16 Important Lessons on Success You Won’t Learn in School

Don’t you think it’s strange that Success 101 isn’t taught in schools? You’d think, after nearly three centuries since the establishment of the country’s educational system, someone would’ve figured it out by now.

Seriously though, this sin of omission is understandable. Success is way too dependent on multiple factors to be adequately covered by a single academic course. You learn it best when you study the lives of successful people, and take away lessons such as these, that can’t be learned in a classroom.

1. Anyone Can Be Successful

He can be the guy sick of eating Spam three times a day. She can be the girl tired of living in her wealthy parents’ shadow.

Successful people don’t think too much about who they were born as or where they came from. Instead, they focus on how to get to a better place than the one they’re in right now.

2. Success Takes More Than Hard Work

To quote Mr. Miyagi from “The Next Karate Kid”: “Ambition without knowledge is like a boat on dry land.” You may work harder and longer than everyone else, but if you only work because you want to appear busy, rather than because you have a clear, well thought out goal for yourself, there’s no point to it.

3. Success Takes More Than Passion

You won’t succeed without passion, but you won’t succeed on passion alone, either. Passion fades and/or changes over time, so it’s foolhardy to put all your faith in it. Follow your heart if that’s what makes you happy, but be prepared for what happens when your heart wishes to go somewhere else.

4. Success Takes Time

The real world isn’t like a classroom; you aren’t don’t get your “grade” back right away. Success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s important to have patience and not give up when you’re not getting instant results.

5. Success Isn’t Perfection

Successful people aren’t the ones who never fail. They’re the ones who keep picking themselves up every time they fall down.

They accept they have much to learn, and therefore work continuously to improve themselves – even when they’re as old as Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man.

6. Successful Leaders Don’t Let Fear Hold Them Back

Everyone faces fear in their road to success. Fear of failure, rejection, loss, or even just fear of changing paths. Successful leaders are different in how they use that fear, though.

Rather than letting it hold them back, successful people take action even in the face of fear.

 7. You Have to Speak Up

Whether you’re afraid to get clarification or afraid of adding your opinion in an important meeting, you’re holding yourself back from success. Every question and every idea is valuable, and the most successful people recognize this. You don’t have to be the best at public speaking to share your ideas, but it doesn’t hurt to brush up on your public speaking with some of these tips.

 8. Success Doesn’t Depend on Your College Major

If you take a look at the college majors of billionaires, you’ll notice they come from different backgrounds. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a STEM or liberal arts graduate. What matters is what you do with what you know, and how you integrate knowledge from other fields in order to succeed.

 9. Success Can’t be Planned

Despite what you’re taught in school, you don’t have to plan every detail of your goals to be successful. Stop worrying over the details of what’s going to happen down the road, focus on the actions right in front of you and take it one step at a time.

 10. Success Looks Different for Everyone

To you, success might mean living in a fancy mansion, eating five-course meals every day and being doted on by a gaggle of beautiful women/handsome men. To someone else, it might mean not having to use a park bench as a makeshift bed anymore. Avoid judging people based on their aspirations; for all you know, it could the only thing keeping them alive.

 11. Success Wins You Both Friends and Enemies

 No matter what you do, your success won’t please everyone. Some people will flock to you, hoping that some of your good fortune will rub off on them. Others will try to find the tiniest, slimmest cracks in your veneer, and badmouth you at every opportunity. A few will be genuinely happy and supportive of you; these are the people you keep close at all times.

 12. Success Can Be a Burden

 When you’re successful, you attract attention – unwanted or otherwise. You get praised if you’re a good role model, and vilified if you’re not. You have to fight to keep your real self intact, and not let success go to your head or define you.

 13. Success Isn’t Just About You 

If you ever get invited to discuss your secrets of success, remember to acknowledge the contributions of the people who helped you get to the top. You never know when you might need their help again.

 14. Success Magnifies Your Traits – For Better or Worse

Warren Buffett once said: “Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.” Coming from one of the world’s richest men, that’s saying a lot.

