“He overcomes a stout enemy who overcomes his own anger.” —Aristotle

As you can guess, being in the martial arts for thirty years I have experienced all types of anger. I have seen it in all its many ugly forms.

Anger is never a pretty thing when you witness it, and most of the time anger does more harm than good. In fact, I have never seen a time that anger made situations better—except under certain conditions that I will speak about later in this article.

My thirty years of personal development and martial arts training has taught me that whoever best controls their temper wins the match—or the situation in which they’re involved. Anger will blind you of what you need to see and numb you to what you need to feel. This makes anger a bad companion to success in any area of your life.

Think about times when you were so mad you did not listen to reason. What was the outcome to those times? I’m sure you will recall…most likely, not so very good! Believe me I have a plethora of them myself!

In any environment you will find that anger makes situations and conditions worse, rather it be in your personal/professional relationships or in simply your personal goals that you set for yourself.  The bottom line: anger clouds your judgments and makes you use your emotions incorrectly.

Personal development will give you the training that you need to control your anger and teach you how to use the saved energy to create something greater in your life.

Something else…through my own martial arts and personal development training, I myself have felt the effects of using the energy it takes to be angry and I used it for something greater in my professional and my personal life. In fact, I have lost out on many great personal relationships and many business relations because of anger issues I had early on in my life.

Anger can also be a warning signal that something is not right and needs to be addressed by you, yourself. Furthermore, you may feel angry because someone continues to abuse you physically or emotionally and that you are not going to take it anymore.

I have seen people make the decision—in a moment of anger—to redirect the energy of their anger into a believable action and change their situation completely.

However, personal development training will teach you to accept this anger and dissolve the anger energy and move on with the creation of your life. This is absolutely the best way to use anger. In fact, in the Martial Art form Aikido they use anger and aggression against you. The energy of anger from the attacker is always redirected—usually back at the attacker because they allowed it to happen. That is why it is also important to master your anger so that people can’t use your anger against you.

So get yourself into a good personal development course and take the training as seriously as you would take anything else of great value, and your anger issues will change and your life will turn for the better because you will have a lot more energy to benefit from.

It is your choice, so make the right decision for you and the loved ones in your life.

“Nothing will replace a well-rested mind and body. They alone are the fountain to happiness and success!” —Brady Cameron

Energy is the ability to go forth and do work. Well, I believe that says it all in a nutshell.

The people that are the happiest and most successful know one fact of life: energy creates the abundance of action!  Nothing else can empower you like a well-rested mind and body.

However, we have been conditioned by family, friends, and all social outlets to cherish and worship the all mighty stimulant. However, stimulants are merely band-aids for the real problem—and that is a lifestyle driven by stress and lack of clarity.

For far too long we have been told that we need coffee to wake-up in the morning—and, of course, maybe a morning cigarette. We have been conditioned through promotions and advertisements that stimulants are the way of life. And, of course, that leads to bigger and better drugs (more stimulants) for us. Why stop if you are a major pharmaceutical company raking in the cash on our need for band-aids.

But this is not another “bash the big corporation article.” Nope…in some ways the big pharmaceutical companies save many life’s every year. (Let me look and make sure there’s not an “Occupy Group” outside my window for making that last comment. Okay, everything looks good. )

The truth is that we need to understand that band-aids are only a short-term patch and that they do not promote the actual healing of the wound—the body does that. So, it makes sense that we need to give the body what it needs to do its job—and then allow it to do so.

The body needs rest and proper nutrition in order to work properly.  However, I do realize that it’s easier to pop a pill or drink something for that quick “pick me up.” But it’s also crucial to recognize that our bodies are capable of providing all the energy we need—as long as we give our own body what it needs.

Clearly, the body needs proper rest and nutrition. But these are foreign words to most Americans. So, if we are to regain our health and regain control of our time and productivity, we must take the time to correct our sleep problems and nutritional needs.

Start with 6 to 8 hours of quality sleep at night. Most of us run on 6 to 8 hours of quality sleep. However, to get that kind of rest, we need to quit the over stimulation of our minds and body about three hours before bed time. Here are some suggestions for better sleep:

1. Write down all pressing matters on a to-do-list for the next day. If needed, write down how you will take care of these issues so that the brain feels organized and can release the issue rather than making you toss and turn thinking about it while trying to get some sleep.

