Direction

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Entrepreneur  ·  Personal Growth
How To Stop A Shark In Its Tracks

I do like a good story! This one is about the illusory barriers we put up that stop us from achieving our goals:

During a research experiment, a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank.

As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.

The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fibreglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fibreglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.

Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fibreglass divider and bounced off.

Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behaviour every few minutes to no avail. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition.

Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.

This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks.

Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually, the shark grew tired of hitting the fibreglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.

Here’s where it got interesting.

The marine biologist then removed the fibreglass divider…

…but the shark didn’t attack.

The shark had been trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.

What barriers do you feel are holding you back?

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June 7, 2022

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Entrepreneur  ·  Personal Growth  ·  Spirituality
How To Turn Your Thinking Into Results

When you look at your results and let the results register in your mind, the results cause you to think. The thinking produces a feeling and that feeling causes you to act in a certain way that produces further results.

The same results!

That is the reason why most people keep getting the same results year in year out.

It’s called struggling.

If you want to change your results, you need to stop allowing the outside world to control your thoughts. You need to train yourself to objectively observe what is going on externally without getting wrapped up in it.

Treat the outside world as though you’re watching it dispassionately as you might do a TV show. You can choose how engaged you become with it.

You can then start to respond rather than react and say to yourself, “ no that’s not what I want!”

You then start to think of what you do want. You think those thoughts that create the feelings you’d like to have and those feelings will cause certain actions and those actions will produce different results.

When you consciously observe the new results, you mentally adapt to them and immediately begin to think the thoughts that create ideas on how to improve upon them.

It all starts with your thinking.

Stay in charge of YOU.

Don’t let the outside world control you. Create your own circumstances.

You can also book a free no-obligation call with me to see how I can help you achieve your goals by clicking on the button below!

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May 30, 2022

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Personal Growth  ·  Spirituality
Simple Steps To Improve Your Self-Image

Your self-image determines the level of success you experience in life, in much the same way as a thermostat controls the temperature in your house. It may vary from time to time but the thermostat will bring the temperature back to the level you have set.  

So if you want more success – you must improve your self-image.  

Here are 4 simple steps you can start right now that will have a dramatic effect in just a few weeks. 

  1. Call to mind a person that you admire and respect. someone who clearly has a very positive self-image. It can be somebody you know personally, someone famous, or even a fictional character. 
  2. Think about the qualities they exhibit that you admire. and write out a description of them in the present tense. 
  3. Take that description, close your eyes and relax. Begin to imagine yourself as that person, imagine acting as if you literally have become that person. Embrace that self-image and begin to imprint it on your subconscious mind. 
  4. Identify just one action step you can take immediately to start integrating the qualities of this person into your life. What can you do to embrace those qualities and this person’s positive self-image; think of how they would deal with situations; how they would carry themselves; how they would talk to people.  

In short, immerse yourself in the role, as a method actor like Marlon Brando or Daniel Day-Lewis would do.  

You will be surprised how quickly you and other people will start to notice a positive change. 

May 23, 2022

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Life  ·  Personal Growth  ·  Wealth
Vital Life And Business Lessons From Thomas Shelby Part II

Yes, guilty as charged. I’ve been bingeing on Peaky Blinders… again.

So, continuing from my last post, another trait I find admirable in Thomas Shelby is his refusal to accept his allotted place in life.

Much like James Woods’s character in the film “Once Upon A Time In America”, he rises from the lowest position in society to one of the highest – a millionaire MP. In one particularly memorable scene, Michael tells Tommy his problem is he doesn’t know his own limitations. To which, Tommy replies: “I have no limitations.”

He simply goes after what he wants in life and to paraphrase Napoleon, he sees only his objective; the hurdles must give way. And as a result, he becomes truly unstoppable. As he says in the last episode (SPOILER ALERT), the only man who can kill Tommy Shelby is Tommy Shelby.

And what is the point in this?

Well, like the old Earl Nightingale story about the pumpkin that will only grow to fill the jam jar placed around its vine when pumpkins have the ability to grow much bigger, most people will only grow to fill the ‘glass jar placed around them’.

They will be forever restricted to the limits they believe have been placed on them, by parents, teachers, the media and the environment in which they live.

They will look at those ‘other’ people in life who achieve great things and believe they are blessed with great talent or luck that they don’t have. But, in truth, we all have the ability to achieve great things. It’s only our self-limiting beliefs that hold us back.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.”

So, what if, instead of accepting what you believe is possible for you, you choose to be like Tommy and refuse to accept you have any limitations. What could you achieve then? How would you live your life?

