Personal development isn’t for the privileged few or the initiates of metaphysics. You do not have to meditate for hours on end or chant strange rituals to gain benefit from self improvement. You have no need to change religion or religious beliefs to embrace the power of personal growth. In fact you do not even have to remember your own unlimited power or your natural unbreakable connection to the universe in order to perform miracles!

There are people from every walk of life who are performing miracles everyday. You may have heard the stories of a woman lifting the full weight of a car to save her child or a man walking again after years in a wheelchair. Perhaps you have heard of the British man who’s body miraculously cured itself of AIDS or the men and women around the world who have found their cancer dissolve. You may even have heard of stranger things happening in places like India and Tibet.

However, you may be unaware of the miracles that ordinary people, just like you and me, are performing all over the planet. Miracles like, turning financial ruin into avalanches of wealth and abundance, finding soulmates and healing illness. Miracles are happening right now where men and women are; rekindling failing or failed relationships; healing old emotional wounds that have been carried for decades; finally reaching all there long cherished goals.

Would you like to be one of them?

The power of miracles does not lie in some long and almost forgotten past of avatars and saints. Nor does it lie in some distant mystical land or with metaphysical warriors who had studied ancient hidden arts for decades. The power of miracles lies right here in the present. Your power is in the NOW!

The reason why so many people fail to gain results from tried-and-tested techniques such as visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, subliminal programming etc., is because they are constantly living in the past. They allow hurts from the past to impinge upon the present. Every negative thought or feeling that you have is based in the past. It is experiences that you had in your past that lead you to form that way of thinking and feeling. You must learn to release these hurts.

The secret to performing miracles in your life is to get clear on what you want. You really do not need to do anything else. If you would only think of the things you want then that is all you would ever get. However, when you think of something that you desire you immediately allow your mind to wander to thoughts connected with a past experience. You may think that because you have never achieved any goal you set that there is no point in trying again. You may have been hurt in relationships and thus you allow these episodes in your life to stop you from trusting and committing. You know yourself what pains you have endured in the past. Do you want to continue recreating them or would you rather break free?

The truth is your thoughts create your reality. Quantum physics has already told us that matter cannot exist without consciousness. This new science is now telling us that it is consciousness itself that is the very driving force behind the physical universe and everything that is in it. It goes further by stating that consciousness, through thought, actually collapses the quantum field of possibilities into just one reality – in other words your thoughts and beliefs make things real! You create your own world!

Therefore the first step to creating miracles in your life is to take full responsibility for everything that you have created so far – bad relationships, terrible jobs, unfilled potential or good relationships, great jobs and goal achievements etc. By taking responsibility you regain your power because if you did it then you can undo it or redo the same way or in a way that is more pleasing to you.

Look at how you were thinking in regards to the good things in your life – the things that you are happy with. I bet you do not have much negative thoughts and feelings around them. Now look at all the things in your life that are not how you want them to be. I bet you think in negative terms about those a lot. Also look at the things you do not have. Are you in a state of wanting to have them? Are you lusting after them or grabbing at them? If so, then you are affirming to yourself and your subconscious mind that you do not have them!

Begin to dissect your thinking by reviewing how you feel about things in your life. Your emotions are a great guide to what you are currently creating. When you are in a state of happiness and your emotions are postive you will find that it is because you are mentally focused upon the things that you want in life. When you are feeling bad about something then this is an indication that your thoughts are focused upon the things that you do not want. When you find yourself in this state you can quickly change it if you start to direct your thinking towards the things that you do want. Once you do this you will feel your mood lightening and if you are persistent you will enter a happy state. This lets you know that you are back on track and thus attracting and creating the things that you do want in life.

Seek out ways to eliminate all the hidden negative thoughts and feelings that you are currently afraid to look at. We all have them! It is strange but things that are clearly apparent to other people about ourselves are hidden from us because we refuse to acknowledge them. I am sure you know of a person that has some undesirable qualities and yet they are the first to point out those qualities in another. They just cannot see that they are like that themselves. We are all guilty of doing this!

