Successful People Who Failed At First

Not getting that promotion can feel like the end of the world, but the people on this list show that devastating failures are just another stop on the road to success.

I've put together some of the world's greatest success stories, who just happen to have experienced massive failure that could have easily made them give-up.

But they didn't and now they're the monumental successes that they are remembered for, a good source of encouragement when it feels like you will never make it to the top.

The Beatles were dropped by their record label.

When The Beatles were just starting out, a recording company told them no.
Decca Recording studios, who had recorded 15 songs with the group, said "we don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out. They have no future in show business."

Walt Disney was told a mouse would never work.

Before Walt Disney built the empire he has today, he was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."
In 1921, Walt formed his first animation company in Kansas City, where he made a deal with a distribution company in New York, in which he would ship them his cartoons and get paid six months down the road. He was forced to dissolve his company and at one point could not pay his rent and reportedly survived by eating dog food.

Also, When Walt first tried to get MGM studios to distribute Mickey Mouse in 1927, he was told that the idea would never work because a giant mouse on the screen would terrify women.

J.K. Rowling was on welfare.Before J.K. Rowling had any "Harry Potter" success, the writer was a divorced singled mother on welfare struggling to get by while also attending school and writing a novel.

Luckily, that novel turned into the "Harry Potter" franchise, which has since made Rowling a billionaire as of April 2012.

Oprah Winfrey was told she was "unfit for TV."

At age of 22, the now-TV mogul was fired from her job as a television reporter because she was "unfit for tv."

Winfrey was terminated from her post as co-anchor of the 6 o'clock weekday news on Baltimore's WJZ-TV after the show received low ratings. Winfrey has called it the “first and worst failure of her TV career.”

Winfrey was then demoted to morning TV, where she found her voice and met fellow newbie Gayle King, who would one day become her producer and editor of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Seven years later, Winfrey moved to Chicago, where her self-titled talk show went on to dominate daytime TV for 25 years, and ultimately head her own channel, OWN.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

After being cut from his high school basketball team, a young Michael Jordan went home and cried in the privacy of his bedroom. But Jordan didn't let this early-in-life setback stop him from playing the game and the basketball superstar has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Steve Jobs was removed from the company he started.

Steve Jobs was a college dropout, a fired tech executive and an unsuccessful businessman.

At 30-years-old he was left devastated after being unceremoniously removed from the company he founded.

In a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, Jobs explained, "I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

After his return to Apple, Jobs created several iconic products, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which have changed the face of consumer technology forever. And Jobs became one of the richest men in the world.

Elvis Presley got fired after his first performance.

In 1954, Elvis was still a no-name performer, and Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."

Elvis went on to become the second best-selling artists of all time.

Charlie Chaplin's act was rejected by executives because they thought it was too obscure for people to understand.

But then they took a chance on Chaplin, who went on to become America's first bona fide movie star.

Marilyn Monroe's first contract with Columbia Pictures expired because they told her she wasn't pretty or talented enough to be an actress.

Monroe kept plugging away and is one of the most iconic actresses and sex symbols of all time.

Albert Einstein didn't speak until age four and didn't read until age seven. His teachers labeled him "slow" and "mentally handicapped."

But Einstein just had a different way of thinking. He later won the Nobel prize in physics.

John Lennon: A Bio in Brief

John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool, England on October 9, 1940 during a blitzkrieg attack by the German Luftwaffe. His parents were Julia and Arthur "Freddie" Lennon, and the middle name of "Winston" was given to John in honor of Winsto

n Churchill. Alfred was in the merchant marine and was largely absent from Lennon's early years, although he reappeared after the Beatles had become mega-famous. By 1944, Julia was pregnant with another man's baby, and Julia's sister Mimi threatened to call Social Services unless John was handed over to her care. John lived with his Aunt Mimi and her husband, George Smith, until his late teens. (His childhood home at Mendips on Menlove Avenue, where he lived with his Aunt Mimi, can be seen in the photograph below.) It was George Smith who gave John his first harmonica.

