"You're as successful as you want to be."

Just try and throw this statement out at your next networking function or family gathering and watch the sparks fly. Emotions may flare up, yet it will not discount the validity of this statement.

To prove this point and show you how we may limit ourselves by the choices we make, thereby giving you the freedom to make the choice to succeed in your business and life, I'll give you three, very simple examples.

1. The Three-Letter Word That Can Cost You Millions

One of the ways my clients “go out of bounds” in their coaching calls with me is when they use the word "but." Consistently using this three-letter word will cost you relationships, sales, and moneymaking growth opportunities.

The word “but" shuts down communication, turns off your creativity, and turns you into a victim.

Ask yourself honestly if you've ever been guilty of saying or thinking any of the following limiting beliefs:

But that won't work. But I've always done it this way. But I've tried everything. But I don't have a college education. But I don't want to do that.

Repeating any one of these statements will limit your future success. Stopping the use of this dirty, three-letter word is under your control.

2. The Four-Letter Word For "Victim"

When you use the word "can't," you are training your brain to shut down by focusing on how something won't work — before you ever have the chance to consider the possibilities of how it might work.

Countless business owners have become enormously successful because they saw how something could be done, while everyone else saw all the reasons why it couldn't. (Can you say "FedEx"?)

Expressing the ill-thought-out phrase, “You can't do that in my industry," is merely a poor excuse for poor performance and a cry of victimhood. Make the conscious choice to banish the word "can't" from your vocabulary and watch the growth opportunities begin to appear in your business and life.

Consider this statement issued in 1899 by Charles H. Duell, Director of the U.S. Patent Office: “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

That sure sounds like he was telling business owners that they “can’t” create anything new, because it “can’t” be done in their industry, doesn’t it?

Just think how many people believed that statement, and gave up trying to invent anything more advanced than what already existed. Sure, in hindsight, it’s pretty silly.

Thank God there were entrepreneurial creators who refused to listen to the “experts” and went ahead and created anyway.

Did you know that currently there is such a backlog of inventions waiting for approval in the U.S. Patent Office, that many cures for ailments that people are suffering from are being held up for almost a year? There are so many NEW things ahead of them that need to be reviewed and approved!

Amazing, but true.

3. The Green Giant

The easiest way for you to continue to struggle in your current financial situation is to pass judgment on people who are more financially successful than you.

Judgment is the easy way for people to feel better about themselves and cover up the fact that they're simply green with envy. Rather that asking "how others did it," they'd rather point their finger and condemn others for succeeding.

How do you refer to people who make substantially more money than you? Using such common terms such as, "rich, lucky, out of touch, born into it, or greedy" will subconsciously limit your success because it programs your brain to think something is "wrong" or "abnormal" with making big bucks.

Therefore, you’ll avoid anything creative that has the potential of bringing you to the next level of financial success and prosperity. Your brain won’t come up with the creative idea that could be revolutionary in today’s marketplace.

If you think riches are laid out for just a few lucky people, you won't work towards acquiring riches, because it'll seem like a logistical impossibility. And why work hard for no reward, right?

Our brains don’t work like that. They’re designed to make us right – no matter what — regardless of whether we’re on the ball or off the mark.

For example, this common statement, "He/she is actually pretty friendly and down to earth — for a millionaire," shuts down your motivation to succeed. It implies that the majority of millionaires are mean, greedy, and heartless. After all, who wants to aspire to that kind of negative identity?

When negative thoughts about people who are more successful than you are expressed on a consistent basis, you'll subconsciously move in the opposite direction.

Coaching Corner: What kind of images do you have of people who are outrageously successful? Do you resent them? Or do you take them out to lunch and learn from them?

Remember, financial success isn't just for you. It's for others in your company, community and family. If you're a small-business owner, think about how many more meals you could provide for other families if your business doubled its profits over the next year?

Talk about ending world hunger!

Success encompasses many aspects of our lives. Most people think of money when they hear the word success. But it’s so much more than that. It’s the freedom and pleasure of enjoying each and every day of your life with your family and friends by your side celebrating with you, and contributing to the betterment of the lives of other people.

STOP thinking like the herd and START to focus on the other measurements of success that you can improve upon — personal fulfillment, family life, community outreach, relationships and spiritual contentment.

By improving just 10% in each of these categories over the next six months, how much more successful would you be?

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