health connector

In a statement made by Texas State Representative John Smittee, “You look at the cost of health care in general and it’s increasing faster than the cost of living.” According to a Commonwealth Fund report, we have seen individual Texas health insurance premiums increase by almost 50 percent in the past eight years. The rise in family and group Texas health insurance plan premiums was even greater. A 2011 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the cost of giving health benefits to employees increased by 118 percent for large firms and 103 percent for small firms in the past 10 years.

Health Savings Accounts Made Available To Texans

Under the “IRC Section 223″ or state “Qualifying High Deductible Health Plan,” certain high-deductible Texas insurance plans are allowed to pair with a Health Savings Account or HSA. Health Savings Accounts started back in 2004. Since then, there had been an influx in people enrolling in HSA plans. Health Savings Accounts are available to Texans who buy their own TX health insurance plan, who are self-employed or who have employer-provided HSA plans.

In a study by United Benefit Advisors it showed that HSA-qualified plans have fewer and lower rate hikes as well as lower premiums compared to traditional health care plans. The rate of HSA premium increases is one third to one half that of what traditional plans has been. Results showed that the cost of HSA plans had only risen by an average of 3.4 percent while premiums for all plans combined increased an average of 9.6 percent in 2005 alone.

Between 2004 and 2005, Health Savings Account plan premiums increased by an average of 2.8 percent while the combined cost of Texas health plans rose by 7.3 percent as affirmed by a survey released by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

Employers And Employees Can Both Benefit From A Health Savings Account

Since Health Savings Accounts started, many employers have realized that switching from group coverage to Health Savings Account plans offered in the individual market increases their savings that permit them to fund an HSA for every employee. Thanks to the new health care reform law, HSA plans now cover preventive health care from in-network providers with no out-of-pocket costs. This is even before the policyholder meets their deductible. If the medical expenses are not covered by their health insurance plan, employees can withdraw HSA money tax-free to pay for qualified medical expenses.

How Can Health Reimbursement Arrangements Help?

Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA) can be used together. However, their use must not overlap each other. For example, you are not allowed to reimburse medical expenses that are meant to go toward the deductible of the HSA-qualified Texas health insurance. The main purpose of HRA plans is to reimburse workers for health care costs not covered by health plans as well as health insurance premiums. HRAs offer flexibility to employers because they can control the healthcare benefits of their workers without compromising the healthcare they receive.

We are very excited to impart to you the seven principles of health. We are looking at what can allow you to live a vibrant, happy, fulfilling, and healthy life. Of course, any of the information we will share with you is purely information, not medical advice. You are however, most welcome to go and seek your own medical advice, specifically from your own health professional. But this information tells about proven methods against the test of time.

So you’ve heard a lot of talk about my health and living as well as the seven principles of health. There are a lot of different thoughts about these principles. In general, we are talking about the health principles that really matter. Sure, there might be a couple which you could apply in your life, but these are certainly the most essential ones, those that you should definitely have to include in your lifestyle. In fact, the whole aim of this article is so that you can get a good appreciation of them, so that you too can live a healthy life for yourself.

We don’t want people to be sick, and we certainly don’t want people to be taking mostly prescription drugs when they don’t have to. Now, is there any reason why we think that way? Because there are a lot of natural health measures that you can do to prevent ailments in the first place. You can certainly take alternative health measures. For instance, you can take a look at your diet, consider what you really partake of everyday. Is it really toxic to your body, or is it good for you? Are you, unknowingly building things, or destroying things in your body? These are what the seven principles of health really build upon. It really gives you an idea that you can move forward in a positive way for your body, not in a negative way. If you stifle your own growth and the cleansing processes of your body that’s naturally set up, then you’re really preventing yourself from being healthy. We’re only going to touch the surface, only looking the concept in a general point of view because there is a vast information available out there for this topic, and there’s only so much that we could share. But we’re certainly excited to talk about these things, which you can apply in your everyday life. That’s the beauty of it. Helping you take care of yourself everyday using health principles.