2. No television before going to bed. It’s a distraction and stimulant at the same time. If you really feel calmer by watching television then okay…maybe you’re the exception. After all, there’s bound to be a small segment of the population that truly does relax by watching a little television before bedtime. The key here is: “a little” television.

3. Make sure your room is at the ideal temperature for you to sleep comfortably and undisturbed. Also, make sure that the room is dark and that the house is secured, which is more about “peace of mind” subconsciously.

4. Allow yourself to pre-dream (as I like to call it). This is where you allow yourself to simply drift while controlling what you’re thinking to some degree. It’s like a dream, but you chose and control your thoughts until you fall asleep.

5. Take a warm shower before bedtime in order to help you relax. This technique can put you to sleep by up to 50% faster because of the relaxed state you’re in.

6. Limit your sleeping aids (i.e., sleeping pills, and whatnot) so that your body can start doing its job for you. Soon, you will find yourself sleeping on schedule, and your life will have a lot more energy and action as life becomes far more productive for you.

Oftentimes, the most common excuse for not getting things done—or achieving goals—is that there’s never enough time in the day to do everything. That’s why it’s important for you to know how to pick your battles so that you can focus your most precious resources (namely, your time and energy—and sometimes your money) towards the most productive actions that move you closer to your goals and the life you want.

So, let’s count it out: 24 hours in a day, right? Well, when you think about it…successful people have the same number of hours in their day as unsuccessful people. So what’s the real difference? For starters, successful people have a mentality that defies excuses while unsuccessful people tend to embrace excuses.

Also, successful people strategically plan for their goals, allowing them the affordability of picking their own battles. Ultimately, successful people know how to tremendously advance their goals by executing vital action steps rather than focusing on smaller insignificant actions that don’t really have anything to do with the big picture.

Brian Tracy, in his program The Miracle of Self-Discipline, explains and summarizes two principles that lie at the heart of success, happiness, and self-discipline—or lack, thereof: (1) the path of least resistance, and (2) the expediency factor, which is an extension of the first.

The path of least of resistance, while sounds harmless and inviting, is actually detrimental to personal success and self-discipline because it promotes the fast and easy way of doing things. Rather than doing the tough—and often necessary—steps for achieving real success, many people opt for faster shortcuts, which thereby produces lesser results—and therefore lesser happiness.

The expediency factor (an extension of the path of least resistance) is detrimental to personal success and self-discipline because if promotes neglecting the long-term consequences of one’s behavior while seeking out the fastest, easiest way of getting things done. In other words, doing what’s fun and easy might feel good and expedite some results, but that won’t bring about the real results you need for true success and happiness.

Now, getting back to picking your battles. One of the first and most important elements in successfully achieving your goals is: believability. Whenever you set a goal, it’s important that your goal is believable. In other words, you must feel that you can achieve it—within reason, of course.

For example, if you’ve never made a million dollars once in your lifetime, it’s hard to say that you’re going to do so within the next six months—guaranteed!—just because that’s the goal you want. More than likely, you picking a battle that you’re going to lose!

Making a goal believable helps to get your mind around the action steps you’ll need to organize in order to achieve that success. Self-discipline is crucial at this phase, because more than likely, you’ll be tempted by the path of least resistance and the expediency factor without out it. This is where you have to not only believe that your goal is achievable, but know that you’re willing to do whatever it takes (even the hard stuff) to make it happen.

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” — Calvin Coolidge

I—myself—am not an educated man from the ivory towers of what others feel an education should be. I did not graduate High School or College. (Personally, I have nothing against education, and I believe everyone should have an education and get a degree.)

In fact, I come from a broken home and from broken surroundings that were not conducive for proper education. I had no real role models to look at—at least in the light of positive role models. Everyone told me that I wouldn’t amount to anything and that I’d be broke and dumb my entire life. Of course, for a while, my life went in a different direction than receiving a formal education.

Now, I’m not saying that this is the best way for everyone. (When possible, get an education!) However, if for any reason you don’t graduate or receive a full education, all is not lost for you.

