The Recipe for Success and Carrot Muffins

Here are the ingredients for some carrot muffins I recently made:

Ingredients (Makes 12)
2 cups of grated carrot
1/2 cup of raisins
2/3 cup of chopped walnuts
3/4 cup of soft brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup of rice bran oil (or other vegetable oil)
2 cups of self-raising flour
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

When I peeped into the oven mid-way during the process the carrot muffins seemed a little flat but I thought no more of it. When the muffins were cooked I took them out of the oven and placed them on a wire rack to cool further - well most of them anyway. After all there's nothing better than the taste of warm muffins.

I bit into one but was disappointed. I had used nothing but the best ingredients - sweet, juicy carrots; plump succulent raisins; crunchy walnuts, free range, organic eggs, organic flour, aromatic spices. The muffins should have been moist and light in texture. Instead they were somewhat - I'm almost ashamed to confess this for I have a reputation for making great muffins - hard.

I went over the recipe in my mind again and then it dawned on me that I had forgotten one key ingredient. I had forgotten the bicarbonate of soda and so my muffins had failed to rise properly.

This brings me to the recipe for success. Many people today are missing that one key element that would transform their results and launch them into the stratosphere of success. Sometimes that missing ingredient is clear for all to see but sometimes it can be less apparent.

Also, it is often difficult for the individual to see where they may be going wrong as someone once said:

"You can't see the picture if you are in the picture."

This is how a coach and or mentor can be of enormous benefit as they can give you an objective view of what's happening in your life and the tactics and or strategies that you are currently using to achieve your goals.

However, there is another aspect to the recipe for success. It is the execution of your action steps in a logical fashion. Even if I used all the right ingredients, if I combined them in a haphazard fashion I still wouldn't get the best results. Similarly, if you work in a haphazard manner, you jeopardise your chances of achieving your goals.

So I guess you're wondering how to combine the ingredients for carrot muffin recipe I've given.

1. Sieve flour, mixed spice, cinnamon, ginger and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl. Prepare all the remaining ingredients.

2. Preheat oven to a moderate 180 degrees Centigrade. Place 12 muffin cases in muffin/deep bun tin.

3. Place carrots, raisins, walnuts and sugar into a large bowl. Add combined eggs and oil.

(I used rice bran oil because it has a high smoke point making it ideal for non-stick baking, mild flavour, it is rich in vitamin E and it contains a plant sterol oryzanol which has been shown to help the body reduce cholesterol absorption. However, you could also use grapeseed oil or some other vegetable oil that is suitable for baking.)

4. Add sifted flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda. Combine with a wooden spoon to form a lumpy batter.

5. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 20-30 minutes until well-risen and golden.

6. Remove muffins from tin and cool on wire rack.

Recipe for success. Mmm!



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Nothing Like a Flight of Fancy for Your Goal Achievement to Take Off

While I enjoy visiting other countries I don't really enjoy long flights, hanging around airports, waiting for your luggage to unloaded, etc. Still, I recognise that I am quite privileged to be able to travel at all and this was really brought home to me by a news item I saw recently.

In India, just 1% of the population get to fly. Even considering that India has a population of well over a billion people this is still a startling statistic for something many of us now take for granted.

So what an ex-pilot has come up with is to give disadvantaged children in India the experience of simulated flight - well not quite. Let me explain.

The children are given a boarding pass and then are escorted to the plane.

Once seated, one of the boys said enthusiastically:

"When I grow up I want to fly a plane just like this one."

I couldn't help but smile. I knew what he meant but thought "not just like this one".

You see this plane is the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang of planes. Its exterior is somewhat decrepit. It only has one wing and the tail section is missing. This sorry-looking plane, lying in a field which separates it from a sprawling metropolis, is definitely grounded.

So much for flight simulation you say - well not quite.

The children do get to experience a real aspect of flying. For these children, the highlight of this 'simulated flight' is going through the emergency procedures. If you're a frequent flyer then you probably pay scant attention to this part of your flight. It's not because you don't think it's important but because you want to focus on safely completely your journey.

In fact, this is one of the prime times in our lives when most of us are able to consistently practice positive thinking and we think of achieving our goal, i.e. arriving at our destination rather than thinking of everything that could go wrong along the way. If only we would apply this strategy of being prepared for the worse but keeping our eyes firmly fixed on our goals to other areas of our lives our success rate in achieving our goals would soar.

Anyway, back to this "flight of fancy". The children not only get to see the emergency procedures explained, they exit the plane using the emergency slides. For some perhaps, the most fun part of the 'flight'.

The reality is though that this scheme may be the only experience that these children have of 'flying'. Still, it opens their eyes to journeys to distant lands - journeys that they might have otherwise never imagined. It sharpens their powers of visualisation. It stretches their minds as to what they can achieve if they only believe. It gives them a glimpse of what's possible.