WHOLE FOODS

Now let’s have a look at the first one, Whole Foods. These include natural whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, herbs, and other things which are naturally-grown and unprocessed. You can just literally grab them off the tray or consume them without any preparation at all. So how is it that for several millennia, people have looked after themselves and have not gotten themselves into the same troubles that we are into now? It seems like we’ve gotten a lot sicker and a lot more frail. That is because of the processed foods that we have been consuming nowadays. We’ve upset our balance of the natural foods that we should be partaking. If you take a look at the Western diet of today, we can see that we’re having way too much sugar, saturated fats, and we substitute water for sodas or colas. It’s just not right because our whole body is being thrown out of what it’s used to. Our bodies are expecting some sort of natural foods or sustenance to build and repair itself, and it’s not getting it most of the time. So if our bodies are getting something different from whole foods, we would be expecting different results of course. That is why people get a lot sicker nowadays, as opposed to those who lived many centuries ago. The processed food revolution of the last hundred years have really changed our health and brought it downhill. If we go back and embrace the principle of natural health food the way they used to do many, many years ago, where the people did not experience the health problems that we are experiencing today because they haven’t been laden with chemicals or impurities in their bodies, we could look at whole foods as real eye-openers. This is one of the basic principles of good health. Just like in taking fruits alone, with its healing properties and its ability to provide energy and vitality to our bodies. It is just a matter of taking in fruits, which will really help boost our energy to keep us healthy and stable. We won’t have to worry that much about viruses, bacteria, and other harmful agents that will enter our body, because they will be removed fairly quickly. Vegetables are also good food sources for they will strengthen our bodies and keep us strong and healthy. That’s especially true if you consume the ones with low GI, such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, beet roots, carrots, and the like. They will really help strengthen our bodies.

You know, it’s funny talking about whole foods, herbs, and spices. Take a look at the ancient methods that the Chinese used, or the old civilizations that used herbs to heal and help cure things. These are the reasons why they work. Certain herbs target specific parts of the body and there’s no reason why you can’t incorporate them into your diet as well. Any sort of research or understanding on Chinese medicine and the old ancient ways might reveal some of these herbs to you. It is most exciting that you can apply these in your life today, just as they did thousands of years ago, to treat the ailments that they had. Nuts and seeds, and other berries are really, really good for you. You can include them in your diets as whole foods to allow you to move forward as a healthy being.

Another of these which are really mentioned quite a lot is milk. There’s nothing wrong with milk. If it’s raw milk, it’s got all the nutrients which will be really good for your body. It’s full of protein, essential fats, and gives you strength.

The other food which I would like to mention is natural, raw honey. It is full of enzymes which can really boost immunity and it is antibacterial as well. It really stands out in giving good health and vitality, and you can even apply it to your external wound. If you ever get a cut or a lesion, honey is very good in healing the wound and keeping it clean as well. So, as you have read, there are heaps of natural and whole foods which can help you to build and maintain a healthy state. And, as they say, it is never too late to introduce them into your diet as well. That is, if you have been lacking them in the past. There’s no reason why you can’t introduce them now to help boost and change your lifestyle, allow it to be a healthy one instead.

WATER

Another principle of health is Water. Now as you know, we are all made up of more than 70% percent water, which is applied a lot in the building of new cells in our bodies. Water is an essential part of us and we should allow it to work with us. By not drinking water, you are allowing yourself a disservice and depriving your body of its proper health and nutrition. On a cellular level, you’ve got to consider that each cell needs the delivery as well as removal of certain nutrients. If you look at one cell, it might have a building block, which may need a certain nutrient to complete its function. However, it can only get there with enough water in the system. Now, electrically-charged water is certainly good for us because we are electrically-loaded beings. We survive on the electricity that’s running through our bodies. There are pulses inside us that run here and there in order to send electrical signals to and from the brain and the other parts of our bodies, such as cells, muscle groups, and others. So, in order for this to happen, water has to be an essential part of this process. Salted water is also very good. If you have the right amount of salt in your diet, then the delivery of nutrients and energy between the cells will be easier because you have the right charge.

Now, the secret to any good weight-loss or fitness program is that you drink sufficient amounts of water. The reason for this is because water can remove and flush out toxins and excess fat cells that are not needed by the body. Without the sufficient amount of water, your body won’t be able to carry out this process properly. So, as you can see, water is an essential part of the body’s system. Let’s maintain it and work towards building it up in the future. And we should drink at least eight glasses of water per day. If you’re a larger person carrying excess weight, however, then you might have to increase that to, say, 10-12 glasses per day. It depends on your body’s structure too. If you feel thirsty, your body is already starved of water, it’s already dehydrated. The idea, then, is to keep your water levels at a sufficient amount. A good indicator of this is the amount of sweat you produce and urine color. If your urine color is cloudy yellow, drink more water so it would be clearer and lighter in color. It’s a matter of maintaining that as well. So, water is an essential part.

