There’s actually a statistic that tends to confirm that theory… it’s the fact that most people quit a marathon after they’ve already completed 80% of the course!

Whether it’s a grueling physical event or starting a new online business, the place where it’s easiest to give up is when you can no longer see where you began — or spot a finish line anywhere in the distance.

The biggest battle isn’t necessarily against time, money or bureaucracy — It can be against yourself!  Your attitude can definitely dictate how well you do — and how effective you are — in your daily tasks.

Here are a few things to consider

Are you expecting everything to happen immediately?

This can happen a lot if you watch too many TV commercials.  Everyone gets what they want in thirty seconds on those — but as we all know, life’s just a wee bit different.

Trying to make everything happen immediately just leads to frustration and mistakes.  Take things step by step — and you’ll eventually get to where you want to go.

Do you think nothing will ever work?

You could fill several libraries with books about ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ — but it’s more than just a cliché.  How you approach your online business — or any life challenge for that matter — can mean the difference between failure or success.

When you hit an obstacle, know that it’s temporary.  You’ll get through it if you dedicate your time to finding an answer rather than focusing on the problem.

Are you doing too many things at once?

It’s so easy to become a victim of information and work overload when you first start your online business.

There is so much you feel you need to learn and to do.  More, I suspect,  than you ever expected to have to deal with.  This is where you need to focus, plan, schedule and prioritize.

Concentrate on tasks in their order of importance, and make sure you have enough time to finish them.  Let’s face it — we all have days where we can’t seem to catch up or get anything done.  But if that’s the case every day, then you need to take a good hard look at how you’re doing things.

Do you always have an excuse?

Yes there are those of us who try to do too much, and let’s face it, there are those of us who don’t do enough.  It may be fun to see what we can get away with in a regular job — but just remember, when you’re the boss in your own business,  you’re only cheating yourself!

Always remember… it takes time, dedication and persistence to build a long-term successful business.  Yes, you sometimes need to work like a crazy person, but you also need to take regular breaks from the day-to-day grind.  Going too far in either direction can just lead to failure.

Just pace yourself and you’ll make it all the way to the top!

We usually only realize what our good and bad qualities are when we see how others react to us.

We find out that we’re funny if people laugh at what we say (hopefully when we mean to be humorous).  We find out we’re wise if people seriously consider our words.  We find out we’re caring when people are genuinely thankful for our thoughtfulness and we find out if we’re  cruel when people become angry with us.

Having said that, we also have to realize that others can bring their own baggage to our self-definition.

What that  means is you might be funny – but a person who wants to cut you down to size will keep a stony face firmly in place.

That means you may be wise – but a person who is intent on following his or her own destructive path will disregard your advice.

And that means you could be caring – but a person who is incapable of accepting love and kindness won’t recognize it.

The people in our lives can be the same as a funhouse mirror – reflecting our images back to us in distorted and almost unrecognizable ways.  Hopefully we’re able to identify and dismiss the ones who do this to us – because they will stand out as exceptions to how most folks react to us.

The problem comes when those closest to us in our everyday lives reflect back these negative images of ourselves.  It could be a co-worker, friend or even a close family member – but when you’re regularly and repeatedly fed back negative messages about yourself, whether those messages are true or not, some part of you can’t help but absorb that negativity.

It ends up affecting your enthusiasm for life, your motivation for your ambitions and your energy to get things done.

That’s why I believe it’s crucial to regularly evaluate how you’re being treated by the people you see on a daily basis – and get beyond the ones who are managing to distort your own self-image.

Who defines you?  You should – with the help of those who are genuinely supportive, caring and open enough to see you as you really are.

Every day, there is a progression that is happening in our lives, even if we’re not aware of it. Either a relationship is growing stronger — or it’s growing weaker.  Either a work situation is getting better — or it’s getting worse.

Life is all about cycles and knowing how to deal with them.

Eastern philosophy teaches us to stay in “the center of the wheel”.  Meaning while the wheel of life is spinning, we shouldn’t allow our own personal emotions to spin around with them.  By keeping our equilibrium, we can clearly see the path ahead.

Unfortunately, this is an easy thing to talk about — but not so easy to put into practice.

To stay at the center of the wheel it takes a great deal of inner strength and courage.  It takes throwing off all that negative training from our childhood and adult life.  It takes choosing to focus on the positive things about ourselves and our ability to succeed… and not taking the downward movement of the wheel too seriously.

I’ve had a bumpy ride of late, personally, so I’ve had to work harder than ever to keep in the center of my own wheel.  Thankfully, I’ve also had a huge amount of support from the most important people in my life.

Another big help to me was an incredible course in self-esteem, motivation and personal growth titled  Journey, Life Destiny which was created by my good friend Gary Simpson.

