Everyone has the capacity and potential to be great, to be successful. It’s just a matter of deciding what your purpose is, focus on your intention and manifest your vision and dreams into reality. Most people never determine what it is that they want to achieve, because they don’t have a purpose or a big enough dream. They become complacent and as followers, they help others to achieve their dreams and ambitions, while they never realize their own potential for greatness.

Earl Nightingale once said, “success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” One persons floor, may be another persons ceiling but every individual should have their own dream, a purpose, a passion and their own definition of what success means to them. Success is not a specific destination; it is a never ending journey, that you choose. It is your consistent progress toward achieving your highest purpose - your vision in all areas of your life. Success is about achieving balance in all the key areas of your life; financial, relational, spiritual, intellectual and physical.

The Ten Principles of Success that comprise this e-book are not magic and they are not new. These principles have been proven time and time again as the keys to opening the door to success, abundance and prosperity. They are designed to take you to the next level of achievement and fulfillment. I can introduce you to them, discuss them with you and coach you on them but only you can put them into action and make them part of your daily life.

If your believe that your passion and your purpose are great enough, you will make the sacrifice and commitment necessary to go into action and achieve the results that will begin to change your life. Success is not based on who you know or what you know, rather the depth of your belief in yourself and in these principles. These principles have worked for me and for countless other successful individuals, if you apply them on a consistent basis, they will work for you as well.

Whether you are a scientist and call it Energy or a religious practitioner and call it God, Allah, Yahweh or whether you practice your own form of spirituality and call it Source or the Universe; there is a positive and loving energetic presence available to everyone alike. Regardless of how we identify with this Power, this Source Energy does not discriminate, it treats everyone equally.
Your journey to greatness starts with you; YOU have all the power, BE that power!

The Power of Paradigms

Your past is not your future. Let me repeat that please, your past is not your future. Your past is nothing more than the actions and results you realized based on your past thoughts. Thoughts are things, powerful things. You think who you are and over time, that is who you become. It is a phenomenon of attraction but you naturally move toward what you focus on, positive or negative.

What we spend our time thinking about, is what we attract into our lives. If we think negative thoughts or focus on past mistakes, we attract negative people and circumstances into our lives. On the other hand, if we think positive thoughts, we attract positive people and opportunity into our lives.

Our paradigms, are simply the sum total of our past thoughts, beliefs, habits, values and decisions about ourselves and others. Your paradigm is basically a canvas that you have painted based on your past life experiences. If your past paradigm is negative in nature, your future circumstances will be negative as well. Once again, if your past paradigm is full of positive thoughts and experiences, your future will evolve in a similar manner.

It’s no coincidence that people who’s past has been comprised of failure and set backs, duplicate that behavior into their present and future. We literally create our world, good or bad, based on our individual paradigms. Most individuals are not aware of the fact that over time, our paradigms mold and create us and our world. The reason for this is our paradigms become a part of our very being, which results in our behavior and emotions being on automatic; automatic good or automatic bad.

You are your thoughts, change your thoughts and you change your paradigm, change your paradigm and you change your behavior, change your behavior and you change the person and the results. If you want to change your results you must first change your paradigm.

Our success literally depends on the intensity and quality of our thoughts. Our success is not dependent on what happen’s around us or in the world that surrounds us; it is reliant on our inner thoughts and core values. Change the inside and you’ll change the outside. Gandhi once said, “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Be that change!

Thought % Emotion % Action % = Results

The Power of Thought

We talked about thoughts in the previous topic, “The Power of Paradigms.” The reason for this is that paradigms are created by your thoughts and beliefs over time. You see, we are literally what we think, our character being the sum of all our thoughts. Who we are, who we become, is designed and built by our own thoughts, in our own minds.

A thought is to the mind, what a seed is to the garden, therefore each and every action that we take, creates a result in direct proportion to our thinking. You harvest exactly what you plant, good or bad, positive or negative. You and you alone are the master of your thoughts, your environment and your destiny; no external situation or individual is responsible for creating the circumstances in your life.

Many of us are anxious to improve our circumstances but are unwilling to improve ourselves. We desire more wealth, more joy, more happiness, more love yet we fail to understand that all of these things grow and evolve in direct proportion to our personal development and achievement.
Positive thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; likewise negative thoughts and actions can never produce good results.