AIR

Next is Air. It is very important to us, for the obvious reason that we need it when we breathe. But as you know, every cell in our bodies survive on oxygen, and we need to allow our bodies to breathe, every cell has to breathe. So with insufficient oxygen flowing through us, we will slowly get asphyxiated, and toxins won’t be released. So breathing sufficiently is very important. If you go outside, you can get electrically-charged air as well. It is very important. If you ever go to the beach, or if you’re around lightning strikes, you might find some ozone in the air. You can actually smell the ozone, especially if the lightning cracks around you. It is the same sort of smell when you go to the beach; it’s the ocean’s smell. That is extremely good for you, that is O3. It basically gives life and vitality, heightens your senses and energy levels, and it’s just really good for you. In fact, if you take five deep breaths for multiple times per day, it will allow your whole body to get rejuvenated. Deep breathing is great because it opens up your airways and it brings your oxygen levels up.

SUNSHINE

Next on the principles of health is Sunshine. Getting enough sunshine is crucial for health and vitality. Now I’m not saying that you should go get sunburned. What I’m saying is that you should spend about 20 to 30 minutes out in the sun every day. Now you should do that during the “safe-sun” hours, which is usually before ten in the morning and after two in the afternoon, if possible, because the sunlight between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon will probably get you burned a bit easier. So getting enough sunlight is very important. If you allow the sunshine to penetrate or to be absorbed more by your body, and expose more of your skin to the sun, then you will get energy a lot quicker.

Now we all know that we get Vitamin D from the sun, and it is very important for your health and the recognition of your nutrients to break down and be accepted into your body. It’s almost like a gateway, wherein Vitamin D allows your minerals to be absorbed properly into your body. So if you don’t have Vitamin D, then this process can’t work properly. You will find that you’ve got a lot of deficiencies as well. You might also be worried about skin cancer. Well, we’ve got different thoughts on that. I don’t believe we could get skin cancer from the sun itself, I believe it’s more on the toxins and the impurities in your skin which are actually burned and which turn against you. So, how come we haven’t got problems on melanoma and skin cancer before, and then all of a sudden, within the last 50 years, we’re now having melanomas? Does that mean that the sun has changed? Or is it because we, and our diets, have changed? I would think it’s probably more so because of the latter. Our diets have certainly changed. The amount of chemicals and radiation inside of our bodies are the problem. The sunlight actually reacts to these chemicals and impurities in the body, under the skin, which actually turned against us. So, a little bit of sunlight every day, in the safe-sun periods, away from being sunburned, will actually do more good than harm. It is very important that everyone will recognize that sunshine is a vital part of health.

If you’re not feeling very well, if you’re feeling ill and off-color, well, go for a walk in the sun. Expose your body to the sun and get 20-30 minutes of sunshine. You will feel the energy levels radiating out of you, you’ll feel a lot better afterwards, and it is amazing to see that it actually does you good. If it can make plants grow, make living things flourish, then it is bound to do you good as well. So, don’t just listen to those who are saying that the sun will do you a lot of damage, when it can actually do you a lot of good. It is a matter of managing and doing it properly. Sunlight is very important for health.

EXERCISE and MOVEMENT

Another principle is exercise and movement. This is number five out of the seven principles. You need to move; you need to exercise. When I say exercise, I’m not saying you need to be running a marathon. I’m saying you can get out and do some walking, some stretching of your body, and doing some general movements through your whole body. This will do you more good than harm. In fact, we’ve got these things called lymph nodes right through our whole body, and they are not circulated from the heart. The lymph nodes’ fluids are not circulated because they are being pumped by the heart. Instead, they are circulated because of your movements and exercise, as well as through massage. So it is very important that you keep this happening always. Otherwise, they’ll build up, which will cause problems in your lymph glands. It is also important that you keep flushing them and moving them about because they will be stagnant and clogged with toxins.

I’m sure everyone can move, walk around, do some stretching, and just generally get up and about. This means that you could get out for 20-30 minutes each day, and it will be a lot easier if you’ve got a routine related to this. If you haven’t got one, well, anytime you get out, you could stretch and move your whole body. It will do you a lot good. So, once again, if you’re feeling under the weather, it’s important that you actually do move. It is important that you do stretch and get the fluids within your body moving so you will be cleansed and the toxins will be removed from your body. Some areas of your body need movement to flush the toxins out and if you’re not moving, they’ll be just sitting there and become stagnant. If you see people with a lot of fluid in their legs, especially elderly people, they’re just sitting there, the fluid builds up in their legs. Now if you want to keep your body parts vital and alive, it’s important that you move about certain parts so that new blood can circulate through your body and through the parts that aren’t moving much. So, to flush out the toxins in your body, movement and exercise is very important.