Once you begin to eliminate your hidden negatives you will find that your thinking becomes much more positive without any conscious effort. You will find your life begins to change in magical ways. And you will surely see many miracles taking place in your life as you embrace the life you always wanted and deserve!

Have you ever tried to achieve goals in the past and failed? If you have then I am betting you have fallen into one or both of the pitfalls that I am going to show you how to avoid!

There is one simple personal development technique that can keep you motivated and ensure that you will keep moving forward toward you goal. Let me share it with you.

Do you recall when you were a child and had all the wonderment that only a child has? Do you remember any of your replies when adults asked you, as a child, what you wanted to be when you grew up? If you were like most people your answers would have changed from week to week depending on what interested you at that particular time. Never once did it enter your head that you could not be what you wanted. You held the strong conviction that anything was possible. You had the belief that you could be, do or have anything you wanted.

When you grew from childhood to adulthood these positive beliefs were replaced by limiting beliefs as you listened to other people around you. You have allowed your mind to become conditioned with negative beliefs. You have been brain-washed into believing that you cannot achieve your dreams because it is just not possible to do it. This mindset leads to the biggest pitfalls of setting and achieving goals – procrastination and giving-up!

When you were a child you were not afraid to dream big dreams. You gave no thought to how you were going to be an astronaut or how you could possibly learn to fly a multi-million dollar fighter jet – you just knew you could do it and knew it was going to happen! You were not afraid to think big. As you grew older and the world grew smaller for you, your view of your position in life and what was possible for you grew smaller also. Your dreams and aspirations became subdued to practicalities and what you believed was possible for you.

Now that you have reached adulthood you have bought into all the negative programming offered by others, the media and the education system and also formed some damaging negative views of your own based on some negative life experiences that you now think are common place. You have forgotten that you have the capability of thinking big.

Back in ancient times when Rome and Carthage were the two strongest powers in the world a Carthaginian leader called Hannibal told his generals he wanted to take his army and 80 elephants across the Alps to fight the Romans in their own terrority. His generals told him there was no way this could be done as in many places along the route even a solitary man would find it difficult to pass. Hannibal responded confidently, “We will find a way or we will make one!”. Hannibal’s response was swift and to the point, “We will find a way, or we will make one!”

Hannibal had a big dream. He wanted to defeat Rome and make his city of Carthage the strongest and only super-power of the ancient world. He had a big goal and a big dream. He wasn’t about to let some mountains stop him!

In order to achieve your goals you must re-learn to think big!

Having a big dream that offers big rewards and life changing results when it is achieved is the only way to stay motivated enough to tackle any challenge or obstacle that stands in your way. When you have a big dream that offers you big pay-offs you will be much less likely to allow fear to get in your way and thus you will develop persistence.

There is no such things as failure only giving-up. All you can gain is experience. When he was asked what it felt like to fail 9,999 times when trying to invent the electric light-bulb Edison replied,” I haven’t failed 9,999 times. I have just found 9,999 ways that don’t work!”

Stop setting your goals based on practicality or what you think is expected of you. Dream big! With a big dream you will take big action and you will experience big results!

The life you have now is in direct proprtion to your attitude towrds your life, yourself and others. Attitude is everything. People with an exteremly negative outlook on life tend to live lives that are dissatisfactory and unhappy. People who complain and moan about things in their life tend to attract more things to moan about!

If you have a recurring problem in your life you should take a very close look at your attitude towards it. Do you complain about it? Do you resign yourself to it? Do you EXPECT it to keep occurring? The following personal development technique can help.

Take a close look at the things in your life that are not working. Are these not the very things that you complain about? Are these not the things that you expect to be not working. When you focus on the problem and direct your mental efforts towards it you are in fact re-creating the problem and maybe even creating more problems. Without even going into the universal law of attraction, from a very practical viewpoint you are projecting to others what you expect from them and life. People tend to respond to this, albeit unconsciously, and give you what you expect!