Fortunately, in my particular case, I have a high IQ and the ability to take action on what I want. Therefore, I always knew how to take massive action and figure things out. I always worked hard and I always taught myself what I didn’t know. And through the use of tutors, I learned many subjects, such as English, Math, Science, and so on.

Knowledge is a great thing to have! But when all you have is knowledge and no wisdom, in my point of view, you’re still ignorant.

Knowledge is converted into wisdom by action, because action brings about the experience of how things work in the real world. So, as an example, we maybe have professors that are teaching business in our colleges and universities who might not have ever run a real business from the ground up. So, their learning is all hypothesis and conjecture. This is not reality. They have great book knowledge and little to no real wisdom stemming from experience.

When I was first looking for work as a young adult, I essentially learned a special trade. Initially, I landed a job as a janitor for a health club. Eventually, I worked my way to sales while cleaning the club at night after work. I took care of their pools and other forms of light maintenance. Ultimately, I saw what the top salesmen were doing, and I decided that I could do what they did.

Naturally, sales work was much cleaner and fresher than my janitorial duties. I soon realized, however, that I had a flare for sales and marketing, and I was, therefore, promptly moved into Management. I was the top producer and ended up leading many sales teams to spectacular quotas. While I was still educating myself in school knowledge, I further realized that spelling and basic math skills were vitally important—so I hit those subjects the hardest.

Whenever I realized that I needed something in my life, I educated myself in those areas first and foremost. What was most interesting to me was as the years went by, none of the people I knew who had graduated High School and/or College were more successful or happier than I was. Maybe because the real world showed me what I really needed to know, and therefore, I did not waste time or money on things that I didn’t need right them—but I acquired later on in my life.

Today, I continue to educate myself through courses, CD’s, books, and by talking to more informed people in whatever arena I want to know about. In today’s world, there are tons of ways to educate yourself. You are no longer tied down to only one method of learning.

However, remember, no matter what you do, be sure that you’re educated and that you can apply whatever you’ve learned—and that you and your world are growing because of it. Do not become another educated derelict. We have too many of them today already.

“Life requires an out flow of energy!” —Brady Cameron

We have all seen the situation played out a thousand times: people not happy with life and blaming others for their misfortunes. Sometimes you want to grab these energy-vampires and shake them in order to wake them up. It’s not life that is bad and dull but rather it’s how you apply yourself in life. You are the problem with your life, not life itself.

We all like to blame other people and situations for our greatest unhappiness, but the truth is you are to blame—and at the moment, you need not look any further. It is very hard to accept the blame for your own shortcomings. To a degree, it’s natural (well, more of a tendency) for people to “want to” shift the blame onto others. But when you do, you give up your own personal responsibility—and that may be too much to sacrifice. Once you give up self-responsibility, all other qualities go out the door, as well (like personal efficacy and self-esteem, for example).

Life reveals itself to you in a very funny form of action called: “How much are you willing to claim for your own sense of self-worth?”  You see, people who have little self-worth do not have value for what others do. No respect for yourself means no respect for others, as well. Also, it is worth mentioning that people who are happy and loving life do not sit around crying and pointing the blame at people who are doing and creating things in life.

Life requires that you get busy making things happen. People who believe that sitting around meditating and downsizing everything is supposed to make them more holy or spiritual—and more in tune with the rhythm of life—are missing out on true happiness. These people are high enough on the conscious scale to realize that material things will not make you happy. But guess what does make you happy? The expression of your creative ability!

The creative expression of building something good—and that shows your energy moving in an outwardly direction—demonstrates that you can direct your energy with a laser-like direction and that you can make things happen for yourself and others.

If you really want to get spiritual, learn to make things happen in your own life and learn how to direct that energy to others in order to help make their lives better, too. Now you’re helping people—and not just sitting around trying to get others to do through blame what you could be doing for others through your own creative expression.

Personal development is very important if you’re going to be happy with life and enjoy the life that you’re living. See, we’re only truly happy when we feel in control of our own lives. And while shrinking the life you have to manage might sound good to you in the short term, in the long run you, you will suffer more from the lack of creative expression—and that will be a game stopper for all involved.