May 16, 2022

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Personal Growth  ·  Wealth
Crucial Life And Business Lessons From Thomas Shelby Part 1

Hero or Villain?  Whatever your view of Tommy Shelby, there’s no doubt that the leader of the Peaky Blinders is a fascinating character. 

Despite his violent ways, Tommy has many admirable qualities.  

One of them I find compelling is his refusal to let other people or circumstances distract him from reaching his goals. 

For example, in family meetings, when others disagree with him or criticise his ideas, he simply lets them speak and then continues with making his point or laying out his plan without becoming angry or getting drawn into an argument. He stays in control no matter what. It is a truly remarkable quality and something very few people do. 

We have five senses that allow us to experience the world. And most people are slaves to these senses. We live from ‘the outside in’ and allow ourselves to be controlled by external experiences. 

What we experience causes us to think certain thoughts.  Those thoughts cause certain feelings. Those feelings cause us to act in a certain way.  And those actions dictate the results that we get in our lives. 

… And so the cycle continues: the same thoughts lead to the same results. Nothing changes and we continue to struggle. 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. As Tommy shows us: you can control what you think. It’s a choice.  

You can start to live from ‘the inside out’ and respond as you choose rather than reacting to what’s going on around you. When you have learned to do this, as Tommy does, it puts you in a very powerful position. You create the world as you want it to be and can remain laser-focused on achieving your goals  

It’s not easy and it takes practice. But if you’re serious about your goals it’s well worth developing this skill. 

Get to it now.  By Order Of The Peaky Blinders! 

May 10, 2022

Career  ·  Direction  ·  Personal Growth  ·  Wealth
The Single Idea Worth $855,666.67

Back in the early 1900’s Charles Schwab (Andrew Carnegie’s right-hand man) and president of Carnegie Steel, granted an interview to an efficiency consultant called Ivy Lee.

Schwab told Lee that he needed to apply what he already knew more effectively.

Lee told him he could give him a simple method that would increase his efficiency by at least 50 per cent.

He then handed Schwab a blank sheet of paper and said, “Write down on this paper the six most important things you have to do tomorrow.”

“Now take a second sheet of paper and number those items in the order of their priority to the achievement of your goals.”

First thing tomorrow morning take out the paper and start with item number one. Don’t look at the others, just number one, and start working on it. And if you can, stay with it until it’s completed, or you have taken it as far as it you can for the time being.

Then take item number two the same way, then number three, and so on, until you finish work for the day.”

Don’t worry if you only complete a couple; the others can wait. Just work through them in order of priority.”

“Do this for a month and then send me a cheque for whatever you think the idea is worth.”

The entire interview including writing down the tasks in order of priority had taken just 20 minutes.

At the end of the month, Schwab assessed how valuable the method had been in improving the fortunes of the company.

He sent Ivy Lee a letter saying what he put into practice was the most valuable lesson he’d ever learned.

Enclosed with the letter was a cheque for $25,000.

Allowing for inflation, that would be worth $855,666.67 in 2022… Not bad for 20 minutes of work!

This simple idea of taking one thing at a time and persisting with it until it has been completed has been responsible for some of the biggest company successes in history… What could it be worth to your business?

April 29, 2022

lions catch only 25% of prey
Career  ·  Direction
Fail In Order To Succeed

Did you know that lions only succeed in catching their prey around 25% of the time?

That statistic is fairly common amongst all predators.

But even though they often fail in their attempts to hunt, animals don’t despair or give up – they’d starve if they did!

The fact they accept this is due to a natural law that is instinctively built into all-natural living organisms.

  • half of baby bears will die in infancy
  • half of all eggs produced by fish are eaten
  • most of the seeds produced by plants are eaten by birds or other creatures.

Research has shown that animals and plants are designed to allow for these natural wasted efforts.

It’s only humans that tend to get despondent or anxious if we believe we have failed in our attempts to achieve something. But, the truth is failure is a natural part of life, and we only truly fail if we stop trying.

Being successful does not mean you have a perfect life where everything runs according to plan. It means you accept that many of the things you do will not result in success but you learn from those mistakes and look forward to the next opportunity. And you don’t give up, you persist, until you achieve your aim.

Babe Ruth’s career is a great illustration of this law. 70 years after his death he is still talked about as being the greatest baseball player ever. During his career, he hit 714 home runs. But what is not talked about is that he actually struck out and ‘failed’ 1330 times (a record he held for 30 years).

These failures didn’t stop him from becoming one of the world’s greatest sporting legends. In fact, it could be argued that it was his willingness to fail that led to his great success.

