I think most everyone would agree that Abraham Lincoln was most certainly a successful president. He did not reach this office easily. In fact he achieved this life dream because he refused to give up.

But refusing to give up was not the only secret to Abraham Lincoln’s success. He himself clearly defined the secret to his success. Abraham Lincoln was a man who recognized that giving is the secret to success, and his life demonstrated that indeed he was a giver. He knew that in order to receive a harvest, you first much plant the seed.

Planting the seed comes before the harvest.
There can be no harvest, unless a seed was first planted. Every farmer knows that. In fact I am sure that at some time in your life you too have planted a seed, in the ground or in a pot and watched a plant grow.

Today’s affirmation is #157 from the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club that we are following in this series, reminds us of this important key to a life of positive living. (Remember: Positive living is living the life of your definition of success.

Tithing is giving 10% of your income. Tithing is like planting the seed in the ground. You have to return some seed to the ground so that your harvest can continue to come.

Remember, you can only expect a harvest AFTER you have planted a seed.

Today’s Challenge:

• Take some time to make this declaration today:

I am a Generous and Joyful tither

• Take some time to stop and ask yourself: Am I planting the seed needed to produce the harvest that I am expecting in my life?
• If you find you are not planting enough seed, make a decision (and ACT on it) to make that change in your life starting today!

Remember: giving is like planting a seed for the harvest. That is why giving is the secret to your success.

I know that you are a seed planter because:

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.

Photo credits:
Abraham Lincoln on Flickr
Seeds of Rice on Flickr

There is one thing you can be sure of. I guarantee that where fear reigns in your life, so does failure and frustration.

• Fear paralyzes your mind.
• Fear destroys your faith.
• Fear destroys your hope and your vision.

The wisest man who ever lived said: Without a vision the people perish.

Yes, without hope and a vision, you will in many ways (if not literally), lie down and die.

So we have established that the biggest obstacle to your success and achieving your life purpose is fear.

Knowing your enemy is definitely the first step towards conquering your enemy.

You cannot hit a target when you don’t know where it is right? And what is our target? Fear.

Now that you know what your biggest obstacle is you CAN conquer it.

I am sure that you already know that every positive change in your lives starts with a DECISION.

This is why today’s affirmation of the Lifestyle Freedom Club’s 210 Affirmation Challenge that we are following is so important.

Affirmation #156 declares:

Today’s affirmation is a declaration of your DECISION. You are deciding that fear will no longer reign over your life. Be sure to make this declaration out loud with boldness and conviction. Repeat this several times during your day.

Today’s Challenge – Actions Steps To Take: (This will help you to follow through on your decision).

1. Take some time to sit down and reflect on in what ways fear has been hindering your progress. Write these down in your journal.
2. Now read at least 10 pages of the inspirational or motivational book you are reading that the moment. If you are not reading such a book, I highly recommend you start with the book of Proverbs or Psalms in the Bible, Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett, The Everyday Visionary: Focus Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Jesse Du Plantis or Champions Are Born, Losers Are Made by John Di Lemme.
3. Write down some positive actions steps you can make to conquer any fears you have detected in your life (inspired by what you have read).
4. Now here is where the “rubber meets the road”. It is time to take action. You have made a decision to conquer fear, you have detected some areas of fear, you have found some tips to conquer these areas, you have decided on some actions steps – now take the action!!

Fear will not stop me from achieving my Why

I know that this is your decision and your declaration because:

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.

Photo credits:
Fearful Woman on Flickr
Woman on mountain

Your ego is defined as your sense of self esteem or self importance.

Now, here is a conflict to think about (and perhaps this has been tripping you up on your journey towards your success).

We have been taught that it is good and necessary to have a high self esteem. We have been taught that every one around you will only esteem you as highly as you esteem yourself right?

A low self esteem or self image is a negative thing, and a high self esteem or self image is a positive thing – right?

Well, yes and no.

Yes – you need to be confident of who you are (God’s creation and God does all things well) and of your abilities (given to you by God) and skills. You need these to reach you goals and dreams in life.

No – your focus should be on making a difference in the lives of others – not on what YOU need.

Herein lies a major key to your success in life and business –
which is:

Your focus! The question is: What is the dominant object of your focus?

1. Are you focused primarily on your own success and the success of your business (making money)? You are likely to fail.
2. Are you focused primarily on helping people and making a difference in their lives (first and foremost)? You are likely to succeed.

It is that simple.

So when we take a look at today’s affirmation from the 210 Day Affirmation Challenge by John Di Lemme, we not advocating you have to crush your ego, or lose your self esteem. No, the key lies in your motives for what you do.

Are you primarily focusing on pursuing what YOU want in life? This does not mean you have a high self esteem. Rather it means you have a high ego. Your focus tends towards being selfish.

Are you primarily focusing on finding ways to help others get what THEY want in life? Remember what Zig Ziglar is famous for declaring:

You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want

This is the meaning of today’s affirmation:

I am learning to lose my ego every day.

And the reason you WANT to lose your ego every day, and begin to focus more on blessings the lives of others is that this is one of the secret keys to YOUR success.

Really it is not a secret. It could be more aptly described as an overlooked key. But it is a VERY important key.

I am learning to lose my ego every day.

