“If you enjoy the process, it’s your dream. … If you are enduring the process, just desperate for the result, it’s somebody else’s dream”
- Salma Hayek

I absolutely love this quote and the wisdom it contains. If all of us could focus more on doing something we enjoy and following our passion, then our lives would be so much better. I am so guilty of not adhering to this and ending up frustrated and miserable. In this short video, I talk about how following Salma Hayek’s philosophy could lead to a life more enjoyable and more rewarding than you ever thought. I hope you enjoy it and please leave me a comment below….

Let me know what you think of this video and leave me a comment below. I’d really appreciate it if you shared it on twitter and facebook as well.

I have to admit, I’ve always been a fan of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies – primarily because of their inspirational messages. This video highlights a message that I think is more pertinent today than ever before.

Rocky’s son blames his dad for not getting what he wants from life. We’ve all been there at some time in our life – looking for something to blame out of pure frustration because things are not going the way we want. I know I’ve been there on more than one occasion.

However, as natural as the inclination to blame other people and events is, it will never ever make any difference to our situation. Playing the blame game is like sitting in a rocking chair – it gives us something to do but it never gets us anywhere. In reality, it does not even make us feel good. The only solution is to take responsibility for the situation and move forwards, but why don’t we do that? Because that requires courage and true courage is rare commodity these days. As someone once told me, true courage is that little voice that says at night, “Tomorrow, I will try again… one more time!”

Stallone addresses this very smartly with his line, “If you know what you are worth, then go and get what you are worth – but you have to be able to take the hits.” This is just so true. He goes on to say, “There ain’t nobody who can hit as hard as life, but it don’t matter how hard you can hit. What matters is how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards – how much you can take and keep moving forwards.”

Whenever, I’m going through tough times, I always remember these words: “Life is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards.” One of my mentors says it differently – he says, “When you’re going through hell, keep going. Because if you stop, you end up in hell”. In other words, when you’re going through tough times, you must have the courage to persevere and get through. Otherwise, you’re just going to end up stuck in a rut, frustrated and looking for things to blame.

“Tough times don’t last but tough people do” – often the key factor determining your success in life is your resilience, your tenacity and your ability to persist. We’ve all heard the saying, “success is falling down 7 times but getting up 8”. The ability to be able to last through tough times is what separates the men from the boys – it’s often the single quality that is the difference between success and failure. Harrison Ford, star of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars Series said, “I knew that to succeed in this industry, I just needed to hang in there longer than everyone else.” Ford was paid $65Million for the latest Indiana Jones movie.

So go out there and strive to get what you want from life – but it is not always going to be easy and it is not always going to be smooth sailing. As J. Sidlow Baxter said, “Every opportunity has a difficulty, & every difficulty has an opportunity.” So get yourself ready for the hits and go forwards anyway!

Unfortunately, there is a whole movement out there which seems to suggest that if you just sit around and visualise success, then success will come to you easily. Nothing could be further from the truth – as Rocky says, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it.”

Everyone has had their tough times and tough times will come again – the question is what will you do when they come? Will you let life beat you down or will you aim to stand up one more time? Will you allow yourself to lie on the canvas or will you get up for another round? There have been times for me, especially when I was over $109,000 in debt with no income and people suing me for money that I wanted to throw in the towel. I have to admit, I was on the canvas and I felt like lieing there.

However, no matter how tough life gets, always remember that you and you alone decide how many times you want to get back up again. You can choose to quit or you can choose to persist. I have 3 strategies that I use whenever I feel like quitting:

1. I tell myself, “I can always quit tomorrow so why not just go another round today?” It’s a silly little saying but it keeps me moving forwards and ultimately that’s all that matters
2. Another strategy I use when I’ve had a tough day is I’ll take the day off and get an early night. When I wake up in the morning, I remind myself that today is a brand new day. Whatever happened yesterday is in the past and today is a clean canvas and I get to create it anew.
3. When things are going really badly, like when I was almost on the verge of bankruptcy and I felt like the whole world was against me, I remembered saying to myself, “I might as well quit now because things are not going to be any different tomorrow.” And then I remembered thinking, “Ok, let’s say I quit and I go back to just being like everyone else… and in 50 years time when I look back at my life, would I be happy that I quit just because a few people were trying to make my life hell or would I have wanted to keep going until I got through the tough times?  That was a very easy question to answer and I persisted and I fought and I got through. Let me assure, life looks a whole lot better today. So whenever you feel like quitting, project forwards a couple decades and look back on your life. Would you wish you’d continued or are you happy that you quit? The answer is often quite easy.

Many of us have seen great sporting feats where a team or an individual was down and out; yet they found something from deep within them that turned everything around. It is these stories that we find inspirational and Rocky is a classic example of this. But why not be your own inspiration? Why not reach deep down from within yourself and inspire your own revival? After all, what do you have to lose?

