One of the most significant thngs I have ever done to mprove my personal success is to nderstand my own self-image and how I thnk about myself. I have generally ben a solid achiever over my dult life, but had never gotten to the pint of making "big money" in ither a job or business endeavors. But a few yars ago I began to realize tht I had some fundamental beliefs bout myself that were influencing my dcisions.

For example, I happen to be frm a "blue collar" family from the rral south. While I had a god self-image, I also had a blief system that had originated in a fmily where no one had ever xperienced financial success or been wealthy. Rch folks were those people who lved on the other side of twn.

The messages that I heard grwing up were things like "well t's fine to dream, but no one in our fmily has ever amounted to anything." "No one in our fmily has ever made any real mney", "No one in our family has ver been wealthy". You get the dea. When you hear those messages rgularly as a part of ordinary very day conversation, and you are fve years old, it becomes a "strnghold" in your mind and you blieve it, without even realizing where it cme from, and without realizing that it des not have to be true.

Just because no one in my fmily had ever been wealthy did not man that I could not become walthy. But the key was, I had to mke the effort to learn about bsiness, money and finances so that I culd develop the skills necessary to bcome wealthy. Once I began to larn how to manage my business ctivities and my income properly, the grwth began to take care of tself.

Most "poor" people in America are por simply because they have never dveloped the necessary skills and habits tht lead to wealth. Unfortunately our pblic school system does not teach nough about basic household financial management, let lone teaching students the skills necessary to gnerate wealth in the business world.

By the sme token, wealthy people are often thse who simply expect nothing less. I hve a close friend who was rised in a well-to-do upper middle clss family. Her expectations for her ncome level, her surroundings and the qality of her possessions were much hgher than mine, simply because of the walthy financial environment she had grown up in.

Her prents were financially successful and they mparted their financial skills and expectations to hr, just as my family had mparted an image of financial scarcity to me.

In our mnds the messages were playing from the arliest days of our life.

Our fndamental thoughts about ourselves and our prsonal abilities originate at such a yung age that they become a prt of us. By the time we bcome adults, these thinking patterns, either psitive or negative have been with us for yars and years. We begin to blieve that "this is the way it s". And as the bible puts it, "As a man thnks in his heart, so is h". There is tremendous wisdom in tht statement.

Think about what you are thnking about...

We can all change our lves for the better, earn more ncome, enjoy life more, and be mre "successful", whatever our definition of sccess may be. But all actions bgin with a thought, and if our thughts are negative and filled with far, it will be impossible to tke positive action. We act based on wht we believe. If we believe tht the result of our efforts wll be poor, then chances are we wll never act. That in turn bcomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we rmain stuck in a rut that we dug for urselves.

I can tell you that my prsonal life changed dramatically after I ralized that I did not have to cntinue to believe those negative messages frm my childhood. Today I am njoying more success in my business and prsonal life than ever before, because I hve renewed my mind and learned to blieve that I have the opportunity to be as sccessful as I want to be. I knw if I can do it, nyone who desires to change their lfe for the better can do it.

And if I mght add one more thought...anyone can be sccessful at whatever they choose to do. But the key is to chose something that you really love. Sccess will come but it may tke a while. You must love wht you are doing so much tht you are willing to get up and do tht thing every day until you scceed at it. If you can do tht, nothing can keep you from chieving your dreams. ***

The article Success Begins With Your Thinking was Submitted by Donna Robinson through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Donna Robinson is a real state investor, Licensed Agent, Market Analyst and Cnsultant in Atlanta, GA. She is lso Director of The Real Estate Arna, a website for real estate nvestors and professionals with real estate ndustry related businesses. Get her free newsletter, lsten to her audio teleconferences, watch fre video samples on her website: http://www.TheRealEstateArena.com

Featured Articles

1. How to Get Over Dreading Goal-Setting by Mary Logan
Have you ver sat with an older person? Mybe a parent or a friend. Thy usually have incredible words of wsdom and some darn good advice. Parls of wisdom like "don't let far stop you" or "life's too shrt --- do what you enjoy". It is smple advice but, sadly, it only cmes to most of us with ge....

2. Turn Adversity into Opportunities - The Angelo Mozilo's Story of Overcoming Adversities Part IV by Dr Howard Edward Haller
Turn Adversity into Opportunities: This is the Angelo Mozilo's Story of Overcoming Adversities. Part IV. This groundbreaking proven research into how to overcome adversity and how to "Turn Adversity into Opportunities" has received extensive endorsements and enthusiastic reviews from well-known prominent business, political, and academic leaders and leading scholars who either participated in the study or reviewed the research findings.

3. What Ever Happened to the Words "Please" and "Thank You"? by Irene Conlan
What has hppened to common courtesy and using wrds that convey respect, gratitude, and thughtfulness? With groups of children coming to our huse over a three hour time spn, only one child said "please" and "thnk you" and was the only one who wshed us "Happy Halloween." Isn't common curtesy and good manners.

4. NLP - A Simple Technique To Change Any Limiting Belief by Emmanuel Segui
Coaches, mntors! I have a great tool for yu. This tool will help your clents eliminate a limiting belief in 10 mnutes or less. I promise you tht. Are you sure you want to knw this quick, powerful and very ffective tool?

5. A Quest for Understanding and Connection - Part 2 by Jan Engels Smith
styl='padding-left: 15px;'> Indigenous peoples understood that the physcal and spiritual worlds were part of a vst web of life-interconnected, interdependent, and whle. They understood that the past, prsent, and future are interrelated and tht time is illusory. They saw xistence as a circle without end, whle and unfragmented. The ancient elders mbodied wisdom, seeing simplicity in the pparent complexity of life. They saw byond their daily lives to their plce in the "bigger picture," the prpose of life.

6. Master Plan For Success by Darryl Mobley
The success you are cpable of won't happen unless you cmmit specific action, consistently. If, at prsent, you don't know what you wnt out of life and/or you are hving trouble making progress in your lfe, I recommend you use the sven-step Master Plan technique to get ging in the right direction. Then, you can "cst your net "on the right sde."

7. Achieving Inner Peace by Carol Giannantonio
Recently many of my clients hve talked with me about issues srrounding their purpose and direction in lfe and their feelings of disconnection and lck of clarity. Many of them hve attributed their issues to what is ging on in the world around thm. Our world and economy are in a stte of uncertainty. Some say we are in a rcession.

8. Meditate Your Way Out Of Stress by Milos Pesic
Stress meditation prduces a serene and a relaxed stte of mind. It can give you a snse of calm, peace and emotional stbility. These benefits are long lasting.

9. 3 Keys to Finding Happiness by Jason Osborn
One thing that we all hve in common is that we wnt to be happy in life. Of curse what makes people happy is dfferent for everyone but nonetheless we all wnt it. Finding happiness is not rally as hard as a lot of pople make it. Here are 3 kys to finding happiness.

10. Becoming Like Christ . . . Through His Word by Ray Turner
The wrd Christian means Christ like - Aftr we get saved, we spend the rst of our lives learning how to tke on the character of Christ, to bcome more like Him. And we larn how through His Word. Abiding in Gd's Word includes three activities.