Lesson 11 by Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado

My dad used to tell me stories about the day every year that the auto manufacturers introduced their new line of cars and trucks.

That day, people would flock to the dealerships. It looked like the county fair at the local car lots. Dealers sold more cars that day than the whole month before.

There wasn’t anything like that excitement, I’ve been told.

Today, new models hardly get noticed. At least not the way they used to.

Why?

Because there is so much more trying to grab our attention today.

Because billions of dollars have been spent by companies in all the world’s industries studying what makes us buy or not buy things.  Learning how to target us more effectively.

I mean, at every turn everything we could ever want, as a consumer, is being promoted to us… “Get me!” “All your friends have me.” “You deserve to have me now!”

The marketing noise is deafening.

And it works.

It makes us want what’s being sold… right now.

In fact, it makes us want to have EVERYTHING now.

“Why does THAT person get to have that car, those clothes, that girl friend, that job, that grade, those sneakers when I’m stuck with less.”

“I deserve to have it now.”

“Let’s steal that money, that bottle, that shirt, that car, his girl friend.”

“Life’s not fair.”

Yeah, life’s not always fair.  But that’s life.

Oh, Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado knows that life’s too short to work so hard to be thin, to be financially secure, to follow rules, to get good grades, to…

Too often, depression and anxiety is a result of false expectations of what life “should” be.

Did you ever hear of the saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten?”

So my dear, dear friend, in the areas of life that you want to change, you need concrete goals or you’ll always get the usual crap.

Did you ever meet anyone who lost 50 pounds or more unless they had the goal to do so?

No goal… no achievement.

How about building a multi-million dollar company without some clear daily and long-term goals?

Does anyone get straight A’s without the goal to do so first?

Let me, Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado be as clear about this as I can be…

You can get along, get some halfway decent grades, maybe rise up in your company just by showing up, get married, have kids and have a fairly average life without clear goals.

I mean, if you’re typical you’ve gotten where you are now without setting and achieving any REALLY challenging benchmarks for yourself in any area of life.  If you’re typical and honest with yourself, you’ll likely agree.

And while this discussion isn’t meant to be the final word on goals, I think you can see now that committing to a clearly defined goal is critical to getting what you really want.

Especially with all of life’s distractions, and the constant pressures to believe that our successes must happen NOW.

Want energy?  Set some goals in any area of life you want.

And this time, commit to it like you’ve never committed to anything before.

This process will give you such a charge it will astound you.

Truly depressed?  Then set a really challenging goal and work like you’ve never worked for anything else before.

Make reaching this goal the most important thing.

And Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado knows this sounds too simple.

Look, life isn’t as complicated as it feels sometime.

Now, that does lead to some imbalance at times.

But in all honesty, the most successful, wealthy, well known and yes, happiest people who ever lived totally mastered just a few things.  That mastery in just a few areas of life gave them freedoms and joy that few people will ever know.

Why?

Because few people want to work hard enough to master anything.

Most don’t understand the implications of earning what they get.

Most don’t understand, until it’s often too late, that things that come too easy or that were dishonestly gained never stay around long.

What?  You thought your bad luck was just bad luck?

Not bad luck.  Bad beliefs.  Bad actions.

And it doesn’t matter how big the gains are…

90% of all million+ dollar lottery winners blow it all very quickly and spend the rest of their lives bitter and with nothing…

But not you.

You’re going to set a big goal right now, take concrete steps toward reaching it and make decisions that will support you on your path to success.

And this will all start to make sense.

Don’t read this and forget about it.

Do something now or your chance will be lost.

All right! There’s hope for you!

Today’s Empowering Beliefs To

Help Control Your Thoughts

If you want to change your life fast, even though it might seem like it’s slow, then take the statements below, put them on index cards and read them 3 times/day. Morning, noon and just before you close your eyes at night.

They’ll seep into your consciousness. And since you’ll be saying them so often, you’ll soon begin to believe them.

That’s how most beliefs start. Spaced repetition of thought.

Your attitudes will then positively change your emotions, and you’ll be compelled to do more… And you’ll love it.

