Every one of us is involved in some for of self improvement or personal development. This is true of you whether it is something you currently realise or not! If you have any desires, dreams or goals then you are striving to better yourself, your environment or your world and this we call self improvement.

However, there is one key area of your life that stops you from progressing in a fast and effective manner towards your desires, dreams and goals. I will now highlight this obstacle and show you how to effectively remove it forever so that you can create the life you want!

One of the worst things you can do when you need to motivate yourself to reach your long held goals and dreams is to criticize yourself. This is a pattern that has been taught to you since you were very young with school tests, grading, placement in your class and class evaluations. Teachers, parents and peers constantly compared you to others as if that was a way of gauging your true worth. This kind of personal evaluation probably continues to this day with employment superiors over-viewing your work, progress and most likely conducting some form of personal evaluation.

This view of assessing your strengths and weaknesses, although probably well-intentioned, has set a pattern within your own mind for self-criticism and self-doubt. Are you in a perpetual state of comparison? Do you find yourslef comparing how you perform to the performance of other people? Do you beat yourself up for not having attained the same level of success as those around you or those you view from afar? Are you disappointed in yourself when you fail to achieve exactly what you set out to achieve in the time you gave yourself?

Being self-critical can cause untold damage in your life. Criticism, regardless of what area of yourself or your life you have focused it, has a ripple effect that damages all other areas. By believing you are less than you should be you are sending a very strong message to your subconscious mind that you are just not good enough. Such a belief halts your progress towards your desires. It leaves you feeling frustrated and extremely unhappy. If you are really and truly not good enough then how could you ever change anything? If you are not good enough then there can be no way for you to change yourself, your circumstances or your life.

The first step to overcoming this self-defeating pattern of thinking and feeling is to become aware that it is there. Look carefully at yourself and how you interact with yourself internally. Notice when you have a tendency to berate yourself. When you notice yourself comparing your behaviour, talents, abilities or results to those of someone else immediately stop. Only judge your own performance. If you must compare yourself to anyone then compare yourself with yourself. Look for how you have improved. If you give a task everything you’ve got and do your best then you are already a success regardless of the outcome. You have stretched yourself and your personal self-imposed boundaries.

Keep a journal of all your goals and list the success you have already created. When you can look back at where you once were and see the improvement that you have made personally then your confidence will be increased and your self-esteem will rocket. If you compare yourself to someone else then bare in mind that you do not know the other person’s circumstances. You do not know what advantages they had when they began, so comparing yourself to them is a futile exercise. Even if these people did overcome serious adversity to achieve the same things that you now want take it as a positive sign. If they did it then so can you!

Try to encourage yourself when you are faced with a challenge. The difference between internal criticism and internal encouragement can mean the difference between a life of fear, dread, discouragement, pain, frustration and a life filled with abundance, joy, peace and harmony.

Giving yourself approval takes practise, so start right now. If you look at what you are doing when you criticize yourself it is really a form of self-disapproval. Approving and disapproving are just choices. You make them internally and you can re-make them in a different way. Approving of yourself and dispproving of yourself is merely a choice you make!

Right now begin to give yourself some approval just for the heck of it. Many times we disapprove of ourselves and others for little or no reason so turn that around. Begin to give yourself approval just because you are you. Can you imagine how differently you will view the world through the eyes of self-approval? Can you guess what kind of strides forward you can make in your life with an internal voice of encouragement? Do you think you, your family, friends and work colleges would benefit from you taking this new radical approach to how you view yourself?

By taking this approach and viewing yourself in a much more positive way the progress you make will astound you and the speed at which you start to move in the life direction that you have chosen will be amazing. You will gain more peace, happiness and harmony as a by-product and live a life filled with much more contentment, satisfaction and joy. Your personal development is assured!

At some stage of life every one of us desires change. There are some people who desire to make husge Self Improvement gains while others just want to make small personal development changes. It really doesn’t matter how large or small these changes may be for, regardless of how impossible they seem, they are possible to achieve when you know how to do it.

It is possible to improve your life in any area you can think of. Millions of people have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve their dreams and so can you.

However, in order to create change in the outer world you must first be willing to make the necessary internal changes. You can restructure the world of form and materiality only when you alter and realign your internal world of thought and emotion!

The first step to creating a better life is to know what you want. You must be clear on your intent. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have and your thoughts are the most powerful force for change that you will ever encounter in your own life. By getting clear on your intentions you will immediately set in motion the necessary energy needed to accomplish the change you desire.

Through your mind you can formulate new positive thoughts that are in alignment with your wishes. These thoughts will regulate your actions, reactions and ultimately your results. You should not underestimate the power that your thoughts and emotions play in creating the changes you desire. Decide now what it is that you want. Be clear and concise on your goal. Then form a menal image of yourself as though your were already in possesion of it right now. Dwell on that picture at different times throughout your day and recall the positive emotions assosiated with it.