"The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible."
David Viscott

I hope no one steals that boy's dream away from him. I hope that one day he will get to experience real flight and not as a passenger but as a pilot. I hope that the enthusiasm he felt while sitting in that grounded plane with one broken wing will truly give him the wings he needs to fly.


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Do You Have a Winning Daily Program?

If your life is not currently where you want it to be then the chances are that you do not have a winning daily program.

You do not become successful overnight. Success is a result of diligent and persistence application of winning habits. You are a confluence of what you repeatedly do. As Aristotle said:

"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event - it is a habit."

You can examine what a person eats on a regular basis and accurately diagnose the current state of their health and how their health status may change if they continue with that particular diet. From a person's exercise regimen you can determine a person's physical state of health. Similarly, from an individual's money habits you can tell if they are heading for financial ruin or financial freedom.

John Assaraf, author of "Having it All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams" says that he is most productive when he has a winning daily program.

At the start of each year he creates a "binding agreement" which he signs and says that he will pay the price necessary to reach his life's dreams and destiny without being dishonest or deceitful.

In addition, on a daily basis he:

1. Meditates,
2. Exercises for at least an hour (does this five days a week),
3. Practices visualisation,
4. Reviews his goals for about 15-20 minutes each day,
5. Studies for about 30 minutes to an hour everyday,

6. Eats healthy, fresh foods,
7. Appreciates love,
8. Expresses gratitude, and
9. Has FUN!

To help him stay focused on his winning daily program, John Assaraf keeps his goals, binding agreement and vision board on his desk or in a prominent place elsewhere in his office so he has a constant reminder of the targets he has set himself to achieve. Most importantly, he takes ACTION every single day towards achieving his goals.

When you create and practice a winning daily program you cannot help but make progress in your life and, as a consequence, you start to feel better about yourself. As your self-esteem improves this will encourage you to keep developing and practicing your winning habits and you will achieve greater and greater success.

"Our self image and our habits tend to go together. Change one and you will automatically change the other."
Dr. Maxwell Maltz

So it is critical to review what you do a daily basis and ask yourself:

1. Are my habits taking me towards or away from my goals?
2. What do I need to do more of?
3. What do I need to do less of?
4. What should I be doing that I'm currently not doing?
5. When will I put into practice my winning daily program?

Remember that you have settled for the level of success you have currently attained. Success is all about choices. It's now up to you to choose to take your success to a higher level. Choose today to create and apply your winning daily program.


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Take Action if You Want to Achieve Your Goals

The other day I noticed a prime piece of beach front land for sale in Barbados. Now, at this time, I do not have the money to make such an expensive purchase, although it would be a valuable investment. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but imagine the kind of house I'd build there, the sights and sounds that I'd see and hear everyday if I were to live at such a location.

A couple of days later there was a big "SOLD" sign slapped over the "FOR SALE" billboard. For a moment, I felt an irrational sense of disappointment and here's my point.

While I was 'thinking' about owning that particular piece of real estate, someone else was 'ACTING' on the same idea. The fact that I wasn't seriously interested in buying that plot of land is neither here nor there. The important thing to note is that failure to take action is why most people fail to achieve their goals.

Having a dream and following through to bring it to fruition is very different from simply daydreaming. So here's my advice.

Examine the goals you have currently set and see if there are any that you are just dreaming about. Ask yourself how much you really want to achieve that goal. If it is indeed something that you truly desire then you are going to have to become committed to the idea of manifesting your goal. However, maybe this goal is no longer a priority for you. If this is the case, cross it off your list so that you don't waste any more time and energy thinking about it. Instead, you can devote that time and energy to the goals you are passionate about.

Now take a look at these goals. Among them, is there one that you are not taking action on? Maybe the goal is so BIG it scares you. Remember, even big goals consist of small steps.

Allow me share a story with you based on a movie I saw recently. I'll call the lead character Tom; I remember storylines but often forget the names of characters in movies. Anyway, Tom was on an Antartica expedition when one of the research scientists fell through the ice, severely breaking his leg as he did so. Just his head and shoulders remained out of the icy water. Tom managed to pull the scientist out of the hole with the help of his dogs but the scientist's condition was critical. He urgently needed medical attention. Tom ditched all the equipment and supplies that were on the sled so that he could lay the injured scientist on it. Then dogs then pulled the men to the relative safety of the base.

I say "relative" because the base camp was in the process of being evacuated plus the level of medical attention that both men now needed was not available at the base camp. So they were flown out but the dogs had to be left behind. Tom was very reluctant to leave the dogs behind and it was only because he was assured that they would shortly come back for the dogs that he agreed to leave them. Before he left he tightened their collars to prevent them from getting loose. Then the small plane took off to the clamour of chains and barking dogs. The dogs were left fully exposed in that harsh environment.