Remember, this thing called life has an end – but it ends when our hearts give out and not before. And as far as I’m concerned I’m going to keep striving for what I want from life until one of the following two things happen. Either, I’m going to get what I want or I’m going to die first – it’s just that simple. How about you? Are you willing to dedicate your life to achieving something glorious or are you going to allow life “to beat you to your knees”?

What strategies do you use to bounce back from adversity? Remember, “there ain’t nobody who can hit as hard as life but it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards. How much you can take and keep moving forwards.”

Leave me a comment below and let me know if you think Rocky’s advice is sound and what strategies you use to get back up again when life knocks you down. I’d love to hear from you.

And finally, if you ever feel like things are getting too much, remember the famous words of Winston Churchill:  “Never, never, never, never give up!”

To bouncing back from adversity,

Niro

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In the last month, the world has lost two young souls who had the world at their feet. Brittany Murphy known for such films as “8 Mile” and for being the voice behind Gloria on “Happy Feet” passed away on December 20, 2009 at the age of 32. Her film career was starting to blossom and she was ready to take the world by storm – and yet she is now longer with us.

Casey Johnson was the heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and could have done almost whatever she wanted to with her life. And yet, she too is now longer with us, passing away at the young age of just 30.

From this, we see just how fragile life is. Many people live life as if we can delay our dreams and delay taking the actions that will bring us everything we want in life. We live life taking the people we care about for granted, never realising that tomorrow it could all be over. By no means am I suggesting that you become morbid about life – rather I believe we need to appreciate life and make the best of every single day that we have. Life is just too short to be playing at less than our potential or to be taking things for granted.

One of my mentors told me to constantly connect with my mortality. After all, it is a fact that one day we will no longer be here. So live each day as if it was your last but plan as if you will live forever. Getting that balance right is key to a fulfilled, happy and successful life.

Start by being grateful for the good things in your life and start by showing the people who are important to you just how much you care. Also, have a look at your life right now – is it in balance? Are you spending your time in line with what is most important to you? If not, why not? Are you too busy running around being busy that you have forgotten to live the life of your design? It’s easy to say that we’re busy – in fact people are busier today than ever before. But remember, one day this will all come to an end and when you are in your last few moments of your life, will you look back and have preferred to spend extra time in your cubicle at work or extra time with the people you care about? Would you have preferred to have spent more time looking at the walls of your office or exploring the world?

Remember life is short! Attack it with everything you’ve got – go for your dreams. After all, you’re not going to get out of this thing alive. The only question is – how long do you have? And that’s anyone’s guess. So don’t put your dreams off! Start living today as if today was your last day on earth but then plan to live forever because you could be around for a while yet

Remember, when you came into this world, you were crying and everyone was happy. When your final moments come, make sure you live your life in a way that you are smiling and everyone else is crying. Live your life such that the impact of it outlasts you.

To living your best life,

Niro Thambipillay

PS: If you want some assistance with how to get more done each day and have the time to spend on the things that matter to you so you can live your dreams, then sign up below for my 5 Essentials to Peak Performance Video training series where I’ll show you:

• How to double your productivity so you can get twice as much done in a day.
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• How to finally have the time to work on the things that matter to you, rather than constantly trying to fulfil everyone else’s expectations.
• How to enjoy greater feelings of inner peace and contentment every single day.

Just give me your name and email address below and I’ll give you instant access to the first video!

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Happy New Year! It is the start of a new year, the start of a new decade. What a great opportunity to make a fresh start! Make this year your greatest yet! Remember, to achieve something you have never achieved before, you need to do something you have never done before and to do something you have never done before you need to be someone you have never been before. Who do you need to be in order to achieve what you want from life this year?

For me to achieve my goals and dreams, I need to be someone who is organised, disciplined and focused. What about you?

Below is a short video from me wishing you all the best for 2010 and showing a brief highlights package from my vantage point at the Sydney 2010 NYE Fireworks. I hope you enjoy it and let me leave you with a final message:

Remember in life, change is automatic but progress is not. Make sure that you are make progress this year by setting yourself a worthy goal, getting a mentor and joining a great network of like minded people who can keep you on track.

To 2010 – the greatest year of your life!

Niro

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“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

All of us want a life that is magical, magnificent and one of fulfilment. Yet many of us think that a magnificent life is something that happens to us – almost as if it is something that is done to us without our involvement. We think that a life of fulfilment is something reserved only for the lucky ones. In this short video, I talk about how a magical life is created through making a choice and a decision. We can all have a life full of more memorable moments regardless of our current circumstances. Enjoy

I hope you enjoyed this video. If so please share it on twitter, digg and stumbleupon. I’d really appreciate it

Finally, please leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear what you thought.

To creating more magic in your life,

Niro