Next you must cultivate the belief that you are capable of making these changes. Many times people will set goals and even formulate plans to attain their desires but they are unwilling to release their own self-doubt. As strange as it may sound holding on to false beliefs of inadequacy or the thoughts that certain things are impossible gives many of us a sense of safety. You must begin to challenge your own self-doubt and build your self-belief. If the human race has learned anything from its time on this planet it is this – Man can achieve anything physically that he can first create in his imagination. You were born with the same basic mental equipment as everyone else and what one person can overcome to reach their goals another can overcome also.

Do something everyday that will move you closer to your goal. No matter how small the action may be, do something. The Chinese say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If you take small steps everyday you will eventually walk a thousand miles! Taking small action steps everyday will just as surely mean you eventually reach your goal! Take these small action steps in the knowledge that, regardless of how small or insignificant they may now seem, they are moving you in the direction of your desire.

Begin to act as though you were already in possession of your goal – “fake it till you make it”, is a saying that springs to mind. This means if your goal is to create better relationships start to plan how you will spend your time together. Doing this forces the mind to focus on your desired outcome and as the mind only thinks in pictures it will be unconsciously visualizing your desire. Leave space in your bedroom for your future partner’s belongings or park your car so there is enough room for your partner’s vehicle – or anything that is meaningful to you and sends out the message that you are making room for your partner to appear! If your goal is a financial one mentally begin to spend your money and see your bank account grow. A word of caution though – do not spend money you do not have! Spend it mentally, in your mind’s eye.

Prepare for your new found fortune. Build the plans for your changed life in your mind first. Then the material manifestation will follow!

Do things differently. The famous quote “If you always do what you’ve always done then you will always get what you’ve always gotten”, sums this up. There is a Chinese proverb that describes insanity which encapsulates the very idea that I am now presenting to you. The Chinese definition of insanity is as follows; Doing the same things in the same way and expecting a different result! Be prepared and willing to change yourself before you see changes in your world.

Reward yourself for your successes. If you acknowledge even the smallest gain you make you will be building up your self esteem and reinforceing your confidence. Never berate yourself! Use your mistakes as learning experiences. There is no such thing as failure only giving up. When Edison failed 9,999 times in his attempts to create the electric light-bulb he did not give up. When quized about his failures he said, “I have not failed, I have just found 9,999 ways that don’t work!”. By uses your mistakes as learning experiences and viewing them as merely gained knowledge you will increase your understanding and know what does not work. Sooner or later you will find a way that does work and your success will follow.

Cultivate an understanding of other people. Use their knowledge and experience to your advantage. There is no point trying to do things in a way that has not succeeded for anyone else. Look closely at those people who already have what you want and try to ascertain how they got to where they are from where they started. You do not need to go through countless trial and error exercises to reach your goal if someone else has already found a way that would work perfectly for you.

However, be prepared for set-backs. It seems that life naturally throws obstacles and learning experiences in our path so that we can grow and become better human beings as a result of them. It is only through our rejection and resistence to these obstacles that cause us pain and suffering. If everything came to you effortlessly would you enjoy the triumph of success as much as you would if you had overcome some obstacles along the way?

Be open to opportunities and allow life to show you the way. By remaining flexible in your approach to your goal-attainment you leave your path open to allow for unexpected windfalls of good fortune.

Strive to remove as much of your negative mental programming as you can. Your unconscious thoughts have a greater effect on your life than you currently realize and should be eliminated at their root. This clears your mental processes and ensures when you have a thought it is not battling with opposing thoughts and feelings. A focused thought is powerful enough to create any change and to create it quickly.

Start right now to form a picture in your mind’s eye of how you want your life to be. Visualize your desired outcome as though it were already a part of your life. Feel the joyous positive emotions that this vision evokes. Everyday take some action that will lead you closer to your goal. Eliminate the negative unconscious thoughts that are in direct conflict with your desires to ensure your thoughts are strong and powerful. If you diligently put into practice the steps I have shared with you your life will be transformed and within one year you will be astonished at what you have achieved.

It is possible to release your past regardless of how painful or deprived it was. Through these personal development techniques you let go of all your emotional baggage and start fresh.

Once you release your emotional attachment to your past you are free to enjoy the present. From this powerful place of being happy and content with where you are you can then begin to create the future of your dreams.

Although you cannot change anything that has happened in the past you can change how your past experiences affect your future. The first step to releasing the past is to accept that it happened. No matter how traumatic the experience or how distasteful the memory is you must acknowledge here and now that it occurred. This is what we call entering a state of Acceptance. There is no point fighting with your past and wishing it was different. You cannot change it so accept it!