 15. Success Tests You on Multiple Levels 

Aside from magnifying your personality traits, success tests you. It tests how far you’ll go to keep it, by making every single one of your choices seem heavier than they really are. When this happens, remember: As long as you’ve always kept it real, most people won’t fault you for being human.

 16. Success Is Like Driving

Everyone can learn the basics of driving, but only the ones who actually go out there and drive will get anywhere. Also, if they manage to survive real road dangers – such as grizzly bears suddenly jumping in front of them – they become better drivers for it.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” –Jim Rohn 

Success is a strange thing, isn’t it? It somehow manages to be simple and complicated at the same time. Regardless of how you define success, keep the above mentioned lessons in mind, so you’ll be able to achieve success in your own time, on your own terms.

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/important-lessons-on-success-you-wont-learn-in-school/

How to End the Persistent Feeling of Emptiness

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” ~Buddha

Admit it…

Emptiness has taken over.

You think back to those exciting days when you had so much energy. You remember that burning feeling of raw energy deep down in your stomach. That shiver of excitement running through your body. When life was just alive with positive emotions running wild. It was incredible.

And you can’t help but think…

Where has it gone? How did I lose it? Will it ever come back?

You think if you keep moving, everything will work out for the best, right?

Yet, regardless of the steps you take, everyone else seems to be happy while you’re left behind with a feeling of soul-wrenching emptiness.

It just feels so stagnant; you feel like you’re becoming stale and boring.

No matter what you do, nothing seems to change that nagging voice in your head that constantly wonders, “Is there really a way out?”

The solution is a lot easier than you think.

Life-Changing Realization

You know those moments when everything becomes clear and a feeling of relief flows through your body?

My realization came after a terrible numbness just after graduating from university. I made the decision that success was more important than life itself, so fun was out of the question and I devoted all my time to work.

I immersed myself in that deadly day-to-day grind with no excitement in my life. It was easier to let an emotionless state of utter numbness take over than to take a risk and be adventurous.

It’s scary how quickly such numbness can take over if you let it, and how deep you can fall down the rabbit hole without even realizing it.

Has this happened to you?

It wasn’t until six months after graduation that I finally broke the monotony and decided to attend a social gathering with some university friends.

That one moment sparked a fire I had lost. That was the moment of clarity and realization.

I realized that life had turned into a boring rhythm of wake up, eat, work, eat, and sleep. I was expecting to become happy and successful from following this process, but while doing so, I forgot how to be happy.

How can you create something beautiful or inspiring to the world if your life is boring and numb?

It reminded me of a simple but powerful quote by Albert Einstein:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

This kick started my realization that life is more and that you can beat your emptiness. You can beat that numb grind, and you can keep your spark for life going too.

Attending the party opened my eyes to the painful insanity I had bestowed on myself—an insanity I want you to avoid too.

5 Unconventional Ways to Fill Your Emptiness

1. Start small; do something different. 

Think back to the last time you went on vacation and traveled to a new location. Remember the feelings you had and the excitement of a new place? Your body was alert, and your mind was running wild with curiosity.

Remember the time you took a forced detour on your journey home? It was a bit frustrating but also slightly exciting, right?

There are many ways to replicate this type of novelty in your everyday life. For example, you can take your work to another part of your office, house, or library.

The most important thing is to stand up right now and do something small but different. On your route home from work, take a little detour. Just experience the excitement.

 2. Go crazy.

The big kick for me was letting loose and having fun at a friend’s Christmas party. Despite the slight headache the next day, all of my prior numbness disappeared as a result of my interactions.

I’m talking about interactions where you just let go and truly experience the moment. Where you talk to friends, laugh, and live.

So dance, sing, and have fun.

Just remember one rule—think back to the event after a month, and if you don’t have a massive grin on your face, you did not go crazy enough.

 3. Get your heart pumping. 

Any exercise is a great way to kick-start your day. A treasure trove of science and research proves the physical and mental benefits. But, exercise only filled my emptiness when I switched from gentle long-distance runs to intense sprinting sessions.

I used to run seven kilometers a day at a gentle pace, but it only aided the numbness. I was hoping it would instantly give me a burst to get me going again, but it did nothing.