This course has been a real eye opener for me, it not only helped to keep me at the center of the wheel, but also kept me rolling forward to my next exciting chapter.

Thank you, Gary — and to everyone reading this, I hope you can stay strong as your wheel moves forward and your journey continues.

The following poem was introduced to me by my good online friend Gary Simpson, an expert in Motivation and Self-Esteem… amongst many other things!

He includes it in the very first module of his new 12 part Personal Discovery and Self Awareness course -  Journey, Life, Destiny which I personally took and highly recommend you check out.

“The most important person in the whole world, to you, should be you.  Don’t ever forget it.  Let it matter not what anybody else thinks, it’s your opinion which counts when it comes to YOU” ~ Gary Simpson

One and Only You

Every single blade of grass,
And every flake of snow -
Is just a wee bit different…
There’s no two alike, you know.

From something small, like grains of sand,
To each gigantic star
All were made with this in mind
To be just what they are!

How foolish then to imitate -
How useless to pretend!
Since each of us has come from a mind
Whose ideas never end.

There’ll only be just one of me
To show what I can do -
And you should likewise feel very proud
There’s only one of you.

That is where it all starts
With you, a wonderful unlimited human being
~ James T Moore

I’ve had to take a long hard look at my life recently and ask myself that very question.

I’ve always been a person who has had dreams and aspirations.  I love to set goals for myself.  Goals have given me a reason to get up in the morning -  I have always needed something to work towards and look forward to in my life.

Sometimes it’s a short term goal, something well within reach, other times it may be a few years down track before I can possibly reach it… but I always keep it firmly in my sight!

I’ve been taking a good look at my goals and dreams list that I’ve had over the years;   some I’ve reached and others I’ve abandoned along the way as my life  circumstances changed, forcing me to follow another path…  I’m sure that’s happened to many of you as well.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that – occasionally life just throws us in a different direction.  That direction might be an even better one than the one we had originally planned.   When that happens, I really think it’s crucial to create new goals to work towards, new dreams to reach… the important thing is to keep moving forward.

Life is not about finding one path and sticking to it for the rest of your life.  That’s impractical and probably not even good for us.

Use your dreams as a guide, but be prepared to recognize the changes that life sometimes throws at us.

As your life grows and changes,  so do your goals and what your idea of fulfillment is all about.  Go with those changes, accept them… and keep growing!

If we insist on constantly looking back, we can sometimes find ourselves locked in a vicious cycle that simply reminds us of our hurts and disappointments.

On saying that, I believe there’s a huge difference between actually living in the past…  or just glancing back into it in an effort to resolve our past issues,  leaving us able to create a happier, healthier future for ourselves.

Why are we so wrapped up in the past?

It’s a time long gone… in fact, by the time you finish reading this article it will be in the past.  However – it’s not the immediate past that haunts us!

There is a certain lack of clarity when we try to relive past events.

To explain, let’s take an original document or photograph and make a copy of it.  Then take that copy and run it through the machine again.  If we repeat this process over and over we would end up with an image that looks very different to the original one we started with.

The same thing happens with our hurtful memories.

Whenever we dwell on them for too long we find that something has changed, and we may find that we get more hurt or more frustrated.  Nothing has actually changed – it can’t, it’s in the past – but the more we re-examine the event the worse it can appear in our thoughts.

Sadly, if we’re not careful, we can find that our lives are shaped by those events.  By never talking about them they will continue to affect our daily lives… and our future!

Take a look at yourself… is there a recurring theme in your life?

Maybe you are plagued by self-doubt, lack of confidence or perhaps you lack the ability to make commitment in a relationship?  You could find the answer living in your past memories.

Maybe the wounds that you thought were healed are just hiding, covered up somewhere so no-one will see them.

Writing your thoughts down can help you to move beyond these things in your past.  It can be a very effective way to get all of the emotions that are inside of you out into the open and so begin the healing process.

One way to do this is to keep a journal.

In the beginning you could try to write something each day, then only as often as you feel the need.  Put down everything you think and feel – positive and negative – and if past memories pop up, then let the words flow freely, writing down the things that hurt or angered you as well as the things that you fear or make you happy.  Don’t hold back… this is for your eyes only!

Alongside your journal you may also need someone to talk to, someone who can help you get over that final hurdle.  This could be a member of your family,  a trusted friend or even a complete stranger who comes your way.

Dwelling on the past puts a false face on sad times.  Take an honest look at an old situation and see it for what it was.  Deal with the pain of the past once and for all… and start to live for the future!

A box of chocolates has many assorted flavors, there are some that are soft and creamy (my personal favorite), some hard and chewy, and some that are nutty.  We may not like all of the chocolates that are in the box, but we have to accept what we are given.

