When others say “oh so and so are just lucky” as if to say that they themselves are not lucky, I think that what is happening is they aren’t preparing themselves for luck.

If you want to be lucky, it is simple, prepare for it.

Watching TV is great, but unless you are looking to be working in the television industry there are better things you could be doing with your time. If you want to be a successful business leader, this time could be spent preparing, reading books on business leadership, studying on the Internet, attending courses and seminars and laying the groundwork for luck.

Sure, you can’t think negative and get a positive result, but what I am saying to you my friend, is that the second you set a goal, you will receive a problem, and you need to expect it. The problem might not be there straight away, but it is on its way.

Why? Let me explain…

When you set a goal, a S.M.A.R.T. Goal, you should have visualized it, you should believe it and have started on a plan to achieve it. If you just got your goal without any problems you will never be successful.

Now let me tell you why the problem really comes about. It is because what you focus on you get.

Know that the path to your goal will always have this problem, it may come in different forms but the problem is sitting and waiting for anyone who takes the path set for that goal.

Now you may be saying, Pat have you lost your mind? Well hear me out guys…

You see, your frustration is simply the prelude to a conviction that you don’t have yet, and your convictions are the signposts to your life’s true calling and inner peace.

But just as frustration is a prelude to a conviction, know that if you choose to ignore your frustration or resolve it, it will work in the opposite and weaken your conviction and ultimately damage your true character.

Think of a time when you were so frustrated with a situation that you could not take it anymore and finally out of utter frustration said  “THAT IS IT, NEVER AGAIN” magically causing you to have a new conviction and changes your character to a resolve that this will never happen again.

Maybe it was the frustration of feeling embarrassed at your weight when you went to the beach that caused you to say “THAT IS IT, NEVER AGAIN” and turned your life around to eat right and exercise. It could have been the frustration of not being able to afford the lifestyle your partner and kids deserve that made you say “THAT IS IT, NEVER AGAIN” and decided to increase your prosperity by picking up one of my books, which by the way was a the best thing you could have done.

You can either use or abuse your frustrations, and it is a simple choice.

Funny, I started writing this only to be distracted and went to write a whole different article all together.

It was perfect timing as I could see how I handled the choice of leaving something for later and choosing to resolve it now.

If there were one trait that would guarantee success,
it would be overcoming procrastination.

We are fooled to believe that putting something off will not hurt us, we can always do it later right? It gives us a quick burst of relief when we make the decision to leave something to later, but in reality this is a lie.
 
The moment we put what needs to be done off, we are having a conversation with our sub conscious that causes a weakness in our character, the same weakness that will show up later on. We weaken our will power, which in turn affects our energy and momentum.
 
This is the reason when you do something you have been putting off, you feel like you have accomplished a great feat, there is an energy of success and a feeling of momentum that comes with it.

Some procrastination comes from simply forgetting things, and when you have a schedule like mine this is the biggest cause of trouble.

If I am in a meeting I will furiously be taking notes, which as soon as the meeting is finished, I will go back over and pull out all the items I need to action, follow up on and handle.

So what is the first step?

First of all you need to use your past mistakes, hurts, fears and failures as a springboard to your future success.

I’ve got a friend who was constantly told by his high school teachers that he would never amount to anything. For a while he let this influence get to him. Until one day he woke up and realised that he is in control of his future.

He realised that he can amount to more than he was lead to believe. So he used his anger, hurt, mistakes and past failures as a motivational factor to prove his teachers wrong.

This motivational factor and the desire to prove his teachers wrong, propelled him forward to become one of the most content and prosperous entrepreneurs I know.

The thing that he realised is that…

Your prosperity quotient has to be bigger than your disappointment quotient.

Because it is in the sight of adversity that the real truth about you is revealed… In times of adversity you’ll not only learn who you really are and what you’re made of… but what you really believe.

Remember, money is an incredible servant but a lousy master. Money should be used to work for you, serve you and increase for you.

How do you view money?
Is money like a big pool, or is it a stream to you. Many people think that money is just a big pool, a big old pie of money. They fear that if they let the money flow out, the pool will dry up. They squeeze their dollar so hard that the queen is choking.

What they end up with is a stagnant murky pool. Overlooking what has happened by blocking the outlet, they are also blocking the inlet.

For money to grow it has to circulate.
It is called currency because it travels like a current to all those who are tapped into it. People save it for a rainy day and that is exactly what they get – a rainy day.

Your life moves towards your dominant thoughts. It has been said that money is like manure, you hoard it, it stinks, you spread it around it will make things grow!

How often do people say “if I had more money I would give to charity or I would invest”? This is a flawed way of thinking, in fact the person who hoards their money when they only have a little will hoard their money when they have a lot. Money does not make the man, it simply just magnifies what he already is.

The question is…
What are you prepared to do about it?

You see, right now you’re probably standing in front of a gap. You on one side and your dream on the other!

The gap separates you and makes it impossible to reach your dream. So what you have to ask yourself is, “What is it I have to do that will enable me to build the bridge that connects the two?”