 

— My goals are increasing my passion for life

— I feel exhilarated by my goals

— I am growing by leaps and bounds today

— I’m truly happy to be alive

— I can get through any hardship, no matter what it is

— My skills and confidence are growing today

 

Lesson 10 by Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado

Even though you don’t want to live in the past, it can be an invaluable tool to you.  I know it has been for me, Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado.

Throughout our lives, every single one of us have had times where we did something great, or at least really good… someone gave us an approving glance, a promotion, a new client.  Perhaps we dated someone hot!  Wedding day, giving birth, scoring a touchdown, winning a medal.  You simply helped someone out that needed it.  These events made you feel good.

A very effective way to put yourself into a great mood any time you want, especially at times where exceptional performance is needed NOW is to create…

Your victory log.

A victory log is merely a sheet of paper that you have nearby any time you need to be reminded of past successes of ANY kind.  By reminding  yourself about your successes, by pulling out that little sheet, you’ll often be able to go on and reach down and grab your greatest performance ever even from the depths of despair.  Often times, you just need to be able to REMEMBER that you can do it, when your thinking is really cloudy.

If you get depressed, pull out your Victory Log and you’ll feel a whole lot better.  I,  Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado absolutely guarantee it.

Yes, this is simple. That’s why it works.

Do you think that the doers – the real winners in life – are that much different than you?  Mostly, with exceptional people, they just keep their victories just below their consciousness, so that magical confidence is right there when they need it.

So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do this exercise.

Don’t put it off.  If now isn’t good, do it later today.

It’s easy.  It’s fun.  And you’ll feel great about yourself when you’re done.

And… you’ll have it forever.

What a great gift to yourself.

Please take a few minutes and do this!!!!  This silly little sheet of paper can pull you out of the deepest hole faster than anything you’ve ever seen.

Here’s how.  In the areas listed below we want to create a big list of even the tiniest successes.  I, Alexander James Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado often look at my list when I’m feeling not up to a task.  Hey, no one can be at their best all the time.

Write down just a few words to jog the memory so that when you look at it, you’ll know.  Many people type these out afterwards. Go back to as far as you can remember.  Even kindergarten is fair game.

Learning – tests, quizzes, semester averages, awards, scholarships, I.Q., diploma.  Include all grades and college.

The opposite sex – dated a “hottie,” got the glance in the mall, had a particularly romantic night/week/month, had ’em all after you, summer camp, phone call, poems, cards, got whistled at.  Go back as far as you need to.

Sports (even backyard sports) – touchdowns, hits, baskets, goals, blocks, double plays, great shots.  Include board games and cards, too.

Work – promotions, sales, raises, pats on the back, contests, trips, saved money for the company, teamwork, great days, winning, solving a problem, saving a life, got elected, a finalist for the job, made the big sale, got the listing.

Personal – convinced someone to a new way of thinking, landscaping, painting, art, cleaning the house, new clothes, great dinners, children in plays or sports, losing weight, eliminating a bad habit, building/fixing something, tuning up the car, new car day, new home, getting a letter/notification, made dinner, helped a friend.

Social – kept your temper, you were elegant, gave a great speech, the party was a success.

Health – cholesterol is down, stopped smoking, lost weight, ran 100 yards/one mile/three miles, climbed the mountain, changed your diet, walked by the chips in the store, etc.

Do this for every area of your life.  No one else is likely to do it, so you MUST.

Don’t think little things are not important.  They’re everything — everything.

Watch during sporting events, when a player makes a mistake and the other team scores as a result.  Momentum shifts.

Why?

Because after mistakes they begin focusing on what went wrong… instantly.

And the team that scored is focused on their scoring.

They’re pumped up.  Confidence rises.

You need that confidence, too, to do your best every day and every minute.

So focus on what you’ve done right, and you’ll develop it.

How can you do this?

Your Victory Log… the fastest way in the world to build your confidence and increase your skills.

Today’s Empowering Beliefs To

Help Control Your Thoughts

If you want to change your life fast, even though it might seem like it’s slow, then take the statements below, put them on index cards and read them 3 times/day. Morning, noon and just before you close your eyes at night.

They’ll seep into your consciousness. And since you’ll be saying them so often, you’ll soon begin to believe them.

That’s how most beliefs start. Spaced repetition of thought.

Your attitudes will then positively change your emotions, and you’ll be compelled to do more… And you’ll love it.