Although John attended the Liverpool College of Art, he was drawn to music at an early age, and, by 1957, he had formed a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. The group underwent several name changes and lost original band members Pete Shotton and Eric Griffiths. With the addition of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, the Beatles were formed, although the band had not yet gelled. Sutcliffe died of a brain tumor in 1962, and Pete Best was later replaced by Richard Starkey, also known as Ringo Starr. The band played clubs in Hamburg as well as The Cavern in Liverpool. They were discovered by Brian Epstein, a record store manager, who succeeded in getting the Beatles an audition with George Martin, a producer at Parlaphone records. Epstein became their manager and cleaned up the group, replacing their black leather jackets with suits.

The Beatles fame is legendary. After conquering Europe and charting songs such as "Please Please Me" and "She Loves You," the Beatles made their first American tour in February of 1964, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show after the group's "I Want to Hold Your Hand" reached number one on American charts. Lennon was so nervous before Sullivan that he taped the lyrics of some songs to the back of his guitar. Beatlemania ensued as the group was chased by screaming teens wherever they performed.

The Beatles filmed A Hard Day's Night and Help! in 1964 and 1965 respectively. Lennon created a mild uproar in 1966, especially in America, after declaring that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, a remark for which he later apologized. The band stopped touring in 1966, stating that they could no longer improve musically since they couldn't hear themselves perform. Their last performance was at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. In 1967, they took to the studio at Abbey Road, where they recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band over a period of several months, producing an album that was far different than anything they had composed thus far.

The Beatles had been introduced to marijuana by Bob Dylan during the early stages of Beatlemania, but Lennon went much farther into drugs in 1966 (the other Beatles would follow), taking thousands of acid trips, beginning with LSD that was dropped into his coffee by George's dentist without John's knowledge. The rest of John's life would be affected by the use of hallucinogenics, marijuana, speed, cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. John's wife, Cynthia Lennon, has attributed the deterioration of her marriage to John's increasing use of drugs rather than his many infidelities while on tour with the band. By most accounts, John rarely saw his son Julian because of the Beatles' frenetic pace during the height of their fame.

A sea change occurred in Lennon's life after he met Yoko Ono at an art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London. The two rapidly became inseparable, and, while Cynthia was on vacation, John and Yoko recorded an album of electronic noises called "Two Virgins" after dropping acid at his home at Kenwood. Although John attempted to sue Cynthia for divorce, Cynthia herself filed suit in 1968 upon learning that Yoko was pregnant with John's child. (The pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage.) John married Yoko in March of 1969 in Gibralter, and the couple's courtship and early history are chronicled in "The Ballad of John and Yoko."

Tensions grew within the Beatles after the death of Brian Epstein in 1967. Yoko began attending most recording sessions, beginning with The White Album, and Paul began to assume a role of leadership within the band, a move resented by the other three Beatles. (George and Ringo both temporarily left the group but returned after coaxing from the others.) The band unofficially dissolved after recording Let It Be, although they reunited to record Abbey Road, their final album. The rooftop concert that is the culmination of the Let It Be sessions took place on top of Saville Row, the home of Apple Corps, Ltd. 

Lennon and Ono moved to New York in 1971 to escape the bitter feelings among band members over the group's break-up and disagreements regarding business dealings within the Beatles' company, Apple Corps, Ltd. Lennon separated from Yoko for eighteen months beginning in the fall of 1973. John lived in Los Angeles during this period, engaging in drunken behavior while partying with Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, and Ringo (among others), a group calling themselves The Hollywood Vampires. John and Yoko reconciled in January of 1975, living at the Dakota on 72nd Street and Central Park West. Sean Taro Ono Lennon was born to the Lennon's on October 9, 1975, John's birthday.

In 1972, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service attempted to have Lennon deported because the Nixon administration felt that Lennon, a strong influence on young voters, was a threat to the president's re-election. The deportation battle, based on an earlier charge of drug possession, continued until 1976, when Lennon's application to remain in the United States as a permanent resident was finally approved. It was later revealed that the FBI had kept a file of several hundred pages on Lennon's political activism. His political activities during these years were many and varied, including his appearance at a rally in Ann Arbor Michigan to free John Sinclair, the leader of the White Panthers. Sinclair had been imprisoned for selling two joints to undercover police. Lennon was also an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, returning his MBE (Member of the British Empire) to the Queen in protest of Great Britain's support of America's military involvement in southeast Asia.