Asking yourself appropriate questions is the fastest and easiest way to completely transform your life and attitude. When you encounter a recurring problem you will find that you make statements such as “not again!”, or “this always happens to me”, or “I just knew that would happen!” You also find that the questions you ask yourself also reflect the problem itself and not the solution. You may ask questions such as “why does this always happen to me”, “when is this going to stop happening”, or “how long do I need to keep going through this”, or “why can’t I get past this”, or “why can’t I find a decent partner (job, home, career etc.).

These questions focus your mind on the problem and your mind is forced to answer the questions in a negative way. You may then have thoughts such as “because it’s my bad luck”, then your mind goes into a spin and recalls all the bad luck you have had. You may answer “there are no good men/women left” so your mind goes into a spin recalling just how many good people are married and how many “bad” people are left. The subconcious part of your mind then looks for things that will reinforce your beliefs and statements. When it finds them, which it always does, it immediately alerts your conscious thinking mind to them.

The key to reversing this downward negative cycle lies in the way you speak to yourself and others. Turn your outlook on its head by creating statements that are more positive about the situation. Don’t make statements that reinforce the situation as it is but make them so they reflect how you would like it to be or that it is changing in that direction. Tell yourself “things are getting better” no matter how unrealistic this seems at first just keep telling yourself this. Instead of saying things such as “this always happens to me”, or “I just knew that would happen!” tell yourself “everything happens for a reason” or “I will learn from this and move forward”.

Do not say things like “this will never happen again” or “I am through with this problem” because you are still focused on the problem! Keep your focus always on the solution!

Ask yourself questions in a positive way that supports the outcome you want and not the problem itself. This is a very powerful yet extremely easy thing to do that will dramatically transform your attitude and your life!

Try asking positive questions that require a constrctive positive answer such as “do I need to learn something from this experience and if so what is it?”, or “what is the very best way for me to overcome this and create the results that I want to experience?”, or “where should I look and what should I do to attract the right partner for me?”

Asking yourself the right questions will change how you view the situation and force your mind to search for answers. If your subconscious mind finds that it cannot supply you with the correct answers then it will diligently and tirelessly look for those answers through your life experiences, people you meet and siruations you encounter until it can answer what has been asked of it. Making statements that things are getting better forces the subconscious to look for things that reinforce that belief and alert you to them.

Believe it or not this approach will alter your entire perception of the world and your role in it. Before long you will find yourself becoming a much more positive person. You will gain insight into situations that in the past where perplexing and a constant irritation.

Try it and see!

Somewhere deep inside I was feeling that something was missing in what I could do to help myself gain more clarity, confidence and ultimately live my birth right of health, wealth and happiness. I called out for help. When I asked I received huge assistance in the form of being able to look at life and what was happening in my life more unconditionally. I felt fortune was smiling on me because I came across an understanding of the Ego that I have never seen elsewhere. It was through a course that provided insights and a framework for life, in a very grounded systemic way that allowed me to make giant strides in my life and move me forward at a pace that I had never experienced before because I understood cause and effect, attraction and countless other principles on a much deeper and simpler level.

By using this material (mentioned at the end of this article), I was able to integrate the powerful knowledge this course provided and actually use my Ego, unconditionally and responsibly to assist me and empower me to easily meet my goals.

Let me share briefly upon what this material taught and awakened within me as a level of truth I knew was missing yet didn’t know where to find it.

We Are Actually Supposed To Have An Ego

We are supposed to have an ego. I just didn’t know how to allow my Ego to serve me instead of distract me. Our Ego is a part of us just as our heart and soul are a part of us. Yet this is the only part of us that is described as “something we need to get rid of.” It is like someone telling us that we need to get rid of our left arm, or our lungs. Those are the physical parts of us that we use to function as a body in this dimension, just as our Ego as a part of our being, allows us to function in this dimension. We require our Ego to experience life through our own personality, viewpoint and our own way of being. The Ego expresses our preference for lemonade over orange juice, or our preference for vacations in Hawaii over vacations in London. Our Ego is what makes life interesting for us, our Ego is what allows us to express our unique gift throughout the world. It is the one thing that makes us unique unto ourselves.

