From a new breed of motivators, America's Attitude Coach Ray Pelletier gives you a practical guide for translating your personal mission into concrete action. Make today your January 1 st . Say goodbye to negative thoughts and change your life by giving yourself Permission to Win.

Talking with Champions

Poor perceptions of ourselves are formed in early childhood and may stay with us for the rest of our lives, unless we make an effort to change and have a winning attitude.

Decide to Win

The first step to winning is: You need to Decide to win. Your January 1 st marks the day you decide to restructure your way of thinking and escape from every cell to which others have confined or limited you.

What is winning?

Winning is acknowledging one of life's greatest truths - "It doesn't matter what happens to you, just what you Do with what happens to you!" - a winner is someone who knows how to overcome adversity.

Goals and Missions

Your mission refers to your reason for being on earth, your purpose in life. All of us need a vision and mission that reflects our unique talents and desires. It is something eating away at us and is the inner voice that tells us what we should be doing with our time.

Some of the unhappiest people are those that never set goals for themselves and continue working at a job that they hate, or staying in a dead-end relationship. These people cheat themselves of higher personal fulfillment and inner peace.

Attitude - the Magic of Mental Coaching

You need to find yourself a coach. Where can you find the best coach? Look in the mirror. If you are going to be a long-term winner, you have to access your subconscious mind and reprogram it with the positive thoughts and experiences that will keep you on top! If you've been programmed to think you are a loser and will never amount to much, chances are that's what you will become. You can re-program yourself to think you are a Winner.

Learning makes it happen

You are responsible to yourself to get the best education to prepare you for your dream. Keep in mind that many cases of "overnight success" actually took years to achieve. Remember: Winners never stop learning.

Communicating - the hub of the wheel

Winners follow these principles of effective communication: 1. Think before you speak. 2. Maintain control of your emotions and be positive, open-minded, and respectful of other's views. 3. When communicating with others: Be polite. Don't interrupt. Be attentive. 4. When you've got something to say, begin by listening. 5. K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Simon! This means great communicators use plain, simple, concise and direct language. Nobody likes a pretentious person who only uses big words and likes to sound superior. 6. Raising your voice unnecessarily can be interpreted as a sign of anger or frustration and is to be avoided in every instance. Keep focused on your goal.

Family and personal relationships

Winners are able to weather a storm and come out okay. If your spouse has left you, it may be time to put on a winner's hat and move on. Create your new life and don't get bogged down in depression and non-activity. Remember, we can't adjust the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

Winning in the workplace

Always remember: You are responsible for your own professional career. Your attitude is everything. Leave your work baggage outside the door when you get home. Likewise, leave your personal baggage outside the door when you arrive at your workplace. In real life, we make the mistake of bringing our work problems home, and our home problems to work.

Give yourself away

All human beings, no matter what religion they belong to, find happiness and fulfillment in a form of giving or charity. It is when we are helping others we feel lighter, and happier. Choose a cause that interests you and fits your talent and unique profile. This will add new meaning to your life.

Fiscal fitness

Yes, you CAN attend to earning a living AND working on your personal mission. Few of us are wealthy enough or fortunate enough to simply pursue our dreams without thought to where we will get our financing. It takes a daily effort to schedule one part of your day to the work of your personal dream, and another to paying the rent.

The Water of Life

This involves probably the most important spokes in the Circle or Wheel of Life. The Water of life refers to the three essential spokes of the Circle of Life:

1. The spiritual

2. Physical fitness

3. Leisure

We all must make room for these activities. Permission to Win

1. Free yourself of self-imposed restrictions and open your mind to a champion's potential.

2. Do not let the loss of a job, a relationship, or an illness take away your strength.

3. The great thing about human beings is their ability to overcome adversity.

4. Give yourself permission to win and start Today!

5. Take five seconds to go to a mirror and tell yourself loudly and firmly: "I give you permission to win."

Key thoughts:

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because characte is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." -John Wooden, college basketball coach

"Although they only give gold medals in the field of athletics, I encourage everyone to look into themselves and find their own personal dream, whatever that may be - sports, medicine, law, business, music, writing, whatever. The same principles apply. Turn your dream into a goal and learn how to attack that goal systematically. Break it into bite-size chunks that seem possible, and then don't give up. Just keep plugging away." - John Naber, swimmer, four-time Olympic Gold Medalis

By: Regine Azurin Regine Azurin is the President of BestSummaries.com, a company that provides book summaries of the latest motivational, inspirational, self-help and personality development bestsellers. http://www.bestsum.com Free Book Summaries of Top Self-help, Motivational and Inspirational books

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