Here is the slide that illustrates today’s affirmation.

Today’s Challenge:

• Dare to take some time to take a real look at the driving motives of your life.
• Ask yourself, am I honestly motivated by desiring to make a difference in the lives of those around me? Or is my main motive all about me?
• My question to you: What are you prepared to do about any wrong motive you may discover in your life?

I believe in you, and I know that:

Further reading:

Why focus on others first

Put others first and you will be blessed also.

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.

A testimonial is defined as being a formal statement testifying to your character or qualifications. The key words in this definition are: statement and testifying.

Now, we know that people usually make statements that testify of something based upon EVIDENCE, right?

So here is a question for you: What would the evidence seen in your life testify of you?

Remember, a testimonial may be a good one (positive), or it may be not so good (negative) – it all depends on the evidence. A person will make a statement based upon the evidence that he or she sees or has seen.

The evidence that testifies of your character and qualifications would be:

• The words you speak.
• The attitudes you show.
• The actions (and reactions) you demonstrate.

These are the three things that someone who was asked to write a statement testifying of your character or qualifications would use as a basis for his or her testimonial about you.

This is because these are the three things that people around you can SEE for themselves. But I am sure that you know that these three things are actually created by hidden areas of your life. Only YOU (and God) know about these hidden areas. 

So what are these secret areas?

• Your thoughts
• Your secret attitudes (yes, your secret attitudes MAY be different from the attitudes you display to the world).
• The decisions that you are constantly making as a result of your thoughts and secret attitudes.

Now here are some sad facts:

• Too many people do not take control of their thoughts, secret attitudes and constant decisions.
• Instead they allow the influences of the world to control these hidden areas of their lives.
• The result is that their lives are controlled by the negative influences of the world. (The default influences of the world are negative).

This is the key difference between a winner and a loser.

A loser allows himself to be tossed around by the influences that surround his life.

A winner takes control of his thoughts, his secret attitudes and his daily decisions. He or she refuses to allow the negative influences that surround him to control his life.

• A winner takes an ACTIVE role in his life.
• A loser takes a PASSIVE role in his life.

A winner DELIBERATELY speaks positive words into his or her own life and the lives of those around him.

A winner recognizes that the default influence of the world is negative.

A winner makes a daily decision to live in the positive realm of life.

He or she does this by:

• Speaking positive words
• Thinking positive thoughts.
• Making positive decisions.
• Determining to maintain a positive attitude no matter what happens.

Affirmation #154 of John Di Lemme’s 210 Day Affirmation Challenge focuses on speaking words of faith.

When you SPEAK words of faith over your life, it will be easier to also THINK words of faith. 

When your thoughts and your spoken words agree, your decisions and your actions will also tend to be decisions and actions of faith. Your testimonial will be positive!

Take some time today to speak the following affirmation into your life:

I am building my Testimonial today

by speaking words of faith over my life.

Now make a deliberate and concentrated effort to make sure that today all of your words will be words of faith. If you can do this for one day, you can do it for two days – right?

Keep going, until you form a habit of speaking words of faith over your life, and notice the difference it makes!

And always remember:

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.

Fear.

Every day, the news is creating alarm in the minds and hearts of millions of people in this world.

If you even dare focus on what is happening around you, your mind will soon be filled with fear and doubts about your own future as well.

Here are some quick headlines which I am sure you will agree could certainly have you trembling with FEAR, IF you stop to meditate on them. .

• Bank of America stocks down.
• Bank of America being sued by AIG. .
• S & P is down 500 points. It is not even sliding, it is plummeting.
• Investors lose one trillion dollars in one day.
• Riots in London.

Now, I am NOT advocating that you and I become like ostriches burying our heads in the sand. No, these are very real situations and are definitely affecting millions of people across the world.

However, if you stop to meditate and FOCUS on these situations, fear could so easily grip your mind and heart. You cannot afford to let this happen, and neither will you allow it to. How do I know that? You are a champion, and champions focus on winning, not on the obstacles that cross their paths.

Yes these situations are real:

• They ARE happening around us.
• They may well have affected you already.
• They are likely to affect us all in some way.

BUT, does this mean that you have to be tossed around by all of the fear that goes with it? NO! For you – champion – it means you need to make a stronger and firmer decision to focus on solutions and on your life passions and dreams. You cannot afford to let go of them.

And you cannot make a positive difference in this world if you allow yourself to be dragged into the negative default that contaminates the world.

This is why today’s affirmation from the 210 Affirmation Challenge set by John Di Lemme of Lifestyle Freedom Club  is so timely:

I am stepping over the fear line into Faith Land today!

This declaration demands of you a definite and determined decision.

Are you going to going to allow the fear that is being stirred up in everyone around you to affect your life and destiny?

OR

Or are you going to make a stronger and firmer decision that you WILL take control of your destiny?

It does not matter what is happening around you, or what others decide. YOU still have the responsibility to decide for your own life

I am stepping over the fear line into Faith Land today!

Is this your decision today? I am sure it is because this is the decision of champions and:

Resource:
Every affirmation in this 210 Day Affirmation Challenge is authored by John Di Lemme, founder of the 210 Day Lifestyle Freedom Club Be sure to check out this challenge and download your free motivational mp3s and mp4 from here as well.