Success or failure is habitual. Our attitude and what we achieve in life depends solely on what we think. Your external world is a direct reflection of your world within. In “The Master Key System.” Charles Haanel states, “we must “be” before we can “do” and we can “do” only to the extent which we “are” and what we “are” depends solely on what we “think.” You are what you think about most often and you attract into your life exactly that.

Once you link thought to purpose, only then can you and will you achieve success. Thought without purpose is like a ship without a rudder, drifting aimlessly and open to be influenced by any external individual or circumstance that presents itself.

As an athlete or dancer disciplines their body, they must first discipline their mind. Your thoughts fuel your body and put you into Positive Action (PA). You must learn to condition your mind by disciplining your thoughts and focus on a great purpose. Thought aligned with great purpose becomes creative power, creative power produces action and that action in turn creates positive results and achievement.

Positive Thought % Creative Power % Action % Results

The Power of Vision

Dr. Maxwell Maltz, is considered the father of Cybernetics. Dr. Maltz was a world renowned plastic surgeon, who focused on the study of his patients relative to their self-image and behavior after surgery. Cybernetics is basically the study and analysis of the brain and nervous system relative to an individuals self-image.

In 1960, we already knew that the key to human behavior was based on the self-image. What ever your perception of yourself was, relative to the self-image, dictated what your behavior would be. In his book entitled Psycho-Cybernetics, he discovered that if you change the self-image of an individual, you change the personality and the behavior.

Cybernetics launched the Principle of Visualization. Based on these studies we today have what we refer to as The Power of Vision, which helps us create a clear mental picture of who we want to be and the life we want to live.

Your subconscious mind operates much like a camera, whatever pictures you plant in your subconscious mind with strong belief and emotion, leaves a footprint on your subconscious. Plant the seed of whatever you envision for yourself and your life, then you need only to re-enforce your vision daily through meditation, positive self-talk and take action.

We’ve already learned based on The Power of Paradigms, that we can actually change our thoughts, beliefs, habits and attitudes. In the second Power Principle, we learned that thoughts are things and that what we think, is who we are. So, think for a moment and determine the following; what do you want?

Once you have identified what it is that you want, you are ready to apply it to your vision. A vision is your mental picture of who you want to be and the life you want to live. To achieve the highest levels of success, create a powerful vision for your life and plant it in your subconscious.

In creating your vision it is imperative that you identify the following:

" who you want to be

" what you want to do

Your vision should include the following: 1) your vision should be real & believable, 2) your vision should be emotional in nature, 3) your vision should be in the present tense, 4) it should be unlimited, as in unlimited potential, unlimited possibilities & 5) you must be present in your vision.

Visualize yourself being and living the image you’ve created. Your vision should be your first thought in the morning and your last thought in the evening to continually feed your subconscious mind.
The Power of Intention

Intention originates from the concept of attraction and manifestation. Having high intention is very powerful and is vital to ones level of success. The opposite of intention is expectation. Look at the words for a moment; intention, “in” as in internal, expectation “ex” as in external.
Expectation creates a component of attachment into your energy field, while intention creates an energy field of being detached.

Conscious change is brought about by two qualities; attention and intention. Attention energizes, while intention transforms. Whatever you focus your attention on, will grow stronger in your life. Intention is about fulfillment, fulfillment of your vision, fulfillment of self. Intention triggers the transformation of energy.

When you intend to create an outcome, the energy that you send to your subconscious and the universe, is that you trust and have faith in your intention and your purpose. Your intention is self-created and therefore you and only you can manifest it, with the help of the Universe. The energy field of intention will attract the people and the events into your life, to assist you in manifesting your vision and dreams.

On the other hand, when you expect to achieve an outcome or a goal, the message and energy field that you send to your subconscious and the Universe is lacking true power. It resides outside of you, a slave to external forces and circumstances, hence “expectation.”

Intention lives in the world of abundance. When you have intention, you’re making a declaration of trust, faith and purpose; trust in self, faith in God, the Universe and purpose in your vision. Intention is a state of mind, a state of being, that is focused on attracting and manifesting your vision and dreams. When you declare an intention, your subconscious sends a source of positive energy and vibrations out into the Universe, which the Universe over time, responds to. The key to manifestation is focusing your attention powerfully and persistently on what you desire.