In Lennon's last years from 1977 to 1979, John set aside his solo recording career to assume the duties of a househusband as he took care of Sean at the Dakota. In 1980, John began composing songs again after a storm-tossed trip to Bermuda aboard the schooner Megan Jayne reinvigorated his creative energies. His new songs resulted in the album Double Fantasy. The resurrection of his musical career was short-lived, however. After returning from the recording studio on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed by a fan standing at the carriage entrance to the Dakota Building. He was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital at 11:15 p.m. Lennon's body was cremated two days later. A memorial, Strawberry Fields, was later dedicated to Lennon across the street, in Central Park.

Lennon's Timeline

☮ October 9, 1940: Born in Liverpool to Julia Stanley and Alfred Lennon during a blitzkrieg attack.

☮ 1956: Julia buys John a mail-order guitar. He subsequently forms his first band, the Quarrymen
(sometimeswritten as the Quarry Men).

☮ July 6, 1957: John asks Paul McCartney to join the Quarrymen while playing at a church fair in Liverpool.

☮ 1958: John writes "Hello Little Girl," his first song.

☮ July 1, 1958: George Harrison, a friend of Paul, joins the Quarrymen.

☮ July 15, 1958: John's mother is killed by an auto while crossing the road.

☮ January 1, 1961: The Beatles, with John Lennon as front man, debut at Liverpool's Cavern Club.

☮ November 1, 1961: Record store manager Brian Epstein is introduced to the Beatles.

☮ 1962: Pete Best is replaced as drummer by Richard Starkey, aka Ringo Starr.

☮ August 23, 1962: John marries Cynthia Powell.

☮ February 1963: The Beatles record the Please Please Me album in one day.

☮ April 8, 1963: Julian Lennon is born to John and Cynthia.

☮ February 1964: The Beatles begin their first American tour, playing on The Ed Sullivan Show and at The Coliseum in Washington, D.C. and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

☮ March 23, 1964: John's first book, In His Own Write, is published.

☮ April 1, 1965: John composes "Help!"

☮ June 24, 1965: A Spaniard in the Works, John's second book, is published.

☮ August 1965: The Beatles meet Elvis Presley.

☮ August 15, 1965: The Beatles play to a crowd of over 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City.

☮ March 1, 1966: John states that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus, setting off a backlash  against the group and spurring the public burning of Beatles albums.

☮ August 29, 1966: The Beatles give their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

☮ 1966: John films How I Won the War, directed by Richard Lester, director of A Hard Day's Night. He writes "Strawberry Fields" during the filming.

☮ November 9, 1966: John meets Yoko Ono at a preview of her art show, Exhibition #2, at London's Indica Gallery.

☮ June 1, 1967: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released in Great Britain.
☮ September 1, 1967: John composes "I Am the Walrus." He is using LSD regularly at this time in his life.

☮ May 1, 1968: Apple Corps, Ltd. begins business as the Beatles attempt to control their own artistic pursuits and offer relative unknowns the chance to submit artistic projects of any kind.
☮ May 1968: John and Yoko record experimental sounds all night after dropping acid.

☮ 1968: John moves out of his home in Weybridge and moves into Ringo's apartment in Montague Square with Yoko Ono.

☮ October 18, 1968: John and Yoko are arrested for possession of marijuana.

☮ November 8, 1968: John and Cynthia are divorced.

☮ November 11, 1968: The experimental tapes of various sound effects made in May of 1968 is released as an album titled Two Virgins, the cover of which shows John and Yoko posing nude. The album is released in a brown paper wrap.
☮ March 20, 1969: John and Yoko are married on Gibraltar.

☮ March 25-31, 1969: John and Yoko stage a "bed-in" for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton to celebrate their marriage.

☮ May 26-June 2, 1969: "Give Peace a Chance" is recorded at a bed-in in Montreal. 

☮ September 1, 1969: John returns his MBE in protest of Britain's support of the Vietnam War.

☮ December 26, 1970: John debuts his first album, Plastic Ono Band.

☮ July 1, 1971: John records "Imagine" at his home studio at Tittenhurst Park.

☮ February 4, 1972: Senator Strom Thurmond tells Attorney General John Mitchell that John should be deported because he consorts with known radicals such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman.