— I keep my Victory Log with me at all times

— When I look at my Victory Log I feel powerful

— I have many victories to power my determination

— My victories give me confidence

— I have many little victories every day

— I give myself pats on the back when I do something well

 

Lesson 9 by Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado

Change Your View, Change Your Life

Ya know, it’s all in how you look at it.  So says I, Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado.

How many people out there are sick of hearing that?

Are you usually the one saying it to people?

Most all “problems” you experience lie in how you look at things.  It makes the difference in everything you do.

Everything.

You know, when Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado was growing up and even well into adulthood, I was rarely happy about anything for long.  It would never last.  I always wished I were with a different group of people…never felt like I said the right things.

I always just wanted to be where I was on the way to.  The trip was always dreaded.  I wanted to be someone else.

I never felt good enough.

Did you notice that, of all those things Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado just mentioned, none of them were “real?”  They were all in my head.  Just emotions…

Just emotions?  Only thoughts?

Could it be thoughts are real?

Oh, they’re as real as the chair you are sitting in now!

I didn’t understand that myself for so long.

And most people go to their graves NEVER being able to control what they think about and how.

But once I became educated to the power of thoughts, absolutely everything in my life changed.  My problems weren’t problems anymore.  They became challenges.  I had heard all that before, as I’m sure you have.  But when it finally sunk in and I saw for myself how our thoughts can make us and break us, I was never the same.

So everything I did, I did better.

I hope you don’t have to go through what Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado did before you finally “get it.”  But the day you do, and I want THIS day to be a turning point for you… the day you do, the big weight on your back will shrink to the size of a pea.

Proper perspective is highly underrated.

Here’s something that you can do now, later today, tomorrow and for the rest of your days.

Whenever you think you have a “problem,” look at it.

Is it a problem or just a challenge?  At those times (and “those times” can number in the hundreds each day) your goal must be to ask yourself this question:  Isn’t this just another challenge that I will most certainly meet?

Ask yourself that question constantly.  I say constantly because that’s how fast challenges can come sometimes.

Isn’t that right?

Like a hail storm.

“Yeah, but you don’t understand.  This person in my life, they’re the problem!  My kids, they’re the problem!  It’s my landlord.  It’s my boss.  I can’t do anything about it!

I can’t help it!”

Bull!

And the only time you’re going to be able to change even the most horrible situations, is if you say “Bull,” too.

They are challenges.  That is what they are.

Just because you don’t see it that way right now, doesn’t change the fact that they are challenges.  They are tests… tests for you to pass or fail.  If you pass, you get to grow.  If you fail, you get to feel depressed and have more of the same crap.

That’s what life is.  And that truth, that fact, isn’t to be despondent about.

It’s to look at from all sides with a clear glass around it so you can see the truth.

There is nothing that can happen to you that is bigger than you.  You can get through anything.

Look at Christopher Reeve, if you need some real perspective.  The guy played Superman!  After his accident he couldn’t move a single muscle in his body. But he’s authored two books and is giving other people hope that they can overcome their mostly smaller challenges than his.

If you are to live a life of purpose… If you want to reach some truly amazing goals in life, you must view your roadblocks for what they are… stepping stones.  And the awareness that when you’re starting to get upset about something, you need perspective – fast!

You don’t have to be able to jump over them.  Crawl if you must, but get over them… and move on.  To expect life to be problem free and to put off happiness until it is, is crazy.

Trust me, Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado knows.

Choose to be happy today.  Don’t worry about tomorrow.

Prepare for it, but don’t obsess.  Just get through today’s challenges.

And smile.  Things aren’t always going to go the way you want.  There most certainly will be periods where nothing seems to go right.

Accept that as a given.

So when the events don’t unfold as you want them to, you’ll be able to think clearly and quickly decide what you should do next without wasting precious seconds mourning…

Because your next decision could be the very one that takes your “challenge” and turns it into victory.

 

Today’s Empowering Beliefs To

Help Control Your Thoughts

If you want to change your life fast, even though it might seem like it’s slow, then take the statements below, put them on index cards and read them 3 times/day. Morning, noon and just before you close your eyes at night.

