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It’s been proven time and time again by sportsmen and women, that to visualize success by visualizing the successful outcome of the end game, helps to focus on and improve their performance.

No matter what your desires, you too, can take advantage of visualization to help bring about a successful conclusion.

Let’s suppose that your goal is to accomplish a long held dream. Maybe you’ve always yearned to do something creative, to paint, or to write, but you find that self defeating thoughts keep creeping in.

Ignore the silly self doubts, they mean nothing. Visualize instead, a picture of yourself engrossed in that activity. Feel the happiness within you as you become totally absorbed in the creativity. See the words flow effortlessly from your pen on to the paper, watch the colors flow from your brush to form a beautiful picture.

Whatever it is that you wish you could do, imagine yourself doing it. Feel yourself doing it. Where are you? Describe your surroundings. Feel the objects around you. What sounds can you hear? Music? Birds? Laughter? What are you wearing? What material? What colors? Use all of your senses to bring your picture to life.

You will find that the more you practice to visualize your success, the easier it becomes. Your images will become clearer and more realistic, they become so real and second nature, that eventually you will find that you are indeed achieving your dream, and your visualization will become reality.

One of the most important things to remember when building your dream is to stay focused. You need to have, and adhere to a blueprint. Don’t let yourself be side tracked, focus on success.

If you were traveling along a well marked road, intent upon making your way from A to B, it would make sense to stay focused on the road ahead.

Likewise, when you have decided upon your goal, you will need to stay on the right path. Before you set off, it would be a good idea to draw up a blueprint for yourself. This will help you stay focused and keep on the right track.

Write an outline of all the steps you will need to take along the way and number these steps in order of importance. If need be, you can jot down additional ‘to do’ notes as reminders.

Faithfully follow through the steps in your blueprint and you will succeed. As you successfully carry out your’ instructions’ make a bold tick against each one you have accomplished.

It is important that at each successful stage, you recognize your self-worth and give yourself some form of ‘gold star’ as recognition, some little reward to acknowledge that you deserve your success. It will help to encourage and keep you focused on your success.

It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In that case, it makes sense to carry around a picture of your success. Stop all your negative self-talk and look at the end picture.

If you constantly harp on about lack and misfortune, then inevitably it will accept the invitation to drop anchor and settle into your life.

There is no need to let this happen, when all it takes is to hold picture of your success before you. This picture will speak far louder then your miserable words, and will attract the desired success into your life.

To help you to reinforce this image, it’s a good idea to search out photos and/or pictures that represent your success, and literally carry them around with you.

Don’t hide them, put them everywhere you can, they will act as a constant reminder and reinforcement. You need to be able to look at them in an instant whenever those morbid thoughts try to creep in.

The success picture is worth a thousand words don’t forget, and will override any dark thoughts before they can take hold. The fact is, the mind can only hold one image at a time, so which one will you choose? The choice is entirely yours, and whichever one you choose, your subconscious mind will obediently act upon it.

So get hold of some scissors, old newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, calendars, photos, and start cutting out any images that are meaningful to you, anything that represents a picture of your success.

Place your success pictures everywhere you can think of, be creative, where are the most likely, and the most unexpected places that you will come across them during the day? Aim to pleasantly surprise and remind yourself.

How do you treat the hiccups in your life? Do you wallow in woe and self pity? or do you shrug them off and whistle a happy tune?

Feeling sorry for yourself is a bad habit that must be overcome if you wish to attract more success and fulfillment into your life.

Negativity feeds upon negativity, it blocks abundance and prevents spiritual growth. If someone throws a spoke into your wheel, it will not help to wring your hands in self pity, you will fare far better if you try to find ways to overcome the difficulty.

Life is full of challenges, both large and small, and nobody has ever sailed through life without any mishaps or disappointment.

So why do you feel angry and resentful? It is not as though you are the only person in the world to have received a mishap. When you think of some of the tumultuous handicaps that others have overcome, do you not feel humbled?

Stop being a victim, get rid of the fear and self pity, don’t give away your personal power. You too, are worthy of success and you too, have been blessed with will power.

Next time you are faced with an unsettling situation, switch your thoughts to visions of a successful outcome. Repeat a favorite affirmation or mantra to yourself, whistle or hum a happy tune, hold your head up high and smile.

Throughout the ages, successful people have attributed their success to a mentor. Actors, authors, sports men and women, great political and spiritual leaders, they will all proudly announce that their success was due to following in the footsteps of, a person for whom they had respect and admiration.

So who is your mentor? who do you regard as a symbol of what you yourself hope to achieve? Who do you most respect and admire? Who is your hero?

Your mentor could be someone alive today, or someone from history books. In fact you could even have more than one mentor. The important thing is for your mentors to have the qualities you wish for yourself.

Once you have chosen a mentor to emulate, the path to your success becomes a lot easier. Whenever you find yourself at a loss as to deal with a situation, just put yourself into your idols shoes..what would he/she do?

If the answer doesn’t present itself immediately, try a little light meditation. Go find yourself somewhere quiet where you will be undisturbed.