Is there any wonder why we have all struggled for years and years attempting to ‘get rid’ of our Ego? Why would we want to eliminate the very thing that gives us our own unique flavor?

Stay tuned for part 2 of the article where we discuss what getting rid of the Ego is really confused with and why understanding the ego is important to our personal development.

Personal development strategies are critical to your job search success. And learning to become a “job entrepreneur.” is right at the top of the list. Very simply, it means running your job campaign like your own business. Becoming a job entrepreneur is an exciting “alternative” job search method.

There are many aspects to conducting your alternative search methods like a job entrepreneur. First, it means abandoning any kind of mass marketing approach like mailing hundreds, even thousands of resumes. Or posting your digital resume on a job website like monster.com. If you’ve tried these approaches you already know they don’t work. Not unless you’re willing to wait months and months for something to develop.

Once you decide to get serious about making a job change . . . and you want to see some results in a matter of days instead of months . . . then choosing alternative strategies like becoming a job entrepreneur is the only solution.

One of the very first techniques to put to work in becoming a successful job entrepreneur is “research.” The good news is you can do your research very fast and conveniently online. Here’s what to do:

1. Decide what useful information you want to acquire, e.g. corporate literature, Who’s Who for specific decision makers, product or services information, job change tips, resume-writing examples, interviewing techniques, etc. Also take advantage of college alumni, community, headhunter, and newspaper sites.

2. Save, digest or bookmark sites you discover using good search engines. Put them into easily accessible digital files.

3. From all this information select areas of interest starting with geographical preferences. Then move on to products and services that attract your attention or that match with your interests or work history. Finally make a list of companies that fall within your parameters.

4. The last piece of essential research is perhaps the most important of all . . . identifying specific decision-makers by name who could possibly be your next boss. You’ll find this information at the corporate websites, Who’s Who, local service club info, online newspaper files, alumni sites, etc.

Once you’ve acquired this important preliminary research your in a unique position to develop entrepreneurial strategies for getting in front of these selected decision-makers. And that’s when the fun really starts.

People have been interested in personal development throughout history. But, what is interesting is what is happening today. Never in history has there been as much interest in personal development and self help material as there has been in all history!

Before the printing press was invented by Gutenberg being into self help was not what almost all of the people were interested in. In those times it was difficult to find places or people with good personal development information.

There was no demand, and little supply. After the printing press, the ease of putting ideas down onto paper, via the printing press, was much easier. Interest for personal development increased.

This interest for personal development only started increasing by vast factors, only started to happen in the late 19th and early 20th century. Even though this increase of interest was big, it was not until this century that there has been vast interest in personal development.

You see, in the times we now live, we don’t just have places that will give us personal development information or only books. Today, we have access to tape programs, and considering that tapes, CD’s, and downloadable products have easy access, and also the ability to do something else, and still learn is amazing.

The internet has changed the face of personal development. You can easily learn online, and there are many personal growth materials online. All this information is not just in text or audio, but some can offer video, and interaction.

The ways of learning have increased, and allow us to get into personal growth; however we want, whether that is through video, audio or an online e-Book. It doesn’t stop with the learning however.

There are many other interesting developments. For example, biofeedback is a technology I have seen used in meditation. The biofeedback equipment measures your body’s heartbeat, and can allow you to get peak meditation.

As we move into a more vibrant world, we will find that there is much more to personal development and find ways and means to make personal growth as easy and seamless as possible.

Learning may even become like the film Matrix, where you can learn how to fly a helicopter in 5 minutes! And it will be interesting, considering that speed reading and even photo reading is becoming more popular.

The key part to all this, is knowing what needs changing in your lives. After all, that is what personal growth is all about – growth.

Personal Development teachers and Self Improvement gurus have constantly told you that if you want to create joy, abundance and success in your life yu must first change your beliefs. They tell you that in order to achieve the same level of success as the high-achievers you must also be willing to take some form of action no matter how small it is. But how do you motivate yourself to take action when your whole world seems to be telling you that you can never achieve your goals?

There is only one way!

