The Success Principles Plus!™ is your road map whether your goal is to become a better student or athlete, start a business, make a million dollars, or simply find guidance and direction. The principles in this book always work, if you work the principles.

This is not merely a collection of “good ideas”. This book includes 64 of the most important success strategies used by thousands of exceptional young people throughout history. With the right tools, anyone can be successful. This book and workshop will give you the courage and the heart to get started and get ahead.

However, statistics show that 95% of people who buy a book, never finish it, let alone apply the ideas, strategies or principles that could change their lives. That’s why I’ve created “The Success Principles Plus! Workshop” to step you through the process of applying these profoundly powerful principles into your life to change your life for the better and create a cause set in motion that will not only change your life, but will ultimately change the lives of everyone you come in contact with.

Have you ever wondered why some individuals have so much happiness, energy, money, respect, and great friendships? Were they born with extra talent and abilities? Some people believe this, but we didn’t buy it. Instead, we discovered: Successes are NOT born; they’re made.

The “You” Factor

Each person who has experienced the rewards that these principles can offer had to first understand this concept:

We couldn’t have said it any better. In life, there are certain things we must do to enjoy the rewards. In order to get the most value out of this book, you must use the principles yourself. No one else can do these things for you. Whether it’s exercising, stretching, reading, studying, setting goals, visualizing your success, or practicing a new skill, you are going to have to do it.

We’ll give you the recipe, but you will have to cook the meal. We will teach you the principles, but you will have to apply them. If you choose to put in the effort, we promise you the rewards will be well worth it. That’s our promise to you. Now it’s your turn to make an agreement with yourself and commit to following through and acting on information you will learn in this program. I look forward to taking his journey together. It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.

You can’t hire someone else to do your push-ups for you. — Jim Rohn, self-made millionaire success Coach, and philosopher.

That’s Right: YOU MUST TAKE 100% RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE!

It’s going around like a bad flu. It’s infecting innocent people and restricting their potential. What is it? A shocking myth that we are simply entitled to a great life.

How could this happen? Well, many of us today believe that somehow, somewhere, someone (certainly not us) is responsible for filling our lives with continual happiness, exciting career options, entertainment, money, amazing friendships, and relationships because… Well… We exist. Isn’t that enough? We wish!

If you’re reading this page, were sure you’re aware that the answer is “No.” Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. There is one major defining factor that separates those who hope for a better life and those who have a better life. This determining factor is also the one lesson that this entire program is based on. Here it is: The only person responsible for the quality of your life is… You.

The straight facts.

If you want to be successful, retire early, gain the respect of others, and just have more fun, then you need to take 100% responsibility for everything that you do and experience in life. This includes the level of your achievements, the quality of your relationships, your emotions, the results you produce in and out of school, and the state of your health — yes, everything!

Life is like a combination lock; your job is to find the right numbers, put them in the right order, so you can have anything you want. — Brian Tracy, authority on human potential and personal effectiveness.

But let’s get one thing straight: This is not always easy. In fact, most of us have been conditioned to blame something outside ourselves for the parts of our life that we don’t like. We blame our parents, our teachers and our friends, MTV, the weather, or even the star sign forecasts! It’s crazy! Most of the time, we don’t even know were doing it. The truth is, the real problems or challenges we face usually have little to do with our “outside world.” We’re often scared to look at the source of it all… Ourselves.

In life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough. You must take action. — Anthony Robbins, best-selling author and inspirational speaker.

Sure, we will all experience our own unique challenges that happen out of our control, but taking responsibility means that we don’t dwell on the problem, ignore it, complain about it, or blame someone or something else for what we’re experiencing. Instead, it means that we take control of our thoughts and our actions and do whatever we can to improve the situation.

Sure, life’s challenges come in all shapes and sizes, but there is always something that we can do differently to change what we are currently experiencing. And we must first believe this before, we will find any solutions.

Whether someone is super successful or struggling to survive, the quality of their life depends on their thoughts and actions and beliefs. Do you notice a trend here? These three things all have to do with the individual — not the teacher, the weather, or the outside circumstances. The truth is, success starts with one person… That person is you.

Looking outside of yourself for answers to why you haven’t created the life you want won’t help you. You create the quality of life you lead — no one else.

99% of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses. — George Washington Carver, American agricultural researcher and educator.

Taking responsibility means more than just taking initiative and owning up to mistakes. It also requires that we stop making excuses.

As long as there are excuses, there will be no positive results. Think about it: every excuse is like pushing the ejection button on an airplane. The minute you push it, you committed to exit the plane. In that instant your headed in a completely new direction, leaving the opportunity for success behind. Excuses allow us to give up mentally and justify why something can’t be done or why we’re not good enough — and once that happens. Game over.