There are many different words to express how we feel when we don’t get what we want, or when things don’t happen the way we plan.   Some people may say they have failed, while others merely call it a setback, a stumbling block or just an unfortunate detour.

Whichever way you look at it, these are the road bumps of life.  Just imagine how poorly equipped we would be if everything always went smoothly and according to plan – the first time we hit a rough patch and we’d probably be carried off in a strait jacket.

Have you ever seen the hands of a manual worker?  On his palms are thick areas of callused skin from the daily graft.  These calluses have formed because of the hard work he has previously done and so that the next time he goes to work, his hands will be well prepared for the job.

Setbacks can be used to make us function in the same way.

One situation where people can experience setbacks in a BIG way is when first starting an online business… Oh, the stories I could personally tell you!

As the going gets tougher, we are compelled to dig in our heels and work harder – or, are we?

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case – some people think that they have failed and decide to give up. This is a shame as with the correct help they could easily have bounced back.

It’s easy to let setbacks beat us down until we feel we don’t want to try anymore.  It can be hard to make it alone – which is why having someone else along for the ride can help to soften the road bumps and keep us moving in a positive direction.

The buddy system is an excellent way to overcome setbacks – this can be a friend, family member, personal coach or mentor.  Their job is to be a sounding board for you.  When required, they can offer good advice and much needed support to get you back on track.  This person is your counterbalance  when life threatens to tip one way or another.

Learn to use your setbacks as valuable lessons – put them in their proper perspective.  Maybe you lost this race because you didn’t put in enough practice?  This just calls for more practice.  Always learn from your experiences – good and bad – and never be afraid to ask for tips or advice… even from your fellow racers.

Look for the positives in any setbacks you encounter.  Make a list of each setback – with its positives and negatives – in your daily journal.

Giving up does NOT make you feel good!

Don’t waste all those valuable experiences – dust yourself down and get back in that saddle as soon as possible.  This is the key to regaining your confidence and giving you the will to try again.

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break.  I know I did.

What did I do?

Well, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks relaxing with my family, catching up with friends and just taking advantage of the beautiful weather here in sunny Queensland.

And of course I’ve enjoyed lots of very yummy food… now comes the diet!

I’ve lived in this very beautiful part of the world for almost 20 years since moving here from the UK with my husband and two sons, and for the most part I’m very happy, but during the holiday season my thoughts are always with my brothers and their families back in Wales.

This is when it hits home how far away from each other we really are and how much I miss them, even though today’s technology makes it easier than its ever been to stay in touch with what’s happening in each others lives, nothing beats actually being together.

I love this country and I love living here, Australia is now my home and I’ve even got used to spending Christmas in the sunshine… though I do sometimes think it would be nice to look out of the window and see the snow…  well, perhaps for just a couple of days anyway, I’m usually over it by the 26th December and more than happy to take advantage of the great weather for the rest of the holiday break — I hate being cold!

I’ve attached a video that I has sent to me during the break, I don’t know what part of the world it’s from but I really liked it and wanted to share it with you.

We decided to catch up as Andrew and his girlfriend Elysia have decided to leave Sunny Queensland and move to Canada before the end of the year.

As I sat chatting to Andrew I was once again reminded how lucky I am to be able to enjoy this lifestyle, to choose when I work, (or when I don’t) … and how internet marketing has made this all possible.

Now I’m not saying that I only work 4 hours a day, three days a week —far from it — I work hard, really hard and I spend many hours a day in front of my computer.

But… I now have the freedom of choice.

I can decide when I work and am no longer confined to the regulation 9-5 business hours that society expects. I have control over my own success.

I know Andrew certainly makes sure that he enjoys the freedom that successful online internet marketing can provide… he’s enjoyed 9 holidays in the past 12 months! Check out his story here.

I want to wish Andrew and Elysia all the very best for their new life in Canada, and even though I know we will still be in regular contact by email, I’ll look forward to our next coffee when he comes back to pay us a visit here ‘Down Under’.

If somebody had told me a few years ago that I would be blogging, my answer would have been “Blogging?  What’s blogging?… Is it painful?”

Well, here I am… and welcome to my blog.

Back then I ran a traditional mainstream business. But after 10 years, the long hours and day-to-day drudgery of running operations meant that work was consuming my life.  It was “all work and no play” — something had to change.

I watched with interest as other people made money online and thought, that looks easy — surely with my business background I can do that too!

Well, that was easier said than done.  I soon found myself in a whole new world I just didn’t understand, but with hard work, determination and most importantly — professional coaching — I’m finally able to live the dream.

I realize that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the support of personal coaches as I’ve had, and that’s why I take what I’m doing here and on my website very seriously.

I want to help others who are new to internet marketing get started on their journey to online marketing success.  And I’ll be continuing to blog about my own journey and how its helped me get to where I am today.

Hope you keep reading!