2 simple fears that stop your success

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jul 28, 2010 in Dealing with Problems, Success | 12 comments

photo credit: Courtney Carmody // OpenEyesPhoto

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” Sven Goran Eriksson

As Marianne Williamson said of our deepest fears, "your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do." Yet we do shrink. We do hide ourselves because of our fears. We do hold ourselves back when we should step forward. But why?

Marianne said that our deepest fear is that we're powerful beyond measure. She was right. However, I believe there are two lesser fears that stop most people in their tracks and greatly hamper their success.

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Work harder on yourself than you do on your job

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jul 14, 2010 in Dealing with Problems, Motivation, Success, Think Differently | 6 comments

photo credit: The Welsh Poppy

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job ~ Jim Rohn

So I'm sat here after what feels like a really unpleasant few weeks. Nothing particularly bad has happened, just lots of little things building up and gaining momentum that have made me feel like I'm dragging a weight behind me that I can't shake. Coupled to that has been the feeling that something wasn't right, like I was a bit lost and I could quite figure out why. Then the penny dropped. I'd stopped working on me. And instantly the weight and feeling was gone.

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3 sure fire ways to not hear someone

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jul 12, 2010 in Success, Think Differently | 16 comments

photo credit: Ed Yourdon

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Robert McCloskey

Listening is a key skill. It's a communication skill that we all use, to varying degrees, all of the time. It goes hand in hand with the other major form of communication we use so much, speaking.

When I'm speaking about communication skills, I always stress the importance of listening and how people should do more listening than they do talking. To me, it's the most important skill you can practice if you want to improve and develop yourself. When you're completely listening to someone, you can learn more than you ever dreamed about them and their, life as well as a bit about yourself.

Sadly though many of us don't listen when we really should. Here are my top 3 signs to look for in yourself that will tell you that you're not listening.

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The Success Interviews – Tim Brownson

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jul 7, 2010 in Motivation, Success | 18 comments

So today I want to offer you the final interview in this short series of interviews with successful people. I really hope to do more of these in the future and share them with you all.

Up this time is the great Tim Brownson, who is an awesome Life Coach from the US. Originally from the UK (strangely just up the road from where I live now), Tim has been a great help to me in the pursuit of my goals. As my wife says, he "calls a spade a spade." There's little fluff and filler in Tim's words, which is something I really respect about him.

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Friday’s Virtual Business Lifestyle Homework

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jul 2, 2010 in Dealing with Problems, Success, Think Differently | 20 comments

After the success of the Matthew Needham week last week (it was so successful it even caused Mrs BRT to give birth to their first son), I thought I'd run another individual themed homework post this week. This time it's the turn of my good friend Chris Ducker from VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com.

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The Success Interviews – Matt Draycott

Posted by Ben Lumley on Jun 30, 2010 in Motivation, Success | 8 comments

This success interview is with a good friend of mine Matt Draycott who is a successful entrepreneur, lecturer and entertainer with a passion for developing young people's enterprise dreams. I first met Matt at an event in Grimsby, UK where my company was helping him launch a young enterprise project. I was blown away my his presence on stage as well as his passion for young people and enterprise. Matt won the coveted "National Young Enterprise Business Adviser’ award in 2008 and is currently working as a lecturer at Wrexham University, UK where he continues to inspire young people.

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