☮ March 1972: John begins a four-year fight against deportation.

☮ April 1973: John and Yoko buy an apartment in the Dakota Building on Central Park West and W. 72nd St.

☮ October 1973: John leaves for Los Angeles, beginning his eighteen-month separation from Yoko.

☮ November 28, 1974: John makes his final concert appearance at Madison Square Garden with Elton John.

☮ January 1975: John and Yoko are reunited.

☮ October 5, 1975: U.S. Court of Appeals overturns John's deportation order.

☮ October 9, 1975: Sean Ono Taro Lennon is born in New York City.

☮ July 26, 1976: John's application to remain in the United States as a permanent resident is approved.

☮ 1977-1979: John assumes domestic chores as he takes care of Sean at the Dakota.

☮ June 1980: John sails to Bermuda and is inspired to begin composing again.

☮ November 17, 1980: Double Fantasy is released.

☮ December 8, 1980: John Lennon is assassinated outside the Dakota.

☮ January 1994: John is inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

~ John Lennon ~

A Brief History of Tattoos

The tattooed right hand of a Chiribaya mummy is displayed at El Algarrobal Museum, near the port of Ilo in southern Peru. The Chiribaya were farmers who lived from A.D. 900 to 1350.

Mankind has always tried to enhance their looks, jewelry  clothes and other accessories have been present since the dawn of intelligent thought. One of the oldest ways of decorating oneself known to human kind is the tattoo.

The word tattoo is said to have two major derivations- from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something.’ Tattoos are created by inserting pigment beneath the skin. In some of the tribal cultures, the tattooing technique was known to be very painful and harsh. The tattoo was created by cutting designs into the skin, usually with Bamboo, and then rubbing ink or ashes into the wound. Some cultures still continue this practice.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of Bamboo Tattoo Art as the practice is so old the history is almost lost, being tied up with myth and legend. Many countries in South East Asia lay claim to be the birthplace of this ancient art form. However, it is generally believed to have originated in the Khmer period around 3000 years ago.

In Thailand, bamboo tattooing began in the Buddhist temples, with monks receiving religious text tattoos from grand master monks for protection. Throughout periods of conflict in Thailand, soldiers would visit temples to be tattooed by the monks with spells for such things as protection, strength or invisibility.

The earliest evidence of tattoos was for a long time Egyptian, and present on many female mummies dated to 2000 B.C. But following the more recent discovery of the Iceman from the Italian-Austrian border in 1991 and his tattoo patterns, this date has been pushed back a further thousand years when he was carbon-dated at around 5,200 years old. The distribution of the tattooed dots and small crosses on his lower spine, right knee and ankle joints correspond to areas of strain-induced decay, with the suggestion that they may have been applied to alleviate joint pain and were therapeutic. This would also explain their somewhat random placement in areas of the body which would not have been that easy to display.

In Japan, the tattoo technique is primarily hand based. The traditional Japanese tattoos are still hand pushed. The pigment is inserted under the skin using a non-electrical, handmade and hand held device with needles either made of bamboo or steel.

In Pacific cultures tattooing has a huge historic significance. Polynesian tattooing is considered the most intricate and skillful tattooing of the ancient world. Polynesian people believe that a person’s spiritual power, is displayed through their tattoos.

In Samoa, the tradition of applying tattoo by hand has been defined by rank and title, with chiefs and their assistants, descending from notable families in the proper birth order. The tattooing ceremonies for young chiefs, typically conducted when they hit puberty, were elaborate affairs and were a key part of their attendance to a leadership role.

The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians and the Romans adopted it from the Greeks. Roman writers reported that many criminals and slaves were tattooed as a way of identification. Greeks and Romans also used tattooing as a punishment. Early in the fourth century, when Constantine became Roman emperor and abolished the prohibition on Christianity, he also banned tattooing on face, which was common for convicts, soldiers, and gladiators.

Tattoos have changed throughout the years, especially in the United States and have become more widespread in its popularity. A tattoo gun is now the most common way to get tattooed in the modern world. The basic machine was invented by Thomas Edison and patented in the United States in 1876 called Stencil Pens. It was originally invented to be used for engraving, but in 1891 Samuel O’Reilly realized that it could be modified and used to put in inside the skin. He later introduced and patented the tube and needle system. Most modern tattoo machines can control needle depth, speed, and force, which has allowed tattooing to become a very precise art form.