Unfortunately, deteriorating weather conditions meant that Tom was unable to return for the dogs as planned and, with winter setting in, the complete evacuation of the continent was in progress and travel to Antarctica ground to a halt.

When Tom returned to the US he tried numerous ways to get back to his dogs. His efforts were to no avail. He was tortured with guilt and completely distraught. Weeks went by and then months but the passage of time did nothing to assuage his guilt. Finally, he decided to travel to New Zealand and from there he would try to get to Antarctica, though at this point he didn't know how. So he went as far as he could go on his own steam and then finally, things fell into place and he was able to complete his journey.

The story had a happy ending. The dogs had managed to free themselves and all but one of them had survived. Tom and his dogs were at long last reunited.

The point of this story is to do whatever you can to achieve your goal. Break your goal into small steps and just take whatever action you can to keep moving towards your goal. If you do this the way will be shown to you. As Stephen Pierce says,

"Never let what you cannot do stop what you can do TODAY."


What is Standing in the Way of You Achieving Your Goals?

If you are struggling to take ACTION to achieve your goals it is likely your limiting beliefs are getting in your way. What are some of the negative thoughts that come up when you think about your goals? To get answers as to how you can overcome your limiting or negative beliefs visit Ask Nickolove Lovemore and submit your question on this subject.


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What You Resist Persists

I was reminded of this by something that occurred recently in Barbados. The island is currently at the peak of election fever as the two main parties the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) - currently in power and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) battle it out in the lead-up to Election Day which is on 15 January 2008. Apparently, the DLP have erected billboards displaying their candidates which the Prime Minister (PM) says are illegally placed. What's more he has demanded that they be taken down.

This story made the front page of The Nation Newspaper and there was further coverage on the inside of the paper as well. Considering that at the time this news story broke it was just over a week to go before Election Day it hardly seemed worth making a fuss about the billboards when I think that there are more important issues to discuss.

Let me hasten to add that I'm not siding with any party. I just think this is an excellent example of what you resist persists. The DLP gained lots of free publicity and the offending billboards were probably even more outstanding because of all the press coverage. I know that I certainly became more aware of them as I travelled around the island. The DLP may be flouting the law but sometimes one has to turn a blind eye in order to keep the main prize firmly in your sights.

People often unwittingly put energy into what they don't want rather than what they want and then they are perplexed when things they don't want keep manifesting in their lives.

I don't have a crystal ball and therefore have no idea as to the outcome of the Barbados elections. However, if you want to achieve you goals it is imperative that you focus on your desired end result if you want to bring that goal into fruition.


Ask Nickolove Lovemore
If you have a question about any limiting or negative beliefs that are standing between you and achieving your goals please visit Ask Nickolove Lovemore and submit your question.

Use Accountability to Stay Committed to Your New Year's Resolutions

Here's an idea inspired by President Bill Clinton. In 2005 President Clinton set up the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to "help turn good intentions into real actions and results." For as Caroline Myss said, "You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless."

The CGI focuses on four areas:

1. Education,
2. Energy and climate change,
3. Global health, and
4. Poverty alleviation.

At the CGI's Annual Meeting, each member makes a commitment to take action. What's more their commitments are declared publicly and each member's commitment is documented in the form of a certificate which they sign. If members do not carry out their commitment they are no longer eligible to remain in the CGI. It is the ultimate form of accountability.

It is an established fact that writing down your goals helps you to achieve them. It's like issuing yourself a contract. However, when you share your goal with at least one other person, particularly if you specifically ask that person to hold you accountable, then it gives you added impetus to achieve that goal. For members of the CGI, the eyes of the world are upon them and so when they announce their pledges it is a serious undertaking.

The commitments of the CGI members had an unexpected effect. Members of the general public started to send in their commitments. This was totally unsolicited and as commitments continued to be submitted the CGI decided to formalise these commitments as well. Consequently, you can now visit MyCommitment.org and submit your commitment to make positive change in any of the aforementioned areas. It demonstrates the power of the 'ordinary' person to make significant change locally, nationally and even internationally.

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
Helen Keller

So here's how you can stay committed to your New Year's Resolutions or indeed any goals you set. Don't just write them down on a piece of paper that might not see the light of day for weeks, if not months. Design your own special commitment certificate, type in your goals, print it out (I suggest you make several copies) and place them in strategic locations around your home and office. In this way you will have a constant reminder of what you have set out to achieve. You may even want to frame your certificates as a demonstration of the seriousness of your commitment.

Once you've achieved your goal(s) update your certificates. You may want to write a new list of goals or you may simply want to place a big tick or star next to the goal you have achieved. This will further motivate you. This approach may seem basic but it does work and you want to achieve your goals, don't you?