Like opposite forces of a magnet, success and excuses just refuse to work together. They simply cannot coexist. It’s either one or the other.

All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another. And regardless of how much you blame him or her, she will not change you. — Wayne Dyer, best-selling author and inspirational speaker.

Question:

What are two of the easiest things to do when we don’t get the results we want?

Answers:

1. Place the blame on someone or something else
2. Complain about it

How do we know this? Because we’ve been guilty of both of these things. Believe us, we know how easy this is. Anyone bold enough to admit it would also say that they, too, have fallen into this trap. But just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it’s right.

The power of you.

Most people dance around the truth and deny that they are the reason for the quality of their life. If you want to be a winner, you have to acknowledge the truth — It’s you who took the actions thought the thoughts, created the feelings, and made the choices that got you where you are now. But here’s the good news: If it’s you who got you where you are now, it’s also you who can get you to where you want to be.

When ordinary people decide to do extraordinary things, they transform their lives and the lives of others around them. — Oprah Winfrey, Emmy award-winning host of the Oprah Winfrey show, the highest rated talk show in television history.

You can change anything and everything simply by doing or thinking something different. Einstein once said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Amen! If we continue to eat junk food, we won’t become healthier. If we continue to ignore our homework our grades won’t get better. If we continue our current behaviors our life will not get any better. It’s that simple, fill in the blank: “In order to change my life, I must first change ____________.”

The law of life.

If you truly understand this law of life, you will have complete control over your destiny.
E + R = O
No need to worry; this isn’t algebra. It’s much simpler than that. It stands for: EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME

The basic idea is this: every outcome we experience in life (whether its success or failure, health or illness, happiness or frustration) is a result of how we have responded to an earlier event (or events). In our lives.

If you don’t like the outcome which you are currently getting, there are two choices you can make:

1), You can blame the events (E) for your lack of results (O). In other words, you can blame your parents or teachers your friends, your teammates, your childhood, the weather, racism, your lack of support, and so on. But how useful is the “Blame game”? Sure, these factors do exist, but if they were the deciding factors, nobody would ever succeed.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. — Jim Rohn, self-made millionaire, success Coach, and philosopher

Michael Jordan would have never made it to the NBA. Helen Keller wouldn’t have been able to inspire millions of people. Martin Luther King Jr. would never have influenced our entire nation. Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t have had the country’s top daily talk show. Bill Gates would never have founded Microsoft. Need more? The list goes on…

Lots of people have overcome these so called “limiting factors” — so it can’t be these factors that limit you. It’s not the actual conditions or other people that stops us — it us! We stop ourselves. We think limiting thoughts, defend our self-destructive behavior, ignore useful feedback, waste time on gossiping, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more money than we make, don’t plan for the future, avoid risk, and fail to tell the truth — and then wonder why our lives don’t work. As you know, this option is not beneficial.

2) You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) — the way things are — until you get the outcomes (O) you want. This is the option that creates wealth, opportunity, freedom, and so much more. At any given moment, we can change our thoughts, change the way we look at ourselves, and change our behavior — that’s the power of YOU. And that’s all we need to control anyway.

Unfortunately, for many people these factors are controlled by old habits. We tend to react without thinking things through. However, the moment we take responsibility and commit to making a change, we can take back that control. Its not something that happens overnight, but catching ourselves in the middle of a negative thought and changing our behavior just a couple of times each day can make all the difference.

If you don’t like your outcomes change your responses.

In the end. It’s not what happens to us; it’s how we respond that matters. And how we respond is completely up to us.

It’s like poker; you can’t determine the cards you’re dealt, but you can determine how you play them.

Creating today… Yesterday.

Pop quiz! What was the main point in the previous section?

Answer: Everything you experience in life — both internally and externally — is the result of how you have responded to a previous event.

When we explain this idea, it’s interesting to see how people respond. Some people are very quick to say, “What!”? Yeah, right… That’s not true!” The fascinating thing is the same people who react this way are often the same people who:

• Don’t have what they want in life.
• Get frustrated constantly.
• Have a lot of anger toward other people.
• Feel that they are doomed to fail no matter what they do, because life is out of their control.

The cause for all this stems from one thing: DENIAL. Seems like it’s an oversimplification, but take a moment to think about this. You’ll often hear these same people use phrases like this:

• It’s not my fault.
• Well, what do you expect? I’m just not that talented.
• If only other people had done their job, I would have succeeded.
• My grades would be a lot better if I had better teachers.