The majority of what we know today about this ancient art has been passed down through legends, songs, and ritual ceremonies. Luckily though, these stories exist to document the history of tattoos.

Today, tattoos are worn by people from all walks of life.

Emotional Intelligence - Developing Strong " People Skills "

We probably all know people, either at work or in our personal lives, who are really good listeners. No matter what kind of situation we're in, they always seem to know just what to say – and how to say it – so that we're not offended or upset. They're caring and considerate, and even if we don't find a solution to our problem, we usually leave feeling more hopeful and optimistic.

We probably also know people who are masters at managing their emotions. They don't get angry in stressful situations. Instead, they have the ability to look at a problem and calmly find a solution. They're excellent decision makers, and they know when to trust their intuition. Regardless of their strengths, however, they're usually willing to look at themselves honestly. They take criticism well, and they know when to use it to improve their performance.

People like this have a high degree of emotional intelligence, or EI. They know themselves very well, and they're also able to sense the emotional needs of others.

Would you like to be more like this?

As more and more people accept that emotional intelligence is just as important to professional success as technical ability, organizations are increasingly using EI when they hire and promote.

For example, one large cosmetics company recently revised their hiring process for salespeople to choose candidates based on emotional intelligence. The result? Salespeople hired with the new system have sold, on average, $91,000 more than salespeople selected under the old system. There has also been significantly lower staff turnover among the group chosen for their emotional intelligence.

So, what exactly is emotional intelligence, and what can you do to improve yours?

What is Emotional Intelligence?

We all have different personalities, different wants and needs, and different ways of showing our emotions. Navigating through this all takes tact and cleverness – especially if we hope to succeed in life. This is where emotional intelligence becomes important.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your emotions, understand what they're telling you, and realize how your emotions affect people around you. Emotional intelligence also involves your perception of others: when you understand how they feel, this allows you to manage relationships more effectively.

People with high emotional intelligence are usually successful in most things they do. Why? Because they're the ones that others want on their team. When people with high EI send an email, it gets answered. When they need help, they get it. Because they make others feel good, they go through life much more easily than people who are easily angered or upset.

Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist, developed a framework of five elements that define emotional intelligence:

Self-Awareness – People with high emotional intelligence are usually very self-aware. They understand their emotions, and because of this, they don't let their feelings rule them. They're confident – because they trust their intuition and don't let their emotions get out of control.

They're also willing to take an honest look at themselves. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and they work on these areas so they can perform better. Many people believe that this self-awareness is the most important part of emotional intelligence

Self-Regulation – This is the ability to control emotions and impulses. People who self-regulate typically don't allow themselves to become too angry or jealous, and they don't make impulsive, careless decisions. They think before they act. Characteristics of self-regulation are thoughtfulness, comfort with change, integrity, and the ability to say no.

Motivation – People with a high degree of emotional intelligence are usually motivated. They're willing to defer immediate results for long-term success. They're highly productive, love a challenge, and are very effective in whatever they do.

Empathy – This is perhaps the second-most important element of emotional intelligence. Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand the wants, needs, and viewpoints of those around you. People with empathy are good at recognizing the feelings of others, even when those feelings may not be obvious. As a result, empathetic people are usually excellent at managing relationships, listening, and relating to others. They avoid stereotyping and judging too quickly, and they live their lives in a very open, honest way.

Social Skills – It's usually easy to talk to and like people with good social skills, another sign of high emotional intelligence. Those with strong social skills are typically team players. Rather than focus on their own success first, they help others develop and shine. They can manage disputes, are excellent communicators, and are masters at building and maintaining relationships.

As you've probably determined, emotional intelligence can be a key to success in your life – especially in your career. The ability to manage people and relationships is very important in all leaders, so developing and using your emotional intelligence can be a good way to show others the leader inside of you.