Think back to the last time you ran over two kilometers where you got into that gentle rhythm and it felt like you could run forever. Now think about the last time you ran at full speed; imagine that feeling you had when your heart was pumping.

Sprinting or doing any high-intensity exercise produces loads of endorphins, also known as the happiness and motivational hormone, but normal running doesn’t. That gave my numbness a massive hit and supercharged my energy.

So head down to your local park, sprint for a bit, and then stop and feel your body. Feel the burning inside you, and ask yourself, “Am I ready to live again?”

4. Sleep right. 

We all know that sleep is important, but we usually focus on making sure we get enough. One of the biggest causes of my personal numbness and lack of energy was getting too much sleep.

Oversleeping can cause depression and not sleeping enough gives us no energy to live. I used to oversleep massively, getting nine hours a night (seven hours extra every week). I didn’t want to get up because I didn’t want to work, which caused me to feel unhappy and unmotivated to get up. Yup, a deadly cycle.

If you are also guilty of oversleeping, force yourself to get up earlier tomorrow. Set your alarm and put it on the other side of the room. Then when you get up, go straight to the shower. Over time, you will naturally find the best sleeping pattern for you.

5. Work from the inside out.

Let’s finish off with the most important solution. You have to complete this to allow yourself to enjoy the other steps. It’s time for you to let go and fill your emptiness with love and joy.

I discovered that ten minutes of meditation a day aligns my focus and allows me to instantly feel happier and let go of my problems.

For those of you familiar with meditation, think about the calming feeling it provides and the feeling in your gut as you breathe deeply. Then use this technique to provide clarity right now.

—

If you’re ready to end that persistent feeling of emptiness, fill it with your love for yourself, and get out there and have fun.

Close your eyes right now and take a deep breath. Imagine what your life would be like if you followed each of these five steps. Imagine the feeling of happiness, excitement, and curiosity flowing through your veins. Imagine the pure feeling of delight.

There is no point living in emptiness, so let go of that feeling of numbness and truly enjoy what life has to offer you.

Man on a mountain image via Shutterstock

By Edward Noel

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-persistent-feeling-of-emptiness/

You've Heard Gratitude Is Good For You. Here's What Science Says

A growing body of scientific work shows that gratitude and kindness are traits that lead to higher levels of well-being. People who are grateful and kind are happier, less depressed, less stressed and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships.

The research, including two new studies from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, also documents how expressing gratitude leads to other positive emotions, such as enthusiasm and inspiration, because it promotes the savoring of positive experiences. The end result: Gratitude helps people optimize feelings of enjoyment, no matter what their circumstances are in life.

The power of gratitude to improve our lives was well demonstrated in research by positive psychology expert Martin Seligman, PhD. As detailed in a 2005 American Psychology paper, participants were randomly assigned to one of six therapeutic interventions designed to improve their overall quality of life. Of these interventions, the one that resulted in the biggest short-term benefits was a "gratitude visit." Participants wrote and delivered a letter of appreciation to someone in their lives. This simple gesture caused a significant rise in happiness scores and a significant fall in depression scores, and the positive effects lasted for up to a month after the visit.

Other studies involved the act of keeping "gratitude journals," in which participants wrote down three things they were grateful for every day. Those had even longer-lasting effects on happiness scores. The greatest benefits usually occurred around six months after starting the journal.

The two recent trials from Utrecht University tested the potential of positive psychological interventions on emotions and academic engagement among university students. One trial focused on "thoughts of gratitude." Participants were asked to think of people that they were grateful for, and to focus their gratitude each day on a different passage in their lives. For example, on the first day they recalled their years in elementary school and remembered a person they were grateful to in reference to a specific event from that time, such as a friend or family member who helped them with a difficult task. They were also asked to write a short note to the person to whom they wanted to express gratitude, and to explain why.

The other study focused on "acts of kindness." Participants were instructed to pay close attention to their behavior toward the people around them at the university. They performed at least five acts of kindness per day, reporting on them (including how recipients responded) every night. Examples included holding a door for someone, greeting strangers in the hallway, or helping other students prepare for an exam.