They’ve heard their own excuses for so long that they have created an “Alternative reality” — a reality that tells them that there is nothing they can do to change the way things are. And with that perspective, no wonder each day is a struggle.

Pay attention… RESULTS DON’T LIE.

The easiest and fastest way to find out if something isn’t working is to pay attention to the outcomes (O) we’re currently getting. We’re either getting good grades or were not. Were either healthy or were not. We’re either happy or were not. We either have what we want, or we don’t.

You either create or allow everything that happens to you.

To turn things around, learn and implement The Success Principles for Teens in your life, enroll in The Success Principles Plus!™ Workshop today!

Overview of Session I of The Success Principles Plus!™ Workshop (Video length: 11:58)

Start Now!… Just Do It!

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice

There is no perfect time to start. The best strategy is to just jump in and get started. Don’t keep putting things off, waiting for some sign from heaven before you began. Just start!

Three dogs are floating down the river on a log. One of them says he’s going to try to jump into the river. How many are left on a log? Most people answer “two” but that’s not correct. There are actually still three dogs on the log. Why? Because saying you’re going try to jump and jumping are two completely different things. All over the world, a lot of people say they’re going to try to get good grades, try to graduate from college, try to get their dream job, and try to make a ton of money, but they never truly decide to make it happen. In other words, they were just wishing or dreaming. When you truly decide, you cut off from any other possibility. When you decide, you have committed to take action and follow through and make it happen.

This means that even the best plans combined with a positive intent are not enough to get the life you want. You must take action and do something to move you closer to your goals. When the rubber meets the road, what matters most is what you do — not what you say you’re going to do. There are so many people with high hopes, big dreams, and good intentions. Why, then, do so few people get an extraordinary life? Because hoping and dreaming is not enough. To achieve our goals, live our dreams, and reach our potential, we commit to taking a step forward and putting our plans into action. In other words, we need to leap off log to get the results we really want.

Take that leap of faith.

If you want to accomplish anything in life, you can’t just sit back and hope it will happen. You’ve got to make it happen. — Chuck Norris, actor

It’s amazing how many people glue themselves to home plate by over analyzing, over planning, and over organizing, when what they really need to do is take action. The truth is, nothing happens until you take action.

Ready, fire, aim… this is not the typical protocol; you were expecting “Ready, Aim, Fire”, however most people spend way too much time getting ready, aiming… and never get around to firing. Get ready, then just fire — then assess your outcome, get feedback… adjust your aim, and fire again. Once you’re in the game and you’re getting feedback, you can continue to make adjustments until you get the result you want.

The truth is, nothing happens until you take action. It’s easy to spend years on the launch pad trying to get the trajectory just right, but sometimes we just need to take off and get going. So we can adjust our course, as we get feedback. We must be moving in order to move forward.

When you get started, you trigger all kinds of helpful things. You’ll start getting valuable feedback, and you learn new skills, you’ll gain experience, and you’ll show those around you that you’re serious about achieving your goals. As a result, people will wake up and start paying attention to you. Things that were once confusing, will start to become clear. Things that appear difficult to become easier. You begin to attract others, who will support and encourage you.

Jump in and get started now, learn AND implement The Success Principles for Teens in your life, enroll in The Success Principles Plus!™ Workshop today! Don’t put it off!  It’s all about implementation!  It’s time to form the habits of success.  When would ‘Now’ be a good time?

Talk is cheap — you can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. — Henry Ford, Entrepreneur and founder of the Ford Motor Company.

Winners are action oriented… the one thing that seems to separate winners from loser. More than anything else, is that winners take action. They simply get up and do what has to be done. Once the plan is developed, they start. They get in motion. Even if they don’t start perfectly, they learn from their mistakes, make corrections, and continue to take action until they finally produced a result they want.

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

If we expand this concept, I would add, “and there really is no such thing as a “perfect plan.” The world is always changing, and as a result, or techniques will need to change as well. So just get started… you can adapt your approach as you move along.”

We’re covering a lot in this book and workshop; how to create a vision, set goals, anticipate obstacles, believing yourself, persevere, and visualize and affirm your success. Now it’s time to put it all into action. Get a mentor, write down your goals, and read them at least twice each day. Then fill out and submit that college application, start that savings plan, ask that special person out on a date, or book a trip to Europe! Life won’t get any better until action is taken.

If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them, then someday. You can do the things you want to do when you want to do them. — Zig Zigler, Motivational speaker and author.

