Secret of Success - Think like an Ant !!!!

Sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. Read on to find out how:

All of us tend to look up to big people for lessons on how to get better. We are keen to learn the secrets of their success. But we forget that sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. Now that's a good lesson to remember!

Take ants for instance. Would you believe those small creatures could teach us how to live a better life? Jim Rohn -- the great motivational guru -- developed what he called the 'Ants Philosophy'.

He identified four key lessons from the behaviour of ants that can help us lead better lives. Jim Rohn is no more but his messages continue to inspire. Here then, are the four lessons from Rohn's 'Ants Philosophy'.

1. Ants never quit.

Have you noticed how ants always look for a way around an obstacle?

Put your finger in an ant's path and it will try and go around it, or over it. It will keep looking for a way out. It won't just stand there and stare. It won't give up and go back.

We should all learn to be like that. There will always be obstacles in our lives. The challenge is to keep trying, keep looking for alternative routes to get to our goals.

Winston Churchill probably paraphrased the ant's mindset when he offered this priceless advice: "Never give up. Never, never give up!"

2. Ants think winter all summer.

Remember the old story of the ant and the grasshopper?
In the middle of summer, the ant was busy gathering food for the winter ahead -- while the grasshopper was out having a good time. Ants know that summer -- the good times -- won't last forever. Winters will come.

That's a good lesson to remember. When the going is good, don't be so arrogant as to believe that a crisis or a setback cannot happen to you.

Be good to other people. Save for a rainy day. Look ahead. And remember, good times may not last, but good people do.

3. Ants think summer all winter.

As they suffer through the unbearable cold of the winter, ants keep reminding themselves that it won't last forever, and that summer will soon be here.

And with the first rays of the summer sun, the ants come out -- ready to work and ready to play. When we are down and seemingly out, when we go through what looks like a never-ending crisis, it's good to remind ourselves that this too shall pass.

Good times will come. It's important to retain a positive attitude, an attitude that says things will get better. As the old saying goes, tough times don't last. Tough people do.

4. Ants do all they possibly can.

How much food does an ant gather in summer? All that it possibly can! Now that's a great work ethic to have. Do all you can!

One ant doesn't worry about how much food another ant is collecting. It does not sit back and wonder why it should have to work so hard. Nor does it complain about the poor pay!

Ants just do their bit. They gather all the food they can. Success and happiness are usually the result of giving 100% - doing all you possibly can.

If you look around you, you'll find that successful people are those who just do all they possibly can. Follow the four simple steps of Jim Rohn's 'Ant Philosophy' and you'll see the difference. Don't quit. Look ahead. Stay positive. And do all you can.

And there's just one more lesson to learn from ants. Did you know that an ant can carry objects up to 20 times their own weight? Maybe we are like that too. We can carry burdens on our shoulders and manage workloads that are far, far heavier than we'd imagine.

Next time something's bothering you and weighing you down, and you feel you just can't carry on, don't fret. Think of the little ant. And remember, you too can carry a lot more on your shoulders!

How to Think Like a Winner - Secrets of a Three-Time Olympian

By Ruben Gonzalez, (Olympian, Peak Performance Expert, Speaker) 

What would your life be like if failure was not an option? Would you like to perform at your peak more often? What would you do if you knew you could not fail? In the next few minutes you will learn "How I programed my mind to make my Olympic Dream come true three times!" 

You will learn techniques that can change your life. So here we go...

Four years after making a decision to begin training for the Olympics, I had the honor of competing in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in the luge. I went on to compete in the 1992 Albertville Olympics and I just competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics at the age of 39.

How does someone who did not even take up the sport of luge until he was 22 become a Three-Time Olympian? As I tell thousands of people in my speeches, I'm not a big shot. I'm just a little shot that keeps on shooting. I'm proof that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things if they will just put the right things into their minds.

Olympic Athletes consistently and persistently use specialized techniques to program their minds to achieve peak performance. The following simple techniques performed consistently over a period of time will change your outlook in life and ultimately your outcomes.

Acquire the Mindset of WinnersIf you adopt these beliefs, you will win much more often.

1. Failure does Not Exist
Just because I crashed the last five times on the luge track does not mean I'll crash the next time. Every time I come down that track I am a better racer because I have more experience than the time before.

When Thomas Edison was trying to find the right filament to make the light bulb work, a reporter asked him how it felt to have failed thousands of times. Edison said he hadn't failed. He just discovered thousands of materials that didn't work.

There is no such thing as failure. You either get the desired outcome, or you learn. No matter what the result, you win. The past does not equal the future.

By thinking this way, discouragement can't get a foothold in your mind.

2. If It Is To Be It Is Up To Me!
Every single one of the people in the biographies I read overcame some major challenge. Struggling through those challenges is what made them great. A piece of coal has to experience a huge amount of heat and pressure in order to become a diamond. We are no different. Every time we face a challenge we have a choice to make. Will we get bitter or better? Decide to get better. Face the challenge. It's there to make you stronger. You will need that strength further up the road when you'll be facing even bigger challenges.

Don't ever make excuses. Whenever you make an excuse you are giving up control. 

Rationalizing is telling yourself "rational lies". Believe that you are in charge of your life. You are totally responsible. You create your results. You are in control of your life. You have the power to change your circumstances.

3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone!

When I decided to learn the luge I told everyone I was aiming for the Olympics. I wanted to put myself in a position where it would be very difficult to quit.

When I first went to Lake Placid , I honestly didn't know what I was getting into. I took a leap of faith and believed the net would appear. I've taken a couple of thousand luge runs in my career and I've faced fear before every run. What kept me going? The Olympic Dream. The desire to become an Olympian gave me the courage to face my fears.

Commit to stretching. Put yourself on the line. Commit to do things beyond your current abilities. That's how you grow. That's how you get better and stronger.

4. Just do it!

When the luge team went to a new track we would walk the track with the coach. We would make a game plan about the best way to drive the track. I then visualized and mentally rehearsed taking the run many times, and finally I had to hop on the sled and go down the mountain. The first few runs are always pretty brutal, but as we learn the track, our times improve dramatically.

Scary? Very. But it's the price I paid to get to the Olympics.

Commit to act even if you don't know everything. You don't wait till all the lights are green before taking a road trip. If you wait until you know everything before acting, you'll never do anything. Take a chance. Act on faith.

5. Be True to Yourself
Always act from Personal Integrity. Be true to yourself. If it does not feel right in your gut, don't do it. Don't ever go against your personal values. No victory is worth not being able to look yourself in the mirror.

6. There is Always a Way if You Don't Quit!

Robert Schuller says, "Mental toughness is developed through consistency of effort."

On the road to the Olympics, many athletes much faster than me quit along the way. How do you think they felt when they watched the Olympics on TV? The price of getting your dream is big, but the pain of regret is hundreds of times bigger.

Commitment is the glue that holds everything together. Commitment is the most powerful tool you have as a human being. Commit to practice until you are good. Even if you fear what it takes to get to your goal (as I feared the luge), do it anyways. Commitment will pull you through. Commit to do whatever it takes (as long as it is moral, legal and ethical) to succeed.

The difference between people is there are those who are interested and there are those who are committed. The key to success in life is going from being interested to being committed. Once you are committed you will produce results. At the point of commitment, you mentally "burn all the bridges" and you do whatever it takes to make it happen. THAT'S when you become unstoppable!

Chase your dream, go for the gold, and never ever quit.

A peak performance expert, Ruben Gonzalez speaks on the principles of success he followed on the road to the Olympics.