Using sophisticated questionnaires, both studies revealed that the gratitude intervention had a significant positive effect on daily positive emotions, and that it may have a cumulative effect on increasing those emotions as well. But interestingly, the results did not show the same impact as did Seligman's and other previous studies. One difference: in previous studies, the expressions of gratitude were much deeper. The Seligman participants, for instance, not only wrote a gratitude letter, but actually delivered and read it. It's possible that this act elicited positive feedback from the letter's recipient, which may have boosted positive emotions among the participants.

The kindness intervention had a positive influence on both positive emotions and academic engagement. Based upon the researchers' analysis, the acts of kindness had a much stronger effect than the thoughts of gratitude. One explanation is that the kindness intervention was more intensive (i.e., five acts of kindness per day versus one thought of gratitude per day). Another possibility is that the acts of kindness evoked immediate positive feedback. Positive reactions of people toward the participants were likely to strengthen the effects of the acts of kindness.

The take-away message is that the stronger the act of appreciation or kindness, the bigger the impact on positive emotions and social engagement. While many may argue that the need to feel loved is the greatest emotional need we have, I believe there's no greater emotional need than appreciation.

The funny thing is that the things we really want in life are usually best obtained by giving more. In other words, if you want to feel more appreciation in your life, begin with expressing more appreciation.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-18054/youve-heard-gratitude-is-good-for-you-heres-what-science-says.html

25 Strange “Symptoms” People Are Experiencing Worldwide

Many people from all walks of life have been reaching out to me with questions and complaints about strange “symptoms” they’ve been experiencing on and off, sometimes feeling like they are “losing their minds”. The “symptoms” usually go on for a couple of weeks at a time and then subside, re-occurring again in correlation with cosmic and solar activity and people’s individual readiness to move to the next level.

March of 2015 has been exceptional in that regard with the weeks of March 4th and March 16th being especially potent… Massive energetic adjustments are taking place globally; Planet Earth is going through a shift. Intensified solar activity is influencing magnetic field of the Earth and of every one of us individually. We had New Moon and total Solar Eclipse on the day of Spring Equinox March 20th a cosmic event which in itself is strong enough to trigger reactions in people sensitive to energy.

Below is the list of “symptoms” I myself and majority of my friends and clients have been and are presently experiencing, many reporting exact same phenomenon.

1. Sugar/chocolate cravings.

Personally I hardly ever get these as I do not have much of a sweet tooth, it was rather odd to have such nearly overpowering “need” for chocolate and sweets that came and went in waves.

2. Unfamiliar eating patterns

Loss of appetite, sudden quickly passing cravings and inability to figure out what you want to eat. Cravings for lighter high-vibrational raw foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, being turned off by the smell and even the thought of any meat and fish products. I am not a vegetarian and I normally know exactly what it is I want to eat, so experiencing this was rather strange.

3. Weird sleep patterns, strong need for extra sleep and naps

Passing out and waking up at strange hours, needing extra-long sleep time, needing naps, none of which I usually do.

4. Pressure, pain, swirling and drilling sensations around solar plexus area

5. Pressure, swirling and drilling sensations around the head

Especially around the third eye and on top of the brain underneath the scull, as if something is working directly on the brain, all of the above resulting in headaches.

6. Headaches

Headaches occurring after the “drilling” sensations and passing when I drop resistance and meditate on embracing and integrating the upgrades

7. Hearing strange sounds

People are reporting hearing the same kind of buzzing “metallic/mechanical” yet somehow really pleasant “otherworldly” sounds and also a hum that reminds them of “sounds of the spheres”.

8. Heightened sensitivity and awareness of everything around

Remember that movie “Lucy”? Something between 20% and 28%

9. Intensified senses, especially the sense of smell

My sense of smell became so strong during night time hours that all of a sudden with my eyes closed I can smell every object in my room

10. Technology malfunctions when you come near it or touch it

Lights flickering, Internet going out, cell phone shutting down or dropping calls, computer crashing, etc. My cell phone showed time as “3:11AM Jan 6” when it was 8:11AM March 16.