Change your beliefs – This is real Personal Development Power!

The greatest of Self Improvement teachers tell you that in order to achieve success and have the ability to take action you must first alter your beliefs. But why is this and how can you do it?

Well, our beliefs are merely a set of thoughts that you have about a given subject. They do not need to be, and usually aren’t, based of any real hard facts. Did you know that there are many psychological studies that show the views people have about themselves are wrong. Most people tend to be very hard on themselves and rarely give themselves creadit for their achievements or recognize their own strengths. If you are a normal human beiing then you are doing exactly the same thing!

Since thought always precedes action, it is imperative to change your disempowering, self-defeating destructive beliefs to empowering ones that will create drive, confidence, faith and, ultimately, success!

By changing your beliefs your core thoughts will change and thus your actions will be completely different than they have been before and in alignment with your desires. I can give you 3 simple, yet highly effective, steps which you can start to use immediately to change your beliefs and your life. They only require a small amount of effort but you do need a lot of persistence to keep following them! Remember its all about taking action.

Step 1. Learn to recognize your emotional responses and you will learn to control your thoughts.

When you begin to watch your emotions you will learn to control your thoughts. Our emotions are just a by-product of the thoughts we are thinking. When you think a sad thought you get sad and when you think a happy thought you feel happy. Although to many people this sounds overly simply YOU must realize that there is great wisodm and huge rewards that come from watching your feelings.

When you feel bad it means you are thinking about the things you do not want. When you are experiencing joyful happy emotions it is a clear indication that your thoughts are in the same direction as your goals and desires. Feeling good means you are focusing on the things in life that you really want! Teach yourself to be aware of your emotional state. By watching how you feel you can easily regulate your thoughts.

Make the decision now to watch how you are feeling, especially when you are concentrated on your goals and desires. When you feel bad and are experiencing negative emotions it is a sign that your thinking is in the wrong direction. Feeling bad is an indication that you are focused on the things in life that you do not want. If you are feeling good then you are focused on the benefits of actually having what you want. You always get more of what you focus on even quantum physics is now telling us this!

So, use your emotions to gauge how you are feeling and if you are feeling bad then begin immediately to change your thoughts to the opposite. Focus on what you want until you begin to feel good. Through persistence you will thus condition yourself for success.

Step2. Let Go!

Don’t try to force the issue by trying to work out every little detail of how you are going to achieve your desires. Just by focusing on them you set in motion powerful forces that will bring people, situations and circumstances that will open up opportunities for achieve what you want.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a plan of action. In fact this is very desirable. Just don’t get so caught up in the plan that you lose sight of the goal.

Learn to have an optimistic yet detached view. By grabbing and trying to force every situation in your favour you merely cause yourself frustration. This will mean you never enjoy the journey towards success but more than that it means you are focusing on the lack of your desire. You always get more of what you focus on!

Step 3. Take action!

Being flexible and allowing the Universe to show you the way towards your goals and desires is definitely the best way to achieve success.

It is necessary, however, for you to take some action or at least be willing to take some. Take one step forward and the Universe will take ten steps to meet you!

The whole point of changing your beliefs is so that your thoughts change and thus your actions change also. If you take action, even tiny baby steps, towards your desires and goals you have already ensured that you will eventually reach them.

If you want to walk from LA to New York you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer hugeness of the goal. However, if you walk 5 miles every day within a week you will be 35 miles closer to your goal. It may take you almost a year and a half to reach your destination but it is possible when you break the goal down and take some action! When you are willing to take action you will find that strange things begin to happen. You may just find that the Universe sends a Porsche to give you a lift! – “The journey of a thousands miles begins with a single step”, Chinese proverb.

If you diligently follow the 3 steps I have outlined I promise you that your life will be transformed and your dreams will be fulfilled in ways that will amaze you.

Through my experience with my network marketing company, I cannot stress enough how much my outlook has changed. Not just my outlook on finances, but my life in general. This business is about so much more than making money or even helping people: It’s about personal development. Personal development is not just a notion that ends at the conclusion of your formative years – it’s an ongoing process that will take you on a journey to discover who you are and what you really want in life.