So keep trying and accept the failures if you want to get the wins you desire. Persistence is key!

April 6, 2022

Direction  ·  Wealth
Earn Up to 20% Interest Per Year From A Savings Account

Are you frustrated with the interest rate you get on your savings?

I bet your bank hasn’t increased your savings rate, despite putting up its borrowing rates as soon as it could.

If you are concerned about the size of your nest egg, or you want a fair rate of interest on your hard-earned money, then read on…

There is now a major new financial institution that offers very attractive interest rates that will help you build your nest egg rapidly.

The fact is that saving money in a traditional bank account will never enable you to build up a serious nest egg. In fact, given increasing rates of inflation, your money is actually worth less every year. Considerably less!

And, I don’t know about you, but, given the choice, I would not be giving my money to any of the big banks. I simply don’t trust them anymore. I can’t think of a single major bank that hasn’t been found guilty of some nefarious activity in the last few years.

So all said and done, I have always been keen to seek out alternatives.

Traditionally, you can choose to invest your money into stocks and shares or property, gold or (since 2008) peer to peer lending to get better returns than a savings account. It is generally true to say that the risks increase in line with the expected reward.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain investments arrived on the scene in the last decade. You may not yet fully understand what they are or how they work, but, rest assured, they are not a fad. They are being integrated into every industry and are shaping our future in a big way.

And, as you will know, some people have made big profits from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But those successful crypto investors are in a very small minority who really know what they are doing.

The trouble is only about 5% of investors do know what they’re doing, and they make their money from the 95% who don’t.

So, it’s difficult to know what to do to earn a good return.

But there is now a new option available. I have been using it since last year and, I believe, it offers a very appealing combination of excellent interest rates and low levels of risk.

I’m talking about crypto savings accounts, which are now offered by a handful of fintech companies.

Now please don’t switch off at the mention of the word crypto and dismiss it as being too risky. The truth is you can take advantage of saving your money with these companies using fiat money (e.g. dollars euros or pounds) without ever needing to buy crypto-currency.

Of the available companies, Nexo, is the best well known. Launched in 2018, it is the world’s largest and most trusted lending institution in the digital finance industry.

Nexo empowers millions of people to benefit from the value behind crypto assets to shape a new and more equitable financial system. To give you an idea of its size, at the time of writing it was licensed and regulated to operate in over 200 countries and has over 3.5 million clients.

The Nexo Wallet lets you manage all your assets from a single wallet, while also benefiting from top-tier insurance to the tune of $375 million.

Nexo charges its users very small fees. It does not charge any type of account maintenance fee, and you’re free to withdraw your fiat money or cryptocurrency at any time without incurring charges.

You have 2 choices to invest with Nexo:

1. You can transfer money directly from your bank account and keep it pegged to the US Dollar Euro or Pound, so it will always be worth the same as your chosen currency. You can hold it in your Nexo wallet and earn up to 12% a year.

2. You can transfer your money to Nexo and then convert it to your chosen crypto currency. With the best known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, you can earn up to 8% interest a year.

With some of the lesser-known coins you can earn up to 20% a year, occasionally even more. I’ve personally invested in one coin (AXIE) which pays me 36% a year.

You must be aware that if you transfer your fiat money into cryptocurrency, the value of that crypto coin could go up or down in value. So, if you are risk-averse, then it may be best if you just stick with option one, which, let’s face it, is a pretty great return compared with a traditional savings account.

How do Nexo pay such high rates?

The traditional banks use fraction reserve banking methods so they can typically lend 10 times the amount we deposit with them. That means for every £100 placed on deposit, assuming a lending rate of 7%, the banks can make £70 a year (100 x 10 x 7%). On credit cards, they may make £200 a year off your £100 deposit. They will pay you about 50p of that (if you’re lucky).

Do you really want to give your business to a company that treats you like that? I know I don’t.

Click on the Next banner below to learn more!

Like a traditional bank, Nexo’s core business model is to make money on the difference between the savings rates it pays and the rates it charges to lend money. But, the difference is, it offers a much fairer way of dividing the income derived from making the loans.

Nexo welcome bonus

Is Nexo safe?

Nexo is a well-funded multibillion-dollar global company. It is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but it is a very substantial company, so, I believe, the risk of it going bust is extremely small.

It currently has $375 million worth of insurance to protect investor funds and is looking to increase that to $1 billion.

Reputation in the digital sphere is critical and Nexo’s reviews on Trustpilot and other consumer sites are excellent.