REGENERATION

Number six on the principles of health is regeneration. This encompasses rest, relaxation, recuperation, and regeneration. That means that everyone needs to rest. Everyone needs to lay flat and lay their heads down, parallel to the earth’s surface. This is so that you can rest, regenerate, and recuperate. Our bodies are designed so that the magnetism and the electrical charge can actually flow properly. To do this, you need to be lying down. Have you ever worked too hard and think you just need to lie down? That is the feeling you get when your body’s saying, enough is enough, and that it needs to regenerate. It’s like a good battery: it can only go for so long before it depletes. If it’s lost, you can’t function properly. And that’s why regeneration is important.

Now part of regeneration means that when you do lie down and close your eyes, it does not mean that you get some smartphone or iPhone app or other electronic device and try and fiddle with that because your brain is another organ that needs rest and recuperation as well. And that means shutting down the conscious and allowing it to go into regeneration mode. When you lay down and you rest, that means resting your brain as well. And it’s very important that you do have periods to rest every day, wherein you do not do anything except sit and reflect. Rest and recuperate. That means mentally as well. Otherwise, you will suffer from some sort of burnout later on, and we don’t want that. If you’re feeling ill, then rest and relaxation will surely bring you back to health. When you’re feeling overtired, rest and sleep will allow your body to regenerate and your brain to kick back into gear and reset itself every night. And it’s important that you get at least six hours of sleep every day. If you’re not, then you’re really cheating yourself, and later on you’re going to pay the price and you’re going to really suffer mentally about this. So it’s important that you get about six to eight hours of sleep per day. Rest and recuperate, lie flat down, and allow your body to kick-start itself and regenerate. That’s what the cells need: regeneration.

RELATIONSHIPS and PASSION

The last of the seven principles of health is the Relationship and Passion. Everyone needs to have good relationships, whether it’s with a passerby, you treat them very well, as you would want to be treated. This is also for the long-term relationships with your friends and loved ones as well. You want to have great relationships with positive people to uplift and build. You don’t want bad relationships that would tear down and destroy you. And that also pertains to your general health as well. Positive relationships build, while bad relationships destroy and tear down. It is important that you recognize this, because if you are around toxic people, who constantly batter and bring you down, then it would bring your health down as well. So, it’s a matter of minimizing the time and exposure to toxic people, and building up and allowing positive people to give you more influence instead.

The other point there is passion. If you are passionate about something, then you will want to spend more time doing what you are passionate about. That includes your favorite hobby, sport, friends and family. You would want to spend time with these people or these passions. There is a saying that, without hope, we have nothing. Now, we have to have something in our lives which we would want to strive for, get up every day for, move forward for, and that is our passion. Whether it’s strictly for a relationship, for building ourselves up, some sort of hobby, or sport that we really enjoy, it’s important that we have hope in our lives. After all, if we don’t have a passion, then what are we here for? What are we really doing?

In the passion, in the relationship, it is also a passion towards your Creator. God is a great avenue to rely on. You might think I am getting a bit spiritual, but it is true. Everyone needs a relationship with the Creator. Everyone needs a relationship with spiritualism in their own life. You need to reach out and realize it. It’s not all about you. You are part of the greater creation and you are part of a greater being and a greater purpose. To have a great relationship with your family and friends is great, but to have a relationship with the Creator is even better. To have a passion, a drive about these things, an inner drive wherein you know where you are going and what you are doing, that’s very important. Spiritualism is very important. Being passionate about something else other than yourself is also very important.

Okay, so we’ve discussed on Whole Foods, Water, Air, Sunshine, Exercise and Movement, Regeneration, Relationships and Passion. If you tie all of these things together, and you live by these, and you use them as a driving force that you want to include in your life, then you will have a great and healthy life. And that’s what this is all about, health and living, to do things the right way. You will certainly function properly and healthfully as well. So, are you including all of these in your life? I hope so.

I hope you’ve got the opportunity to actually reach out and allow others to help you as well. By helping others and allowing others to help you, by embracing these seven principles of health, you will live a much richer life. It is all about reaching out and helping others through these as well, not just yourself. So if you’ve got the opportunity to help, whether it is just for yourself or for others, this is what it’s all about.