I started my business initially because I know that someday, I want to be a stay at home mother. My fiancé works hard and is an excellent provider, however, when the time comes, I want to be able to contribute to my family’s income while raising my children. This business has made that possible for so many people– so I thought immediately, why couldn’t this happen for me? What do I really have to lose from trying vs. what could I lose if I don’t try it and it works? I didn’t want to live with that kind of regret.

This business has become even more to me now. Through the books I have read and the training sessions I have attended, I have received a much-needed boost. I can now manage to approach life’s everyday issues with a more positive mindset. It has truly changed my perspective and has allowed me to become a happier person. I have even managed to come out of my shell more – I am generally a pretty reserved person with people I do not know. However, this endeavor has allowed me to talk with more people, overcome my fear of shyness and even speak in front of groups of people when I’ve been terrified of the very idea! It’s very liberating to overcome your fears and see great things happening because of your decision.

Honestly, I had no idea that just making the decision to begin a business would impact me in such a way. I would normally hear about first time/new business owners who have payroll, inventories, tax liabilities and overhead costs that cause them to be more miserable than before (especially in this economic climate). Luckily, I don’t have to worry about those things and I’ve changed for the better (in more ways than one) because of my involvement with this business.

Personal Development is big business these days and you are spoilt for choice. This is precisely the problem, for most people do not like too much choice, because they do not now how to choose what is right for them. It also smacks of hard work, having to do research.

Deciding on the right criteria to choose from is critical and of course criteria vary from individual to individual. Fact is that most workshops disappoint and do not offer what the glossy adverts promise.

I have been to many a coaching, healing or other kind of Personal Development workshop and have come away either disappointed or found that I had no lasting benefit whatsoever form the experience. I have not even met people I would like to connect with later for networking or other purposes.

So, am I just a poor judge of workshops and seminars? I do not think so.The simple truth of the matter is that there are not many workshops or seminars that offer what I am looking for. Having experience in this field and held work shops internationally for top class organisers I do know what is required to make participants happy. And my expectations are therefore high.

Let me begin with the venue.To my mind this is very important, because the quality of your surroundings has a direct influence on your ability to concentrate and take in the course material. If you are locked in a dark room all day, or some small stuffy room without ambience in some purpose built hotel your senses are not going to be stimulated, you will soon feel tired and probably have difficulty lasting the morning, let alone a day or more.

Unfortunately too many seminars and workshops use purpose built rooms with all mod cons in total disregard of basic learning psychology.

Then there is the number of participants: If I attend a workshop, I want to be challenged and that means I do not want to be able to hide easily in the anonymity of 50 or, God forbid, 100 plus participants. If I wanted a group consciousness experience I would go to Stonehenge, Wembley or some place like that. I expect to get to know all the course participants well enough to allow me to feel comfortable, open up and build rapport with the group. It is good practice, challenges to engage me in the day and that way I grow.

The delivery of the material is another sticky point. There seem to be two main types, either you have the schoolteacher variety or you get the course presenter talking over the group delivering the material without engaging the participants actively. Not only does this become incredibly boring, and reminds me of my days at college it discourages learning.

I also find it impossible to concentrate on lengthy deliveries without interaction. On occasion I have seen participants drop off to sleep. Yes, it happens.

Are you offered food at breaks? The answer probably is no. I find this most irritating and it is not at all conducive to creating good group dynamics. It creates unnecessary disruption as well as delays, when participants are late returning after the break, or do not return at all. Rapport is broken and it takes a while to re-establish, often this cannot be done after the lunch break, momentum is lost and the afternoon a waste..

And what about course notes? Some seminar and workshop presenters do not give notes at all, some after the course, but most will give you the material to look over whilst you listen. Personally I think either way is acceptable, but far more important for the long term success of any workshop and seminar is good quality follow up material.

This might be in the form of books to purchase, newsletter or even follow up courses you can attend. Some organisers have gatherings for the participants at bi-monthly intervals. To my mind such gatherings are a great idea, because they encourage networking with like minded people and that will keep you on your toes.

