Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.

You may get by in life without a Definite Major Purpose, but you will never get ahead.

from NH email

When the going is hardest, just keep on keeping on, and you’ll get there sooner than someone who finds the going easy.

If you think achieving great heights of success will be easy, you either don’t understand at all how the process works or you have your sights set too low.

Reaching the top of any field is difficult and time-consuming.

he reason it isn’t crowded at the top is that most people won’t do the things that are necessary to achieve success.
They are all too willing to give up when the going gets tough.

If you need inspiration to persevere, read the biographies of men and women who have achieved greatness in their lives. You will find that they prevailed because they refused to quit. They continued to toil alone long after the masses had given up and gone home.

from NH email

The imagination is the workshop of the mind(*), where are shaped all the plans for individual achievement.

Before you can build anything worthwhile, you must first create it in your mind. Your mind is not constrained by physical limitations or boundaries. In the workshop of your mind, you can visualize things that have never been.

You can use the power of your imagination to visualize solutions to difficult problems, to develop new ideas, and to see yourself achieving the goals you have set for yourself.

edited from NH email (*)mind substituted for soul

A negative mind never attracts happiness or material success, but it will attract their opposites.

You may trick yourself into believing that you are only playing devil’s advocate or searching for weaknesses in apparently good ideas, but in the end negative thinking always produces negative results.

Just as your mind will work tirelessly to translate your positive thoughts into their physical equivalent, it will work equally hard to create negative results when all of your thoughts are negative.

"It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task."
-- Viktor Frankl, Austrian Neurologist

Initiative is that exceedingly rare quality that impels a person to do what ought to be done without being told.

It’s a commodity upon which the world places great value. Initiative sets you apart from the competition, whether you are an entrepreneur, a professional services provider, or other.

All those in contact with you, will notice depend upon you, because you are a person who can be counted upon always to do the right thing.

Because of their lack of knowledge they don't know that they are causing themselves to feel bad.

[Other people can't cause us to feel bad, if we are aware of how our feelings (our vibrations) are determined by the thoughts we are holding and we can take control of our thoughts. (*)]

Let us become aware, when we are not feeling good, or when we are not doing the things that give us the results we want, we are emotionally involved with a destructive concept that we have put in our subconscious ourselves.

Lets' consciously and deliberately build a positive idea,
get emotionally involved with a positive idea,
and simultaneously we move into a positive vibration,
everything changes.

Bob Proctor.

[(*) my paraphrase]

A perennial optimist, Amos refuses to acknowledge that obstacles are anything other than stepping-stones to success. In a career that has spanned several decades, he has made it to the pinnacle of success several times, only to lose everything and be forced to start over.

But he’s never lost faith. “You have to have the trust and faith to let go and not agonize,” he says.
“Don’t waste your time worrying. Worry is not preparation. Analyze the situation and focus on solutions. There is always an answer.”

NH email

Defeat is never permanent unless you allow it to be so.

There are many things in life that you cannot control, but you can control your attitude toward them.

When you have a positive attitude, you will recognize failure for the impostor that it is and realize that it is really a learning experience.

This valuable lesson that will help you succeed with the next attempt if you ask yourself:
What could I have done differently that would have altered the outcome? What can I do in the future to minimize problems and mistakes?
What did I learn from this experience that I can put to good use next time?

If you approach obstacles and setbacks with a positive attitude, you will be see you can turn defeat into victory.

adpated from NH email

In trading and in life, we often beat ourselves up over mistakes/bad trades.

This is a normal characteristic of our society perpetually focusing on grading and focused on fault-finding and criticism.

Focusing on the faults only, increases the power of a mistake instead of enhancing the potential positive power of the experience.

Don't beat yourself up - the world will do that for you. Be strong. Find the good and focus on the good and grow that.

As a told a friend once:

"Any lazy fool can look in the gutter and see the dirt.
It is a strong person who lifts their head and looks to the stars."