Nexo gives top priority to security and customer service. They comply strictly with KYC (Know Your Client) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) processes and have features such as segregated multi-signature cold wallets, two-factor authentication, biometric identification, login alerts and round the clock support.

It is impossible to foresee and eradicate every possible risk, but I believe my money is as safe there as it would be anywhere.

Next steps:

To learn more about Nexo and how you can accelerate towards your savings goals simply click on the banner below: 

Nexo welcome bonus

My top tips:

I’ve been investing in Nexo since last year, and these are my top tips

  • Decide on the level of risk you’re comfortable with. Do you keep all your savings in fiat money? Or, do you put a portion of them into a crypto coin such as Bitcoin or Ethereum which are generally regarded as the gold and silver of the crypto world, so that you potentially earn a bigger return. Be aware that all crypto coins are volatile and you may also lose the money you invest in them if they go down in value.
  • Think long term. These rates are so much better than anything available through the traditional banking system. You can take full advantage of them to build your nest egg by investing long term and reinvesting the interest you earn to take full advantage of the power of compound interest.
  • If you are happy to keep your money tied up for one month or even three months, then you can take advantage of generous bonus interest rates.
  • You can increase your interest rates by an extra 2% a year if you choose to have your interest paid in Nexo tokens. This will give you a little bit of exposure to the cryptocurrency world. Nexo tokens are a pretty strong cryptocurrency in their own right. There are $1,175,832,985 worth of Nexo tokens in circulation making Nexo the 85th largest crypto coin (out of thousands).

At the time I opened my Nexo wallet, the crypto market as a whole was at a very low point and Nexo was about 45% down from its high 6 months earlier. It is my belief that the Nexo coin will go up in value over the course of the next year so it made sense for me to take advantage of the extra 2%. You will need to decide whether you believe Nexo will increase or decrease in value when deciding whether to receive your interest in Nexo tokens.

Click on the banner below to learn more!

Nexo welcome bonus

In a nutshell:

  • World’s largest fintech lending institution offering interest rates many times that of major European and American banks
  • Billion-dollar company
  • Licensed to operate in 200 jurisdictions
  • Over 3.5 Million clients
  • Client monies are insured to $375 million (increasing shortly to 1 billion)
  • Pays interest of up to 12% on ‘fiat’ money (Euros, Sterling and US dollars)
  • Pays up to 8% on Bitcoin and Ethereum
  • Easy to deposit and withdraw
  • Instant access or fixed-term savings are available
Nexo welcome bonus

Happy savings!

March 15, 2022

Career  ·  Direction
3 Key Steps To Accomplish Your Goals

I’ve been studying personal development for over 20 years and I thought I knew all about goal setting

But I had a really insightful session recently with my mentor at Proctor Gallagher who reminded me of some key things I had ‘semi-forgotten’.

I thought I would share my three main takeaways with you. Here they are:

  1. When you’re setting yourself a goal you need to ask yourself, first of all, whether it is something you are truly committed to or just interested in.

 If you’re merely interested in it then it is unlikely you will have the motivation and desire to achieve it. If you are committed to it then you need to establish straight away what rules you are going to make what habits you are going to build and stick to. Just click on the link below to download a copy. 

2. For your goal to be effective you need to force it into your subconscious mind so that you build up your belief in it.

Here are some very effective ways you can do that:

a. Affirmations – either write them out many times a day, save them to yourself or record an audio and listen to yourself saying them.

b. Write your goals down and every day review them, rethink them and rewrite them. You may think you don’t need to do that, but you’d be wrong. It’s a very powerful action to take.

c. Write your goal down on a card and carry it with you so that every time you touch it you are reminded of your goal. It keeps your eye on the prize.

d. Add a photograph or text to the home screen of your phone to remind you of your goal every time you look at it.

3. Decide on six small actions you can take immediately starting right now.

Write them down and accomplish them in order of priority. When completed, write down the next six actions you can do immediately and do the same… and so on. In no time at all you will have made astounding progress towards your goals.

I think they’re very powerful tips, because I believe the key to a happy successful life is to know what you want and then spend every day working towards achieving it. However, from birth, we are influenced by others and what they think is best for us and many people struggle to even recognise who they are and determine what it is they really want in life.

Under my coaching brand, Spiritual Entrepreneur Consulting, I have created a simple but powerful workbook called “The 3 Most Important Questions” to help you set meaningful and inspirational goals.

The exercises in it will take you no more than ten minutes to complete and they will help you establish what it is you really want to do, be, and have in life.


Click here to download a copy

March 9, 2022

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