How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

The good news is that emotional intelligence CAN be taught and developed. Many books and tests are available to help you determine your current EI, and identify where you may need to do some work. You can also use these tips:

Observe how you react to people. Do you rush to judgment before you know all of the facts? Do you stereotype? Look honestly at how you think and interact with other people. Try to put yourself in their place, and be more open and accepting of their perspectives and needs.
Look at your work environment. Do you seek attention for your accomplishments? Humility can be a wonderful quality, and it doesn't mean that you're shy or lack self-confidence. When you practice humility, you say that you know what you did, and you can be quietly confident about it. Give others a chance to shine – put the focus on them, and don't worry too much about getting praise for yourself.
Do a self-evaluation. What are your weaknesses? Are you willing to accept that you're not perfect and that you could work on some areas to make yourself a better person? Have the courage to look at yourself honestly – it can change your life.

Examine how you react to stressful situations. Do you become upset every time there's a delay or something doesn't happen the way you want? Do you blame others or become angry at them, even when it's not their fault? The ability to stay calm and in control in difficult situations is highly valued – in the business world and outside it. Keep your emotions under control when things go wrong.

Take responsibility for your actions. If you hurt someone's feelings, apologize directly – don't ignore what you did or avoid the person. People are usually more willing to forgive and forget if you make an honest attempt to make things right.

Examine how your actions will affect others – before you take those actions. If your decision will impact others, put yourself in their place. How will they feel if you do this? Would you want that experience? If you must take the action, how can you help others deal with the effects?

Does The Law of Attraction Work?

When people start applying the law of attraction to their lives, one of the things they struggle with is waiting for those desires to manifest in their lives. They've clarified their goals. They can visualize them. They may even be taking steps to move towards those goals – yet they haven’t manifested the money or quality of life they wanted. Does the law of attraction really work? And if so, what are they doing wrong?

Personally, I don’t believe that the law of attraction is magical or supernatural. To me, it’s just another perspective on setting and achieving goals. So, if you aren't getting the results in your life, don’t give up!

Seek Out Opportunities

Of course, that doesn't mean with a snap of your fingers, a million dollars will fall into your lap. You can’t manifest money that way. But you can look for ways to provide more value and get paid for the value you provide.

Think about it – most people would rather complain about how unfairly they are being treated at work, how they got passed over for a promotion, how they deserve to make more money, than to actually do something about it. They’d rather wish things were different than take action.

It may very well be that you can’t make any more money at your job. Rather than trying to get blood from a stone, you can change your mindset. Stop complaining about your job, and take action to change your lifestyle, such as finding a better job, starting a part-time business, or gaining the skills that would net them a higher salary.

Understand Your Motivations and Desires

This is where so many people become stuck with the law of attraction. They want things to manifest exactly according to their wishes. But often, we have motivations that lie beneath those wishes – and those motivations inspire our true desires. Does it really matter how we get more money if the end result is thousands of dollars more? (Within reason, of course – I’m not advocating illegal activity here!)

It’s not that there is a “right” formula to manifest your desires. Rather, it’s about taking action steps towards your goals, overcoming obstacles, and being persistent. The secret to knowing if you are on the right path or not is to analyze your emotions – manifesting should feel joyous rather than frustrating. It should feel like this is the next step in your life. And you should feel passionate and energized when you think of your new lifestyle and the abundance you will bring.

If where you are currently seems like a chore or a shot in the dark, perhaps you aren’t yet on the right path. Explore your desires further and really become clear about what you want and why you want it. When you understand the “why,” that will motivate you to take action.

Hookah

A hookah (hukkā or huqqah) also known as a waterpipe, narghile, or Qalyān (Persian: قلیان‎), is a single or multi-stemmed instrument forsmoking flavored tobacco called Mu‘assel (also known as Shisha شیشه) in which the smoke is passed through a water basin (often glass based) before inhalation. The origin of the hookah is India, Pakistan and Persia, or at a transition point between the two. The word hookah is a derivative of "huqqa", which is what the Indians used to call it. According to author Cyril Elgood (pp. 41, 110), who does not mention his source, it was Abul-Fath Gilani (d. 1588), a Persian physician at the Indian court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who “first passed the smoke of tobacco through a small bowl of water to purify and cool the smoke and thus invented the hubble-bubble or hookah.” Nevertheless, a quatrain of Ahli Shirazi (d. 1535) refers to the use of the ḡalyān in Safavid Iran. (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15). Smoking the hookah has gained popularity outside of its native region, in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, and is gaining popularity in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Names and etymology

Nargile (but sometimes pronounced Argileh or Argilee) is the name most commonly used in Turkey, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, and Israel. Nargile derives from the Persianegypt word nārghile, meaning coconut, which in turn is from the Sanskrit wordnārikela (नारिकेला), suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells.
In Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina the hookah is called "lula" or "lulava" in Romani, meaning "pipe"; the word "shishe" refers to the actual bottle piece.

In Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, na[r]gile (на[р]гиле; from Turkish nargile) is used to refer to the pipe. Šiša (шиша) usually refers to the tobacco that is smoked in it. The pipes there often have one or two mouth pieces. The flavored tobacco, created by marinating cuts of tobacco in a multitude of flavored molasses, is placed above the water and covered by pierced foil with hot coals placed on top, and the smoke is drawn through cold water to cool and filter it.

"Narguile", is the common word in Spain used to refer to the pipe, although "cachimba" is also used, along with "shisha" by Moroccan immigrants in Spain.

Shisha (شيشة), from the Persian word shīshe (شیشه), meaning glass, is the common term for the hookah in Egypt, Sudan and the Arab countries of thePersian Gulf (including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, UAE, and Saudi Arabia), and in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia and Yemen.

In Iran/Persia, hookah is called "ḡalyān" (Farsi:قلیان). Persian qalyan is included in the earliest European compendium on tobacco, the tobacolgia written by Johan Neander and published in Dutch in 1622. It seems that over time water pipes acquired an Iranian connotation as in eighteenth-century Egypt the most fashionable pipes were called Karim Khan after the Iranian ruler of the day. This is also the name used in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

In Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, a hookah is called chillim.

In India and Pakistan the name most similar to the English hookah is used: huqqa (हुक़्क़ा /حقّہ)

In Maldives, hookah is called "Gudugudaa".

The hookah pipe is also known as the "Marra pipe" in the UK, especially in the North East, where it is used for recreational purposes.

The widespread use of the Indian word "hookah" in the English language is a result of the British Raj, the British dominion of India (1858–1947), when large numbers of expatriate Britons first sampled the water pipe. William Hickey, shortly after arriving in Kolkata, India, in 1775, wrote in his Memoirs:

The most highly-dressed and splendid hookah was prepared for me. I tried it, but did not like it. As after several trials I still found it disagreeable, I with much gravity requested to know whether it was indispensably necessary that I should become a smoker, which was answered with equal gravity, "Undoubtedly it is, for you might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion. Here everybody uses a hookah, and it is impossible to get on without ...[I] have frequently heard men declare they would much rather be deprived of their dinner than their hookah.

Culture

Initial traces of hookah smoking have been found in the North Western provinces of India in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. In North India, it is a great tradition followed by Gurjars, Jats, Bishnois, Rajputs, etc. According to Cyril Elgood (PP.41, 110) it was in India where the physician Hakim Abu’l-Fath Gilani (d. 1588), at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I (1542 - 1605 AD) invented the idea.Following the European introduction of tobacco to Persia and India, Hakim Abu’l-Fath Gilani, who came from Gilan, a province in the north of Iran, migrated to India. He later became a physician in the Mughal court and raised health concerns after smoking tobacco became popular among Indian noblemen. He subsequently envisaged a system which allowed smoke to be passed through water in order to be 'purified'. Gilani introduced the ḡalyān after Asad Beg, the ambassador of Bijapur, encouraged Akbar I to take up smoking.Following popularity among noblemen, this new device for smoking soon became a status symbol for the Indian aristocracy and gentry. However, a quatrain of Ahlī Shirazi (d. 1535), a Persian poet, refers to the use of the ḡalyān (Falsafī, II, p. 277; Semsār, 1963, p. 15), thus dating its use at least as early as the time of the Shah Ṭahmāsp I. It seems, therefore, that Abu’l-Fath Gilani should be credited with the introduction of the ḡalyān, already in use in Persia, into India.

Ways to Build and Improve Your Self-Confidence

One of the main issues that has held me back from achieving my goals in the past has been an underlying fear of failure stemming from lack of self-confidence. I’ve always been an idea generator, and often had no problems starting projects, but when I got about half way through, I lost momentum.