After acceptance you can enter a state of peace when you realise that the past, all of it, good and bad experiences alike have helped to form and mould the person you are today. All the knowledge, desire and love that are in you right now are a direct result of the past experiences that make up your life.

Next realise that the past has some powerful lessons to teach you. Look for the positive learning experience that the past has taught you? Use your past as a learning tool. See where you went wrong and make the changes you need to make today so that your future becomes a bright and welcoming place. Never use your past as an excuse to stay the way you are or to tolerate circumstances and situations with which you are currently unhappy! Realise that the past has been and gone. All you have is this moment and that is all you need to make changes.

There are literally millions of people who have overcome major adversity to reach their goals so why should you be any different from them. These people refused to accept what life had handed them. They never moaned about their past nor allowed it to interfere with their present and thus they created their future the way they wanted it to be.

You should never use the past an excuse for staying stuck in your life. Your power is always in the present moment. Use your past negative experiences as a motivational tool to spur you on. It is all about your perception! The truth about this universe is that you always get more of what you focus on. If you chose to focus on the mistakes and hardships of your past then that is what you will experience more of.

But if you decide to put the past where it belongs, in the past, and fully embrace the present moment and where you are you will find yourself in a powerful creative place. Only revisit the past to learn from it not as an emotional trip. Although much of your current mental conditioning originates from childhood and early life experiences it can be changed. By making the decision now and holding the intention now that the past will no longer affect you, you can free yourself from your own self-imposed bondage.

From this place of freedom you can make decisions based upon current situations and circumstances instead of being the slave to reactive emotional thinking and acting. The evidence is everywhere that people with painful, damaging pasts have overcame them and gone on to achieve high levels of success. Look at the business world, sports, creative arts etc. There are rags to riches stories everywhere you care to look.

You may encounter past experiences that are very difficult for you to realease. At these times you should seek professional help in whatever form you feel appropriate, even if it is just a subliminal or hypnosis recording. Do something now to release your past – make the decision that it will no longer rule over your current life. Set the intention that, even though you may not currently know how, you will release all your emotional attachment to the past. Do this and you will start to live more content in the present while you await your glorious future.

Personal development isn’t for the privileged few or the initiates of metaphysics. You do not have to meditate for hours on end or chant strange rituals to gain benefit from self improvement. You have no need to change religion or religious beliefs to embrace the power of personal growth. In fact you do not even have to remember your own unlimited power or your natural unbreakable connection to the universe in order to perform miracles!

There are people from every walk of life who are performing miracles everyday. You may have heard the stories of a woman lifting the full weight of a car to save her child or a man walking again after years in a wheelchair. Perhaps you have heard of the British man who’s body miraculously cured itself of AIDS or the men and women around the world who have found their cancer dissolve. You may even have heard of stranger things happening in places like India and Tibet.

However, you may be unaware of the miracles that ordinary people, just like you and me, are performing all over the planet. Miracles like, turning financial ruin into avalanches of wealth and abundance, finding soulmates and healing illness. Miracles are happening right now where men and women are; rekindling failing or failed relationships; healing old emotional wounds that have been carried for decades; finally reaching all there long cherished goals.

Would you like to be one of them?

The power of miracles does not lie in some long and almost forgotten past of avatars and saints. Nor does it lie in some distant mystical land or with metaphysical warriors who had studied ancient hidden arts for decades. The power of miracles lies right here in the present. Your power is in the NOW!

The reason why so many people fail to gain results from tried-and-tested techniques such as visualization, affirmations, hypnosis, subliminal programming etc., is because they are constantly living in the past. They allow hurts from the past to impinge upon the present. Every negative thought or feeling that you have is based in the past. It is experiences that you had in your past that lead you to form that way of thinking and feeling. You must learn to release these hurts.

The secret to performing miracles in your life is to get clear on what you want. You really do not need to do anything else. If you would only think of the things you want then that is all you would ever get. However, when you think of something that you desire you immediately allow your mind to wander to thoughts connected with a past experience. You may think that because you have never achieved any goal you set that there is no point in trying again. You may have been hurt in relationships and thus you allow these episodes in your life to stop you from trusting and committing. You know yourself what pains you have endured in the past. Do you want to continue recreating them or would you rather break free?

The truth is your thoughts create your reality. Quantum physics has already told us that matter cannot exist without consciousness. This new science is now telling us that it is consciousness itself that is the very driving force behind the physical universe and everything that is in it. It goes further by stating that consciousness, through thought, actually collapses the quantum field of possibilities into just one reality – in other words your thoughts and beliefs make things real! You create your own world!

