Your success on your Feel Great Journey will ultimately ride on what you think. No other individual factor will have more impact on your success. One of my favorite sayings is

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Your mind is extremely powerful. I can't emphasize this enough. Everything you do starts with thinking about it. And, just as important, you have control of what you think. Stop and read that last sentence again and let it sink in. Yes, you have control over what you think.

Most of us don't know that. We go through life, reacting to what is going on outside of ourselves. Our minds wander, time goes by and we reach 50 years old and wonder where the time went. Does that sound about right?

Well, now that we know we can control our thoughts, what are we going to do about it? Hey, I have an idea. Let's use this concept to accomplish some goals and help us feel great! ( I bet you knew I was going to say that. )

Here is an example of how one person is radically affecting their own life in a positive way. After watching this, how successful do you think this girl is going to be when she grows up?


If you have already decided that this journey is going to be hard and torturous and that you are not going to be able to do it, that probably will happen. But if you decide you are going to do this, step-by-step, regardless of how you feel or what others around you are saying, then that will probably happen. See how that works?

Now, I will be honest with you, it's not really that easy. It takes practice. It takes work. And there will be times that you fail and have to pick yourself back up again.

But it is doable.

There will be days when you just do not feel like continuing your journey. You may be tired. Maybe you didn't sleep well the night before. Maybe your significant other is droning on and on about how this is futile and it's starting to wear on you. Maybe you haven't been feeling better even though you have stayed on your path. Whatever you may feel, there will be times you will have to make the decision to continue. If you do, you will be glad you did later.

Next, watch this video about Will Smith's philosophy. Regardless of what you think about him, really listen to his philosophy and the way he talks.




Well, what did you think? What if he is right?

Our society is all about instant gratification. This may be the first time in your life that you are thinking about delaying gratification to accomplish something. Good for you! I am proud of you! Once you learn this important concept, new areas of your life will open up. You will be doing things you never thought you could.

Now, let me say something else about this journey. It could be a while before you feel better. You may fall back on old habits from time-to-time. You may decide to take a break from your journey for a few months. All of those are okay. And ultimately, you may decide that you have gone far enough, you feel good enough and just want to stay where you are. That is great! I respect that and I would never ask you to do any more than you want to. Just keep this website bookmarked and come back to it when you want to. No pressure.

Then, there may be times that your newfound habits just start to erode away. You just slide a little bit, have just one small cappuccino or soda and then, before you know it, you feel terrible again. Sometimes we need those times to remind us of how we used to feel. Did you know that you can get used to feeling bad to the point that you don't even really notice it? Then it goes away and you are surprised how good you feel or how well you perform at some task or how you remember something that might not otherwise.

What I'm talking about here is not 'positive thinking.' It's about changing the structure of your thoughts to the point that your brain chemistry changes. Your thoughts are like energy and a fundamental law of physics is that energy always follows the path of least resistance. It's like a riverbed with water flowing in it, lots of water. The water follows the riverbed because that is the easiest path. I'm talking about digging a new riverbed so that the water flows where you want it to flow. Your life is the water and your habits are the riverbed.

Your life follows from your thoughts and you can control your life (within limits, of course) by controlling your thoughts.

There is one other thing I want you to think about. Even though it doesn't seem like it, everyone's lives and actions are interconnected. I have an impact on my students, who then have an impact on their family, who then go on to have an impact on their friends. So, indirectly, I am connected not only to my students, but also to their family and their family's friends and on and on. Have you seen the commercial recently about someone who sees someone else do a good deed and that prompts them to do something good which is observed by someone else and on and on? That may seem simplistic but actually it is very realistic. We just don't realize it most of the time. It's usually not that obvious.

When I teach, I try to teach good study techniques, how to think about the material, not just the material itself and how to be a top-notch student. I also want my students to be better people for having been in my class. Forgive me if I do the same with you. I want you to get more out of this website than just to feel better. I want your life to be better. I want your family's life to be better and their friends lives to be better because you read this website and are applying what I write here.

Okay, okay, I'll stop. I could go on and on. But I'll say it again. No other individual topic will have more impact on your success than what you think.