They’ll seep into your consciousness. And since you’ll be saying them so often, you’ll soon begin to believe them.

That’s how most beliefs start. Spaced repetition of thought.

Your attitudes will then positively change your emotions, and you’ll be compelled to do more… And you’ll love it.

— I see today’s problems as challenges

— I see roadblocks as stepping-stones

— My challenges help me grow and learn

— I appreciate my challenges for their value to me

— I dissolve all problems from my life

 

Lesson 8 by Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado

You know them instantly when you meet them.

You want to be near them.

You want to be like them.

You know the type…

Always smiling.  Hard worker.  Optimistic.  Assured.

And they win… a lot.

Carmelo Anthony, only 18 years old, is that person.

This past April, as a freshman, he led the Syracuse Orangemen to the NCAA men’s national basketball championship.

He routinely did the impossible.  Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado admires him.

All with a smile that lit up the entire Carrier Dome.

Because we got to witness someone special.

Sure, he has natural skills, but it’s a LOT more than that.

He works like no one else.

He’s as coachable as they come…

He listens closely, learns from every mistake, practices every day like he’s playing for the NBA title.

And he’s only eighteen.

Most people want to believe this kind of talent gets inserted at birth.

Most want to believe that they just don’t have it.

It absolves them from responsibilities for their failures.

And it’s true that few people are born with the physical ability to play sports at the highest levels or the ability to tolerate the kind of stress endured by presidents of huge corporations.

But what most people forget is that to become great at anything, you’ve got to get single minded.

If you want greatness, or heck, forget about greatness for a minute…

If you want to get past this next challenge, to succeed at getting rid of the habit that has you by the throat…

…then work on that one thing only.  Sure, fulfill your daily responsibilities.

But when it comes to reaching this one top goal, make it absolutely, positively a must.  Look at this goal like it’s the most important thing in your life.  Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado does this.

If you do this, I guarantee you of one thing…

…that if you DON’T make it all the way, you’ll most certainly come closer than you ever have before.

And in the process of the reaching and the straining, you’ll be growing.

Becoming more capable.

Becoming the person other people want to be like.

Because even if you reach your big goal, it’s possible to lose it all in the future, to go back to your old ways.

Right?

But if you put all of yourself, and I mean ALL of yourself into your reaching, learning everything you can along the way, then not only will you most likely succeed now, but you’ll be able to do more in the future.

How do you think highly skilled people in any field got so good?  Were they born with all that knowledge and skills?

Give me a break!

It’s called work.  I know that’s a dirty word to most people…  Alex Goldsmith of Aspen, Colorado likes to work.

But if you want to get to that place and be that person you imagine when you close your eyes, then honest effort is the only way.

But don’t be so glum…

Carmelo Anthony wasn’t even considered an elite recruit as a high school junior. No. But during his senior year, he blew up… working like a maniac, that year building massively on the skills he already had developed through intensely practicing the same things day in-day out.

And because of it, he just barely passed his college entrance exams.

And those people who love to look down on those with lesser vocabularies, grades or looks… those things are nice.

But you don’t have to know everything to reach your goals and to be successful in this life of yours. You can’t be all things.  It’s impossible.

You just have to do what you must to get where you want to go.

If your goals aren’t huge now, that’s fine. Reach the small ones. Build your confidence. And go from there.

The tallest buildings start with many sub-floors under the ground.

So, if that’s where you are starting from, know that you can still get where you want to go… one step at a time.

The time for living is now.

So what are you going to do?

 

Today’s Empowering Beliefs To

Help Control Your Thoughts

 

If you want to change your life fast, even though it might seem like it’s slow, then take the statements below, put them on index cards and read them 3 times/day. Morning, noon and just before you close your eyes at night.

 

They’ll seep into your consciousness. And since you’ll be saying them so often, you’ll soon begin to believe them.

That’s how most beliefs start. Spaced repetition of thought.

Your attitudes will then positively change your emotions, and you’ll be compelled to do more… And you’ll love it.

 

 

— I am working hard to reach my biggest goal now

— I learn something valuable every day in pursuing my goal

— I am becoming more today than I was yesterday

— I love reaching for and achieving challenging goals

— I can do it… I know I can

 

Have a great day.

Alex Goldsmith, Aspen, Colorado