Therefore the first step to creating miracles in your life is to take full responsibility for everything that you have created so far – bad relationships, terrible jobs, unfilled potential or good relationships, great jobs and goal achievements etc. By taking responsibility you regain your power because if you did it then you can undo it or redo the same way or in a way that is more pleasing to you.

Look at how you were thinking in regards to the good things in your life – the things that you are happy with. I bet you do not have much negative thoughts and feelings around them. Now look at all the things in your life that are not how you want them to be. I bet you think in negative terms about those a lot. Also look at the things you do not have. Are you in a state of wanting to have them? Are you lusting after them or grabbing at them? If so, then you are affirming to yourself and your subconscious mind that you do not have them!

Begin to dissect your thinking by reviewing how you feel about things in your life. Your emotions are a great guide to what you are currently creating. When you are in a state of happiness and your emotions are postive you will find that it is because you are mentally focused upon the things that you want in life. When you are feeling bad about something then this is an indication that your thoughts are focused upon the things that you do not want. When you find yourself in this state you can quickly change it if you start to direct your thinking towards the things that you do want. Once you do this you will feel your mood lightening and if you are persistent you will enter a happy state. This lets you know that you are back on track and thus attracting and creating the things that you do want in life.

Seek out ways to eliminate all the hidden negative thoughts and feelings that you are currently afraid to look at. We all have them! It is strange but things that are clearly apparent to other people about ourselves are hidden from us because we refuse to acknowledge them. I am sure you know of a person that has some undesirable qualities and yet they are the first to point out those qualities in another. They just cannot see that they are like that themselves. We are all guilty of doing this!

Once you begin to eliminate your hidden negatives you will find that your thinking becomes much more positive without any conscious effort. You will find your life begins to change in magical ways. And you will surely see many miracles taking place in your life as you embrace the life you always wanted and deserve!

Have you ever tried to achieve goals in the past and failed? If you have then I am betting you have fallen into one or both of the pitfalls that I am going to show you how to avoid!

There is one simple personal development technique that can keep you motivated and ensure that you will keep moving forward toward you goal. Let me share it with you.

Do you recall when you were a child and had all the wonderment that only a child has? Do you remember any of your replies when adults asked you, as a child, what you wanted to be when you grew up? If you were like most people your answers would have changed from week to week depending on what interested you at that particular time. Never once did it enter your head that you could not be what you wanted. You held the strong conviction that anything was possible. You had the belief that you could be, do or have anything you wanted.

When you grew from childhood to adulthood these positive beliefs were replaced by limiting beliefs as you listened to other people around you. You have allowed your mind to become conditioned with negative beliefs. You have been brain-washed into believing that you cannot achieve your dreams because it is just not possible to do it. This mindset leads to the biggest pitfalls of setting and achieving goals – procrastination and giving-up!

When you were a child you were not afraid to dream big dreams. You gave no thought to how you were going to be an astronaut or how you could possibly learn to fly a multi-million dollar fighter jet – you just knew you could do it and knew it was going to happen! You were not afraid to think big. As you grew older and the world grew smaller for you, your view of your position in life and what was possible for you grew smaller also. Your dreams and aspirations became subdued to practicalities and what you believed was possible for you.

Now that you have reached adulthood you have bought into all the negative programming offered by others, the media and the education system and also formed some damaging negative views of your own based on some negative life experiences that you now think are common place. You have forgotten that you have the capability of thinking big.

Back in ancient times when Rome and Carthage were the two strongest powers in the world a Carthaginian leader called Hannibal told his generals he wanted to take his army and 80 elephants across the Alps to fight the Romans in their own terrority. His generals told him there was no way this could be done as in many places along the route even a solitary man would find it difficult to pass. Hannibal responded confidently, “We will find a way or we will make one!”. Hannibal’s response was swift and to the point, “We will find a way, or we will make one!”

Hannibal had a big dream. He wanted to defeat Rome and make his city of Carthage the strongest and only super-power of the ancient world. He had a big goal and a big dream. He wasn’t about to let some mountains stop him!

In order to achieve your goals you must re-learn to think big!

Having a big dream that offers big rewards and life changing results when it is achieved is the only way to stay motivated enough to tackle any challenge or obstacle that stands in your way. When you have a big dream that offers you big pay-offs you will be much less likely to allow fear to get in your way and thus you will develop persistence.

There is no such things as failure only giving-up. All you can gain is experience. When he was asked what it felt like to fail 9,999 times when trying to invent the electric light-bulb Edison replied,” I haven’t failed 9,999 times. I have just found 9,999 ways that don’t work!”

Stop setting your goals based on practicality or what you think is expected of you. Dream big! With a big dream you will take big action and you will experience big results!