In addition to this, schedule meetings with your accountability partner(s). Hopefully they will have made their commitment certificates as well. Use these meetings to review your goals, to discuss any challenges you may be facing and what would help to keep you on track and on target.

These meetings do not have to be in person and so there is no excuse not to hold them. It's a good idea to actually schedule a series of dates and times for these meetings in advance so that they become a fixture in your calendar.

There's just one caution I'd like to add. Some individuals will take this idea and use it to help them achieve MEGA goals; others will play it safe and, because they know they have to be accountable. They will choose goals that they feel confident they can comfortably achieve. I strongly recommend that you scrap the latter idea.

Bob Proctor says that if a goal doesn't both excite you and scare you it is not worthy of you. Goals are supposed to stretch you. When striving towards a truly worthwhile goal you will feel uncomfortable at times because you will have to step beyond your comfort zone. Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem at the level at which it was created. Similarly, you will have to evolve to a new level in order to achieve a worthy goal. Goal achievement is about who you become as a result of pursuing your goals. It's not just about the achievement of the goal itself.

So raise the bar. Make a commitment to achieve something truly outstanding so that in a year's time, when you look back at your accomplishments, instead of regret for what might have been you will feel a tremendous sense of pride.





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What Kind of Year Will You Make 2008?

Last night I watched some visually spectacular fireworks that packed quite a bang as well. Immediately after the fireworks there was a stillness in the air and then there a cool breeze which was followed soon after by a light shower. It was as if Mother Nature was blowing and washing away the last remnants of 2007. It is 2008.

I received loads of "Happy New Year" emails but one of the more interesting ones I received was from Dr Joe Vitale. It began as follows:

"I'll be blunt:

2007 has come and gone.

You had plenty of chances to create your new business or new product and break out of the rut.

But you didn't do it.

Unless you do something different in 2008, where will you be at the end of this new year?"

I found it quite refreshing. It helped to focus my mind as did a conversation I had today with a close friend about someone who was fired on New Year's Eve.

My friend's view that this person didn't have much to celebrate but had much to worry about especially since they had over-extended themselves over the Christmas season thinking that they would have a job to return to in the New Year.

I had a somewhat different opinion. I know that it's tough to lose a job but I think that too many individuals believe that a J.O.B. represents security. Nothing could be further from the truth. The unexpected can happen in even what may seem to be the most secure of environments so it's best to be prepared for the unexpected. Nowadays, anyone in a job should aim to create at least one other income stream.

Also, if you are in a job see how you can really excel in that job. Be the best employee you can be. It will not guarantee that you will keep your job but should you lose it you should at least be able to rely on getting a glowing recommendation which should help you when applying for another job.

In order to be the best employee you can be you will by necessity have to keep updating and improving your skills. This will benefit you in your current position as well as any future position you may hold.

Losing a job may seem devastating at first but it gives one the opportunity to do something different and hopefully better, even if it is another job. If you are fired or made redundant it is important to stay objective, although this may be difficult at first. You need to consider why you lost your job and what you could have done differently. This may affect how you perform in a new job.

The other thing to think about, if ever you find yourself in this position, is what is good about the situation. Don't wallow in self-pity and in thinking about all the things you won't be able to do in the short-term because of your setback. Think instead of the possibilities. This may be challenging but if you achieve this it will stretch you. You will grow.

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're always there."
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

The other consideration is that if ever you find yourself in a tight spot simply tighten your belt. The person who lost their job had over extended themselves over the Christmas period. It happens. People want to have fun and treat their loved ones. But as Dr Joe Vitale said unless you do something different 2008 will be as 2007.

So if you find yourself in such a predicament here are a few tips:

1. Make a budget of what you absolutely need to live on and stick to it.

2. Trim away any excess, in other words look at where you may be losing money or wasting money needlessly.

3. Discuss the situation openly and honestly with your family so that everyone has a clear understanding of the situation and can work together to manage the situation and create solutions.

4. If you anticipate difficulties in paying your bills on time then discuss the situation with your creditors to investigate the options that are available to you.

5. As well as contacting job agencies and doing other job search methods, let friends and colleagues know that you're looking for a new job.

6. Brainstorm ways in which you can earn money in the short-term.

7. Sharpen your interview skills and be ready to attend an interview at short notice.

Above all stay positive and focus on what you want to achieve rather than the negative aspects of your situation. It is this focus that will help you to survive any challenging situation.

I like to think of a New Year as a blank canvas. No matter how your year has started, you have the opportunity to create your future just the way you want it to be.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Achieve Your Goals in 2008
If you would like answers to questions you have regarding overcoming obstacles and limiting beliefs that are preventing you from achieving your goals visit Ask Nickolove Lovemore and submit your question.