11. Awareness of the waves that technology produces

I normally don’t feel those so clearly, but one night I forgot to turn off my cell phone and when I woke up to do my meditation, although I wasn’t consciously aware of my phone being on, I vividly felt the waves in the room and their interference with my entering meditative state.

12. Being out of focus as if being inside a movie, especially during motion

Sensation like being inside a movie and watching the road and everything around you “on screen” while walking or driving

13. Body out of coordination, loss of balance

Normally I’m pretty well-coordinated, been tripping over everything during that time

14. Quickly passing constant waves of intense conflicting and overlapping emotions

Do I want to laugh, cry, jump with joy or be upset about something all at the same time all day long?! And what is it I am actually feeling anyway?! This one has been especially uncomfortable for people.

15. Enhanced ADD-like symptoms

Officially I don’t have ADD but for about a week it felt like I did. This translated into inability to focus on one subject, an avalanche of thoughts flooding my mind all at the same time, pulling my attention in a million different directions all at once.

16. Interruption of the flow

Inability to focus or decide on what you want to do. Normally I know EXACTLY what I want to do and what feels right at every given moment. In this case it’s like your inner “GPS” is confused.

17. Strange, unfamiliar sensations in the body

Body becoming aware of something it didn’t know nor felt before. I’m still translating this one.

18. Extra-fast healing of the body

Cuts, bruises, allergies, hives, etc. – all disappearing at incredible speed. What used to take a week to heal now takes about a day, bruises fading away almost instantly, cuts closing up, cold symptoms barely-noticeable and passing in a day or two.

19. Sudden waves of chills, goose-bumps

20. Heightened synchronicities

21. Instant manifesting of thoughts into “reality”                                                  

It is being shown to us that now more than ever before the Universe is listening to every word we are saying, every emotion we are experiencing, and turning all of it into near-instant manifestations. The stories of manifestations – both “good” and “bad” – I hear from my clients and friends and am observing in my own life are really “out there” at this time.

22. Intensified visuals in meditations

My meditative practice has become exceptionally rich with visuals, presence and multi-dimensional awareness

23. Time lapses and dilation, loss of sense of time

Being able to observe “in real life” how flexible time really is.

24. Unmistakable awareness and “symptoms” of shifting timelines

This is a really “out there” one, so I’d save it for another article.

25. Re-evaluation of your individual truth

We are in the time when everything that is out of alignment with our true selves is coming up for review so powerfully it can no longer be ignored. Many people are releasing their Karmic and emotional agreements, re-evaluating their beliefs and their choices in relationships, jobs, lives and moving out of what no longer serves them in this incarnation and in this NOW.

This is what I have gathered from people around me and have been experiencing myself. Having one or two or just a few of these symptoms can be easy on the system and might even go unnoticed, but if you are simultaneously experiencing all of the above (and possibly more) it sure could get overwhelming. Take a deep breath and remember that you are not going crazy and that you definitely are not alone in this!!!

Powerful energetic adjustments we are going through collectively as a species are triggering “strange” symptoms: your physical form, your every cell doing its best to cope with and to receive the upgrades, that’s all!

Stay calm and curious, remain positive and also excited! Meditate to embrace the new energy and in your everyday life look for “proof” of your new “paranormal” abilities. Drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, eat light high-vibrational foods, do not overeat, ground, exercise, do yoga, swim, sit with the fire, sunbathe and sungaze, rest and be kind to yourself! This phase is a part of our planet’s (and thus our own) evolution and lots of positive changes are on the way! It will pass leaving you with new abilities, expanded awareness and lots of other amazing multidimensional gifts! Rejoice!!!

I hope this helps to calm your nerves and shed some light. If you feel you need personalized help or require more information go ahead and book a private session with me via my website. Please share with anyone who might benefit from this information.

Let the LOVE be with us!

Blessings & Love,
Isabella A. Greene

 http://www.belightliving.com/2015/03/strange-symptoms-people-experiencing-worldwide/

There Is No Expert on You

“Believe nothing no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense.” ~Buddha

Sometimes it seems to me that we are collectively obsessed with expert advice.