It’s very exciting to talk about these principles of health, for you will realize which one of them is lacking in your life. And then it’ll be up to you to go work on these things. If you’re not eating enough whole foods, or drinking enough water, if you’re not getting out and enjoying enough fresh air in your life, open your house up and let the air just breeze right through your house. Get out in the sunshine and enjoy that. Go for a walk, enjoy your rest time, allow your brain to regenerate and recuperate. Put enough effort into relationships and passion and you’ll feel the fulfilment of life right through your whole being.

It’s a well-known fact that smoking causes an adverse effect on your health. You must have seen the warning message on all cigarette boxes – ‘Smoking is injurious to health’. Smoking tobacco is a root cause of 30% of all cancer deaths and causes 16 times higher risk of heart attack.

There are almost 120 million smokers in India. As per World Health Organization, India accommodates around 12% of the world’s smoking population. The number of men smoking tobacco has increased from 78 million in year 1998 to 108 million in the year 2015. Tobacco consumption is accountable for the death of 6 million people each year. Direct tobacco consumption accounts for over 5 million deaths and 0.6 million deaths are due to exposure to second-hand smoke. Considering serious public health risks, the Government has banned smoking in public places from 2nd October, 2008.

Not only your health, it also causes you to pay higher premiums for a health insurance policy, due to increased health risks and shorter life expectancy. A nonsmoker however, gets premium discounts as a reward to lead a healthy lifestyle. Being a smoker, it is advisable not to hide your smoking habit from your health insurance company, as it helps you to cover the smoking-related health issues.

There is a wide curiosity among people, how smoking impacts the health insurance and its cost. Let’s educate yourself about smoking and its impact on health insurance policy.

Smoking – What It Includes

Smoking includes inhalation of of the smoke of burning tobacco in the form of cigarettes, cigars and beedi. Whether you are an occasional smoker or frequent smoker, you will be considered as a smoker under the health insurance policy.

Smokers can buy health insurance, however an insurance company may charge extra premium or reject your application for insurance, depending on the number of cigarettes you smoke on a regular basis. A smoker may also have to go through additional health check-ups that can help an insurance company to ascertain the risk factor and then charge the premium amount accordingly.

How Smoking Affects Your Health and Insurance Premium

Smoking makes the serious impact on your health, some of them are detailed below.

Circulatory System: Smoking results in increased risk in the heartache and blood pressure. Building up of fatty acids could resulting to atherosclerosis.

Immune System: Smoking results in severe and long lasting illnesses. Smokers are more prone to develop ulcers, cancer, pneumonia, high blood pressure, bronchitis, and other viral/bacterial/fungal infections.

Respiratory System: Smoking may damage lung functions and breathlessness. It may cause damage to the air sacs of the lungs, increased chance of developing chronic bronchitis.

Oral Health: Smoking can lead to tooth loss, tooth staining, gum disease which may increase the risk of tooth decay.

Cancer: Smoking for a long time also causes cancer to various body organs.

When it comes to a health insurance policy, an insurance company considers the magnitude of illnesses and deaths caused due to smoking and that’s why, smokers need to pay higher premiums to avail health insurance cover. Typically, the insurance companies charge around 15 to 20 percent higher from a smoker policyholder. Those who smoke would need to undergo additional medical checks, before the insurer issues you the policy.

Let’s understand the difference of premium between a smoker and non-smoker individual.

Ritesh (non-smoker) at 30 years of age buys an individual health plan with Rs 5 Lacs coverage, for 1 year policy term, the chargeable annual premium amount is Rs 4,656. However, Raj (smoker) is buying an individual health plan, he is charged with an annual premium amount of Rs 7,552. An increase in premium amount is only due to the fact that Ansh lies in the smoker category of premium. We can see Raj is paying Rs 2896 extra on account of smoking.

Smoker with Existing Health Problems

If you are a frequent smoker that has caused the symptoms of the declining health condition and getting puzzled whether you can get a health insurance. The answer is yes, the only thing required is to make honest and proper disclosures.

The insurance company will then assess the risk associated with your profile and then decide on terms & conditions and the premium to be charged for providing you a health cover. The premiums charged will be higher and a waiting period will be applied for covering your pre-existing diseases. Moreover, if you are seeking an immediate coverage on your deteriorating health condition, you may go for a critical illness policy.

Conclusion:

Smoking makes an adverse impact on your health and your health insurance policy as well. An insurance company will charge you a higher premium in proportion to the risk associated in providing a health cover. An important point to note that you should disclose all relevant information regarding your health and smoking habits. In case, you are found hiding or providing fake information, the insurance company may decline in settling the claims.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.