We all need time to integrate the new things we have learned until we have practiced them enough that they become automatic we need gentle, pleasurable reminders.

I am sure that you can see where I am coming from with these comments and what to look out for in workshops. If in doubt, call the organiser or presenter, have a chat and see if you feel comfortable with him or her, do not be afraid to ask questions. Above all know yourself and what you want out of the workshop.

Attending a workshop that is right for you can be a great pleasure to attend, and bring you immense benefits well beyond what you imagine right now.

It’s nearly 2008 and some of you will be looking over the year and thinking about what you have achieved over the past year. For some, nothing much will have happened, for others their whole life will have changed. Personal development begins in your head and GOYA method will help a lot.

Why has nothing happened for you?

Simply put, you are too lazy to do anything about your personal development. There I have said it. I can hear screams of reluctance and abuse at me now, but it does not matter, you are only fooling yourself and you know who you are.

Therefore, for 2008 I would like to present this method for personal development.

It is an acronym for:

Get Off Your Arse!

To do something, anything, you have to take action, to take action you have to get off your arse first and make a start. That is what this article is about.

I do not want to hear whines, excuses, or anything else just read this through and then Get Off Your Arse.

Getting to the stage of SOYA

A lot of us will have gotten to the stage of SOYA (Sitting On Your Arse) at some point in our lives. Indeed it is good to have a bit SOYA time but too much can lead to a permanent state of SOYA and your arse gets flatter with all the sitting, the only exercise you get is flicking the remote and eating those packets of cheese and onion crisps. The younger SOYAs among you will get a little more exercise with the Nintendo Wii and PS3 and Xbox 360s but you are still at the SOYA stage and need to GOYA more before your life becomes a virtual world and soon the Matrix will have you.

For those of us on board the Nebucadnezzar it is still useful to read this just for a little jolt.

For those of you who do not think you are at the SOYA stage of life answer these questions:

1. Is your Arse permanently flat?

2. Does it take you about half an hour before you can walk properly getting off your couch?

3. Do you make old man noises when you get off the couch?

4. Do you make old man noises when you go to sit on the couch?

5. Do you have some goals that involve Getting Off Your Arse?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above it is time for some GOYA.

GOYA in action

There are at least two voices inside you at any one time. One voice saying take the easy option just turn the TV on, and SOYA and the other, less dominant voice, saying come on, I need some goya time.

The trick to getting off your arse is making the GOYA voice more dominant than the SOYA voice.

Quick Exercise

I want you to think back to a time, recently, where you were in two minds to go and do something but instead elected to stay in bed or sit on the couch and watch TV. For example, you need to get up and tidy the house but instead you stayed in bed or watched TV or read your book. What did that voice sound like inside your head, if you cannot remember listen for it next time. The SOYA voice sounds like MR T ‘Sit on your ass fool, aint nobody gonna clean the house’ and the GOYA voice sounds like Mickey Mouse on Helium ‘Oh shucks, thats a shame coz the house needs a good clean’

Listening for the SOYA and GOYA voice

You will soon begin to hear the little voices whenever you have to do something. Recognising them is the first stage and when you hear them, it will be a revelation. Now when I say hear them you dont literally hear them you hear them in your head. You might not think they are there but they definitely are. Any time you have to do something they are there.

The next stage is switching the voices around.

This can be tricky at first but when you do it once it becomes very easy all the other times and you will see a dramatic difference in your life. Now I know I am being a bit tongue in cheek here but I do mean this. When you switch the voices and use the SOYA voice for the GOYA voice i.e. MR T voice is now the GOYA voice and Mickey Mouse on Helium is the SOYA voice you will see an amazing difference in your productivity, you exercise routine, everything you need the GOYA voice for.

Another exercise for today

To try this method out try hearing the new GOYA voice telling you what to do whenever you are procrastinating about something. Obviously, it doesn’t have to be MR Ts voice but you want a commanding voice, have a little fun with it. Eventually the voice will be your won voice and you begin to do tings you have been putting off.