You want to be in the restaurant business? Go get a job in a restaurant and start learning the business. You want to be a chef? Great! Enroll in a cooking school. Take action and get started — today! You do not have to know everything to get going. Just get in the game. You will learn daily.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m a big proponent of education, training, and skill building. If you need more training, then go get. Sign up for a class or that workshop now. You may need a coach or a mentor to get you where you want to go. If so, then go get one. If you’re afraid, so what? Feel the fear and do it anyway. The key is just to get started. Quit waiting until you are perfectly ready. You never will be.

I started out my career as an entrepreneur in the car stereo business. I didn’t know anything about how to run a successful business, I just knew I wanted the freedom to call the shots, use my creativity, and serve the customer. I was far from the perfect business owner on my first day of operation. I had a lot to learn about inventory control, marketing strategy, how will avoid getting conned by a slick salesmen, how to confront pushy vendors, and how to motivate employees. But I started anyway. And it was in the process of running the business that I learned all of those and many other things.

Most of life is on-the-job training. Some of the most important things can only be learned in the process of doing it. You do something and get feedback — about what works and what doesn’t. If you don’t do anything for fear of doing it wrong, poorly, or badly, you never get any feedback, and therefore, you never get to improve.

When I started my next business in Atlanta, Georgia, I went to a local bank to get a loan. I knew I needed a business plan but I didn’t know what criteria the loan officer would require. So I did the best I could and took it to the bank. They told me there were a bunch of holes in my plan. I asked what they were, and they told me. I went back and rewrote the plan, filling me in the areas I had left out and filling in more detail where they were unclear or unpersuasive. I then went back to the bank. They said the plan was good, but they decided to pass on it. I asked the loan officer who he thought might be willing to fund the plan. They provided me the names of several bankers in the area they thought might be interested. Again, I went to each of the banks and presented my business plan. Each one gave me more feedback until I had honed the plan and my presentation to the point where I did find someone interested, but he wanted collateral to secure the loan. I asked everyone I knew and then some to get a backer who would be willing to put up the collateral to no avail. I never did get the loan, but I did learn a whole lot about the process.

You, too, have to begin — from wherever you are — to start taking actions that will get you to where you want to be.

Just get started now, learn and implement The Success Principles for Teens in your life, enroll in The Success Principles Plus!™ Workshop today! Don’t put it off!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Chinese Proverb

It is interesting to realize there are 137 words that contain the root word ‘action’. Do you think we as a culture value action? Of course we do, no change of current conditions would ever occur without someone taking action. In fact, according to Merriam-Webster, they define ‘action’ as ‘a thing done; an act of will; the accomplishment of a thing, usually over a period of time. For instance, ‘satisfaction’; the Latin root ‘satis’ means “enough”. Therefore, enough action ultimately produces ‘satisfaction’. Following this logic, you will never be satisfied until you take a lot of action!

Although we all appear different on the surface, underneath it all, we are all driven by a set of universal primal needs.  It is why we do, what we do.  We are all driven by our Six Human Needs – fundamental drives within each one of us — that compel us forward in a quest to experience a life of meaning.  There is no conscious effort necessary, our will to satisfy these primal needs is automatic.

The Four Primal Needs

1. CERTAINTY – Everyone wants stability about their basic necessities — food, shelter, and other material resources. When people cannot control their physical circumstances, they may seek certainty through a state of mind (such as religious faith or a positive outlook).
2. UNCERTAINTY/VARIETY – People have a need to change their state of mind, to exercise their body and their emotions. Therefore they seek variety through a number of means — new stimuli, change of scenery, physical activity, mood swings, entertainment, food, etc.
3. SIGNIFICANCE – Everybody needs to feel special and important in some way. People will seek significance through obtaining recognition from others or from themselves. When people feel insignificant, they may make themselves feel significant by getting angry or taking aggressive action toward others. They may also meet their needs paradoxically, by having others recognize the significance of their insignificance or the size and complexity of their problems. It’s important to remember that for many, helplessness is power.
4. CONNECTION – Humans need to feel connected with someone or something — a person, an ideal, a value, a habit, or a sense of identity. Connections may take the form of love, or merely of intense engagement — for instance, one can feel connected by means of an aggressive interaction.

The Two Spiritual Needs

1. GROWTH – Everything in the universe is either growing or dying — there is no third alternative. People are not spiritually satisfied unless their capacities are expanding.
2. CONTRIBUTION – Just as people cannot survive without others contributing in some way to their welfare (no baby grew up on its own), they cannot be spiritually fulfilled unless they are contributing to others as well.

To get yourself or  your teen on the proven path to success to learning and implementing The Success Principles for Teens in your life, enroll in The Success Principles Plus!™ Workshop today!  If not now, when?