When It Comes To Setting Goals, Get Real by Bob Bly

Napoleon Hill famously wrote: "Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

Earl Nightingale similarly said, "We become what we think about."

This is the biggest load of horse hooey since the Law of Attraction.

Just because you want something doesn't mean you can have or do it.

For instance, today I will start conceiving and believing that I will replace Jeter as the next Yankees captain.

I'll let you know how that goes.

I think NYU professor Tamsin Shaw sees things much more clearly than Hill or Nightingale.

In the New York Review of Books (10/9/14, p. 4), she writes that what we do and become is largely guided by "our internal dispositions and talents, our inborn nature."

In other words, we achieve in areas we are good at, like, and have a natural aptitude and talent for.

The people I know who are successful all pursued activities that they were naturally inclined to do and enjoyed.

Instead of just wishing, believing, and conceiving, ask yourself: what do you like? What are you good at? What do other people say you do well?

And most important of all, what do you absolutely love to do more than anything else?

Next to my family, the greatest plus in my life is that I have a job—writing—that I absolutely love.

I am not the best writer in the world. Far from it. But every day, I work to be the best writer I can be. And it pleases enough people that I make a very handsome living from my writing.

My poor dad lived in the purgatory of having a job he hated. I designed my life so I would not have to do that, though I admired the sacrifice he made to provide for his family.

Fortunately, dad got pleasure not from work but elsewhere: his family, friends, and many hobbies, including bowling, poker, tennis, fishing, and collecting coins and stamps.

Loving work as I do, I do put my family first, but friends are peripheral (my most active friendships are with peers in my profession; personal friends I rarely see) and I never developed any hobbies, because I agree with Noel Coward who said: "Work is more fun than fun."


Bob Bly is the author of "World's Best Copywriting Secrets" and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him "America's top copywriter".

Move In The Other Direction by Bob Proctor

30 years ago I had the good fortune of listening to a recorded message by the late Earl Nightingale. He taught me many valuable lessons. Earl's philosophy changed the course of my life.

I recall one in particular which stands out in my mind: "If you travel in the opposite direction to the masses, you will probably never make another mistake."

That was good advice. It seems incredible that people in such large numbers can be wrong, but they are. Historically, they always have been.

Here is an excellent example. Generally speaking, first-time home buyers are young. Young people are frequently influenced by older relatives, friends and neighbours.

In Toronto real estate sales are down—way down. There are not many people purchasing real estate. If a young person or couple is thinking of buying their first home, the odds are pretty good the advice they would get from their seniors would be, "Don't buy now—this is not a good market, not many people are buying."

That is precisely why you should buy. Sales are down, that's correct...but, so are prices. If you're listening to advice from the masses you will always be in the same financial shape they are in.

Don't wait for another boom in the market when everyone is buying...that is when the prices are up. Now is an excellent time to buy a home, the market is low. Then, sell when it's high.

The masses have that equation reversed. That's why they are not winning. This applies to almost everything people do. Try going to lunch at an off hour, the restaurant will be empty and the service great.