What skills do you need, what information or resources will bridge that gap so you can continue your journey towards your dreams… and actually reach your dreams.

You see, too often we get distracted, we loose sight and our dream becomes more of a fog than a clear reality in our head.

Right from the word “GO”, in primary school, we are told to STOP Dreaming!

What good is that? To be molded into average human beings who fit into the system and never achieve anything extraordinary?

Well… honestly, that’s exactly what gets created. We become busy, we don’t take time to dream… we become distracted with worries, with stress and we gain momentum in the wrong direction. In the direction of the Aussie Battler!”

That’s not the life you dreamed of! It’s not the direction you set out all those years ago when you were granted to dream.

But it’s not your fault!

You know, although I don't enjoy wasting time on the nightly current affair programs, the other day I did watch part of one… and it reminded me again why I dislike these kind of programs so much.

Don't get me wrong… I think these programs are a great tool for publicity and free business promotion...

But for the public of Australia to sit down night after night, and be told by fellow 'battlers' how there's "not enough money out there" "they've been hard done by, because things just never seem to come their way" or an all time classic "I've been ripped off, that's why I'll never make it" well… it's just further ingraining a lack of prosperity into the minds of our nation.

And you know what my friend? If you're not careful it's ingraining a lack of prosperity into your mind too.

You see, from an early age we as humans construct a belief system based on our environment, our upbringing, peers and family. If you don't believe this to be true, I encourage you to step back and analyse what beliefs drive your decisions and thinking in life. This is the first step to knowing what needs to be changed "to be Rich".

In life we can either follow the masses… and make excuses for our lack of wealth, go on current affair shows and complain about the lack of prosperity in this country and instill a poverty mindset in the people around us…

Or, we can adopt a prosperity mindset about life. Believe in ourselves! Believe that we have the power within to change our future... That roadblocks and setbacks are doors opening to new opportunities… And that there's so much money out there, that the getting is easy when you know how!

You see…

I covered this topic in my book “Soaring Higher” but I just wanted to take the time this week to delve a little deeper into this subject.

The truth is we are surrounded by what I call mind viruses; they are around us all the time. People trying to tell you, “you’ll never achieve anything” or… “that won’t work…” or one of my favourites “no one’s ever done that before, it’s just not possible!”

This kind of mindset is consumed by negativity. And if you adopt this kind of thinking you’ll create a focus on starving creativity, starving your gifts and in effect starving your prosperity.

I learnt this principle early on in life. Some people would just rather try and find faults rather than remedies. Reality is… this is holding back potential and full fruition of ones gifts and talents.

And if you’re really honest with yourself, are you secretly dreaming about bigger things… but because your focus is on the negative influence people have over you, you’re unwillingly starving your dreams??And it’s not your fault that society is continuously on your back about not being pretty enough, not smart enough and not good enough to reach what you want.

But the fact is, when it comes down to it you’re the one that needs to make the decision whether you will shift your focus on the positives in your life or let the negatives consume you and drag you down to an “average level” of life.

I know from experience and watching countless amounts of successful people that…

You know a lot of people come up to me at events and tell me “I hate being broke”…“I don’t like my staff being late”…“I’m sick of being overweight”…“I hate being unhealthy” and the list goes on and on and on.

And my reply is always the same…?“Well… what are you going to do about it?”

You see, we face all these “problems” but we tend to keep tolerating them… And sometimes this makes me think that people must like being in these situations.

Why else would they not do something about them?

What I’m getting at is… If we really want to change something in our life… If we want to rise to another level of income, reach better levels of health and a better and happier life, then we’ve got to stop tolerating the things that take us away from these things.

You see…

“You Can Not Change What You Consistently Tolerate”

With our next Relationship Weekend fast approaching I felt the need to write an article about why I think relationships are everything in life. But before I do, I feel the need for us to go back to Relationships 101.

You see, when I talk about relationships people think I’m only talking about the male and female relationship.

Although this plays a huge part in the field of relationships, it is just one aspect of the whole picture.

When I talk relationships, I mean your kids, family, friends, colleagues, employees, clients, investors and anyone else you have a relationship with or who affects your life in some way.

Dictionary.com defines the word “relationship” as a connection, association or involvement.

When I think about this I have hundreds… No! Thousands of people I have a connection, association or involvement with.

So…The Key To Building A Prosperous Future Is

In my life, things really started taking off when I started modelling successful people. It’s a common method all successful people I have studied have used without fail! You find the traits of a successful person and model these traits to achieve similar results.

I dedicated a whole chapter to the modelling of specific millionaires characteristics in my best selling book “How To Have A Millionaire Mindset”. So I though I would share 5 of my favourites with you here now.

These are the kind of characteristics you can adopt and model, which will help you to understand what

kind of thinking goes on in a millionaires mind.

Here in Australia we have a real problem and I see the same problem in many other countries around the world .

Seriously, there is more money on the planet than anytime in history. The world has the largest middle class,we are more connected than ever in history and we are abundant in almost every way.

Yet the lack mentality is so prevalent it is hard to believe!

I say of Australia ” Here, everyone is happy to see you rise to the middle”