Make your self comfortable.. close your eyes…take a few long deep breaths and relax…Conjure up an image of your hero or heroine… picture that person in as much detail as you can…now watch as the scene unfolds before you…your mentor is faced with the same situation as yourself…what action does you mentor take?…watch carefully…take note and listen to any message that you may be given…continue to breath slowly and gently, let your subconscious mind absorb the answer you are given…when you are ready, silently give thanks and slowly let your mind return to the present.

Know that the answer will be given to you, even if not immediately, the solution will appear.

Practice makes perfect, so why do we persist in expecting instant results from ourselves? It’s a little harsh to say the least.

It’s a big problem in the busy world we find ourselves in today. Instant food, instant success, instant gratification, and instant frustration whenever and wherever a delay occurs.

If we would just slow down a little and allow ourselves to gently go with the flow, we would achieve far greater and lasting success.

A concert pianist has diligently practised for years to reach the pinnacle of success, and a surgeon has put in years of study. Virtually everyone at the peak of their performance has practised the art of practice.

So what makes us think that we can skim through a book, learn a few mantras then sit back and wait for results? The truth is that we have to practice. We have to make a habit of replacing bad habits with good, of changing negative thoughts for positive, and we too, have to have to diligently practise to achieve our goals.

Don’t let yourself get disheartened, if you sincerely wish to achieve your goals, keep up the momentum, the more you repeat an action, the better you will be able to perform it until eventually it will become second nature.

Goals and will power alone are not enough to guarantee success. To ultimately succeed, you will need a a realistic plan and a strong reason for your desired achievement.

You will find your motivation through your basic desire, the underlying reason for wanting to achieve the goal.

For example, if your goal is to lose weight, it will be no use to rely on will power alone. You will need a strong reason to stay on track. What do you wish to achieve as a result of losing weight? Is it to fit into a favorite outfit? To regain your health? To look good for a special occasion? To meet a new partner?

Be precise, make a plan, exactly how many pounds do you wish to lose? What is the time factor involved? Realistically, how many weeks or months will this take? Break it down into little chunks that you can easily manage.

Don’t let yourself be thwarted by the size of the huge task ahead, but take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Keep you mind focused on the end result, the picture of yourself having achieved the underlying desire.

With each little success you become a step closer to you goal, and the achievement of your desire becomes easier to picture Acknowledge each little success and hold on to that end picture. Every day you will find that you have less distance to travel and task ahead becomes easier as a result.

It’s true, the sweet smell of success does exist. It exists for everyone of us. The only problem we may have is recognizing and evoking its powers.

In reality it’s simply a question of memory. Think back to a time that you recall being happy and carefree. Was in your childhood? Your first bloom of youth? What memories can you evoke?

What scent of that era can you recall? Would it be pine trees? New mown hay? The perfume your Mother wore?

What about as you advanced through life? Can you recall an occasion for celebration? What was on the menu? Can you perhaps recall and smell the aroma of your favorite dish?

Now try to remember a day when you achieved a long hoped for success. What perfume or aftershave did you wear? What about your companions?

Whenever you want to evoke a certain feeling within yourself, be it peace, success or happiness, just let your mind drift back to an occasion when you experienced similar feeling.

Now briefly let your eyes close while you take yourself back to that happy, peaceful, successful occasion, and deeply inhale the scent you recall. You might even find it a good idea to buy yourself a perfume, after shave, or aromatherapy oil to help reinforce the memory.

When things are tough and you’ve come up against yet another hurdle, it’s hard to find the will to keep going. At this point, many people are tempted to throw up their hands in despair and walk away.

Yet more often than not, success and its reward could be found waiting just around the next corner. That one extra effort could be all that is needed.

Throughout history there are stories galore of people who have carried on fighting and found success, despite suffering many defeats.

The most famous of these was perhaps King Bruce of Scotland. His army had suffered six major defeats in battles against the English.

The legend tells of how after the sixth defeat, King Bruce lay vanquished and forlorn in a cave. Cold, miserable and dejected he was on the verge of accepting his final defeat.

At this point, he noticed a wee spider trying to spin its web. He watched as the spider tried in vain to throw it’s fine gossamer thread from one rock to another. Six times the little spider tried without success.

King Bruce smiled ruefully, yes he too had met with defeat six times. But then, on the seventh attempt, the spider succeeded in safely anchoring its thread to the rock.

Watching with amazement, Bruce declared that if a little wee spider could succeed after six defeats, then so could he.

Well now, surely if a little spider can do it, so can you.. Never say never.

Persistence pays, it really does. Persistence is probably one of the most important factors in the success of virtually every goal in life

Too often we are tempted to throw in the towel just when success is within reach. It seems all to easy to ditch our efforts if results aren’t immediately forthcoming and to our liking.

But just think for a moment of all the many people both past and present, who have overcome adversity and countless rejections, yet carried on regardless to achieve great success through sheer persistence.

‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson, was rejected over 140 times, yet today along with a whole string of their ‘Chicken Soup’ titles, it is firmly established as one of the best selling inspirational books.

Thomas Edison created the lightbulb after around 10,000 attempts..how’s that for persistence?

Never give up, don’t be afraid of failure, just think of each setback as bringing you one step closer to achieving your goals. Indeed, the more setbacks you experience and overcome, the greater your reward will be when you achieve success.

Remember this, if you can create success in your imagination, you can create success in reality. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to and fully focus your efforts on.