In some cases, it makes sense to consult an authority.

When you’re planning for retirement, it’s smart to seek out a financial planner. When you’re starting a business, by all means, sit down with someone who’s done what you aspire to do. And when your dog gets sick, it’s probably smart to call your veterinarian instead of relying on your gut instincts.

But when it comes to the decisions we need to make for ourselves, the experts can easily become a crutch.

When I first arrived in San Francisco, I accepted my first full-time writing job for a company that published senior care guides. I was new to blogging, and so were my employers.

After a few months of writing polished articles that received hardly any traffic, the editor-in-chief decided the key to attracting a wider audience was to create a panel of experts who would cover a wide variety of relevant topics.

What struck me is that readers often asked questions when they needed to make a difficult decision and were looking more for validation than information. The best example was when a woman with an aging mother asked if seniors with no prior mental health issues frequently get depressed in nursing homes.

It seems to me that what she was looking for was less about statistics—which she could also have found by Googling—and more about confirmation that her elderly mother wouldn’t be unhappy if she moved her into a home.

But no expert can provide that answer. Sometimes there isn’t an answer, and there won’t be until we act and then learn the consequences of our choices.

I can understand the allure of confirmation.

I spent a decade in therapy, starting when I was twelve.

All through my adolescence, I looked forward to sessions to validate my feelings, hoping my therapist would authorize even the most minor decisions—essentially ensuring my world wouldn’t fall apart because I found the courage to be assertive or honest.

At some point in my late teens, I also became a psychic junkie, regularly visiting my local tea room for insights into my future.

They rarely gave me any concrete information, but they always ended each session with, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

This one moment was what I paid for—absolute verification from someone who I believed knew that nothing bad was going to happen.

I suspect this is what fuels the self-help industry, and it’s why we get so attached to comforting beliefs. We want there to be far more absolutes than there are, and we don’t want to have to carry the weight of our choices alone.

Sometimes in looking for emotional back up, we give our power away—and oftentimes to people who know far less about what we need than we think. It’s an interesting thing about perceived experts: Our perceptions aren’t always accurate.

In their book Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, Ori and Ram Brafman explore a concept known as value attribution, what they describe as a quick mental shortcut to help us decide what warrants our attention.

Essentially, this idea suggests that once we assign a certain value to a person or thing, that understanding influences how we translate new information.

So, if you decide someone is an authority on a subject, you’re more likely to take their words to heart, whereas you likely wouldn’t put your trust in someone who doesn’t seem to have any credentials.

As an example, the authors cite the unknown scientist Eugene Dubois’ search for the missing link back in the 1800s. Although he unearthed fossils from what is now known as Homo erectus, anthropologists refused to believe he made a major discovery in human evolution.

Years later, the well-respected Charles Dawson (not to be confused with Charles Darwin) presented the London British Museum with fossils from what he named “Piltdown Man” for the city where he found them. The skull appeared to have been dipped in brown paint for an aged effect, and the jaw actually came from an orangutan.

Since this discovery confirmed that civilization began in England, which pleased the British, and the scientific community valued Dawson as reputable, they believed what was, in retrospect, a pretty obvious deception.

They valued his words because of what they wanted to believe and who he was, even though his words were completely untrue.

It happens all the time in the modern world.

You see a self-help book from a best-selling author and assume it’s a ground-breaking resource before even reading it. Or someone offers you something for free and, in the end, you devalue it—if it costs nothing, it doesn’t appear to be worth something.

The value we attribute to people and things isn’t always an accurate reflection of the value they can offer us, particularly when we’re looking for answers to avoid the pain of acknowledging there aren’t any.

At the end of the day, we need to know when we know all we can, and then we need to act and own that choice.

All the good advice in the world won’t change that the future is unpredictable, and even counsel from an expert with a wall full of degrees can’t guarantee a specific outcome.

The experts don’t have all the answers. Sometimes there aren’t any absolute answers. More often than not the real answer is that we have to use our own instincts and common sense and accept that what will be, will be.

Confused woman image via Shutterstock

By Lori Deschene

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/there-is-no-expert-on-you/