Expectation on the other hand lives in the world of scarcity. Expectation has the potential to connect you to the component of self-criticism and self-analysis. When you expect, you anticipate, when you anticipate and you do not achieve, the emotion you create is one of scarcity. Just as there is no power in scarcity, there is no sense of trust, faith or purpose in expectation; there is only achieve or don’t achieve.

Take a moment to think about what you intend to create. Think of an intention that is worth while, one that will make a difference in the world and help to change and improve the lives of others. That is what my daily intention is and I can tell you, it’s so much more powerful than having an expectation. We’ll discuss this further in The Principle of Giving.

Intention % Abundance % Positive Energy

Expectation % Scarcity % Negative Energy

The Power of Faith

True faith is about asking God and the Universe for what you want and having belief that it will manifest. Faith is the road map of what you desire. Faith is not an illusion, faith is substance. Your faith is actually the thing, the intention that you desire.

Many people believe that if you can’t see it or touch it, the possibility for faith doesn’t exist. Real faith however, is believing in what you can’t see or touch, it’s believing not so much in miracles or even in God, as much as it is belief that God will hand over the power, the courage you require to manifest your vision and dreams.

Faith starts with asking God to fulfill your intention and desires. God responds to asking, not to prayers because asking is proof of your humility. Most people only pray when they are in a state of want, despair or sin. Asking from a state of true spirit is having faith in the power and ability of God. When you ask , it is an admission of your limitations here on earth.

The Power of Faith, works hand-in-hand with the Power of Vision and the Power of Intention. In asking, you are not only acknowledging your humility and limitations but you’re declaring that you are in essence a spiritual being. We are all spiritual beings first, before we become human beings. Like God, spiritual beings have unlimited potential and unlimited possibility.

Express in your thoughts and speech what you want to achieve. Meditating for 30 minutes, and focusing on these three segments will help you to visualize your desire in your mind and it will over time, manifest your intentions. When meditating focus on 1) Being Thankful & Grateful, 2) I Ask (asking God for what it is you want) and 3) I Am (who you want to be in the present).

When you act in faith and declare “I Am,” your faith moves you and your intentions forward, helping you to manifest that which you desire. You see, what you desire is already present, it’s out there in the Universe waiting for you to stand up and claim it. God wants you to have what you desire because he knows that if you ask Him, as a spiritual being, that you in turn will give back unselfishly, provide value and make a difference in the world.

When you ask for what you want, remember, the most dominant thought is the one that will manifest. Don’t ask for what you “don’t” want, ask for what you “do” want. Your mind should always be moving toward what is powerful, positive, good and giving. Your thoughts and actions should always be moving in the direction of your life’s purpose. In advance, be thankful and grateful for Gods gifts and blessings. God responds to those who are thankful, gracious and humble.

% Your faith is the thing that you want in life.

Author's Bio: 

Bio for Lawrence Agresto

Hi, my name is Larry Agresto from Boston.

I am married to my wonderful wife Susan and the father of my two beautiful daughters Lauren & Julia. I am also the Founder of Peak Performance Coaching.

I was in corporate America for 28 years in the IT Consulting Sector and spent the last 15 years in senior management i.e. Vice President of Sales, Regional Vice President.

While in Corporate America, I trained dozens of Account Executives and Recruiters to improve their sales performance. My training sessions focused on; leadership, teamwork, sales training, goal setting & planning, daily priority & schedule, organizational & proficiency skills, human behavior & human dynamics.

Throughout my professional career, my avocation has always been Life Coaching. I've attended countless conferences & seminars on the topic, as well as listened to and read literally hundreds of CD'S, DVD's and books. Personally, I have been coached by Jim Rohn, Jeffrey Combs, Ellie Drake and Guy Finley. My greatest mentor however, has been life itself and embracing the moment by moment lessons that it offers.

I have written several e-books including; The Principals of Success, What's Stopping You, The Journey and my Coaching Program, The 100 Day Breakthrough.

I provide one-on-one coaching for clients based on my four Coaching Programs; Stepping Stones to Change, The Path to Change, The Journey and the Breakthrough Program. I also provide group coaching sessions and seminars to organizations and businesses.

To your success,

Larry Agresto
Life & Success Coach
Peak Performance Coaching
(978) 649-1020
www.larryagresto.com