseminar but from what I hear there's still some spots open so if you're serious about changing your life and achieving your dreams, then check out this teleseminar.

Click here to sign up for Gary Ryan Blair and Alex Mandossian's exclusive teleseminar on goal getting >>

Cheers,

Vishen

P.S. Gary even reveals the "cook book technique" on getting discipline under your belt. It's helped over 80,000 organizations and 4 million people get their dreams on the right track.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the amazing mind movies that you've sent it. It really means a lot. The inspiration the community receives is endless. In fact, I think I'll start on my mind movie today!

So without further ado, here are the mind movies our FinerMinds readers have submitted. They're tons of fun to watch and I hope you feel the inspiration to make your own.

If you don't know how, check out our previous blog post on how to make your mind movie >>

From Marney:

Read More…