Rather than persevering and finishing things, I tended to direct my attention elsewhere and started something new, leaving me with numerous unfinished projects and little to show for my efforts. It was my own form of self-sabotage – I always felt like I was spinning my wheels but never getting anywhere.

One of my main goals for this year was to focus on improving my self confidence, and it’s made a huge difference in where I am now compared with even six months ago.

Here are some of the ways to built up self-confidence.

Make the decision to change – The first step to building self-confidence is to decide you will change. This probably sounds obvious but with me, I hit a point where I know I’m not happy with where I am and make a decision that it’s unacceptable to continue with my current course of action. Once I’ve made that decision, I tend to stick with it.

Take care of yourself - It’s amazing how just grooming yourself, getting a makeover or a nice haircut will do for your self-esteem. You’ll look and feel better. I almost always start my change process with some type of change in appearance. 

Stop comparing yourself to others – It’s really easy to look at what others have and wish you lived where they do, drove a more expensive car, had cooler gadgets, a larger bank account, and so on. Yet this kind of envious thinking only makes you feel worse about yourself, and worse, inspires you to live above your means. Most of us aren't immune to wanting more – hence the current economic crisis – but I've learned that having cool stuff doesn’t necessarily make people happier. Happiness comes from within, not from all the stuff you collect.

Be grateful for what you have – If you have enough to eat, a roof over your head, and supportive friends and family members, you've got plenty to be grateful for. How often do we take things for granted rather than appreciate what we have?

Be positive – It’s easy to fall into a cycle of sarcasm and complaining, but much more fulfilling if you take a positive attitude towards life. Look for what’s right rather than what’s wrong. That isn't to say ignore the bad stuff, but instead of complaining and feeling helpless, look for things within your control.

Be true to your principles – Self-confidence and authenticity go hand-in-hand. Knowing who you are and what you stand for – and then acting in accordance with those principles – builds a sense of self-respect.

Accept compliments – Whenever someone says something nice to you, respond with a simple “thank you.” Don’t put yourself down, mentioning “it’s nothing special” or “it wasn't a big deal” or that really you thought you “don’t deserve it.” By accepting compliments, you honor the opinions of others and show you appreciate their kindness.

Make eye contact – Eye contact is incredibly powerful. When you don’t make eye contact, it can indicate that you’re shy, bored with the conversation, or perhaps that you’re hiding something. When you focus on making eye contact, it requires you to pay attention to other people rather than zoning off into your own world.

Speak slowly and listen in conversations – Self-confident people slow down their speech patterns and take the time to listen to others in verbal communications. 

Focus on your strengths but know your weaknesses – In the book Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham describes how it’s better to focus on your strengths than improve your weaknesses. Yes, you should know what your weaknesses are, but you’ll be happier doing the things you love and are good at rather than struggling to improve your weaknesses all the time.

Build competence – By focusing on your strengths and building competence in the areas that align with your talents and skills, you’ll automatically improve your self-confidence.

Set and achieve small goals – While setting big goals is great, often those big goals can become frustrating and overwhelming. Look for little things you can do – like that to-do list item you've been putting off, or start small, changing one habit for the next 30 days and stick with it. Self-confidence improves with each success.

Do your most important thing for the day first – In Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, he encourages you to figure out what your most important task for the day should be and then to do it before you do anything else. That way, you start your day off with a win and will feel incredibly productive; even if that’s the only thing you get done that day.

Find ways to motivate yourself – When you are facing a challenging task, or even something you don’t want to do, finding motivation to get it done can be difficult. Everyone has different ways to motivate themselves. Some people like to reward themselves after success while others need some type of deadline or commitment to push forward. Listening to motivational speakers can also give you a pick-me-up for daily motivation.

Live in the present moment – It’s so easy to get caught up in what we should have done last week or what we must do tomorrow, that we let today pass us by. Living in the present moment means being completely immersed and experiencing whatever you are doing right now.

Meditate – Just sitting, focusing on your breath, and becoming aware of your thoughts is a big step towards living in the present moment. When you meditate, you become aware of the constant self-talk, much of it negative, that streams through your head on a daily basis. Once you become aware of your own constant chatter, you can take steps to quiet your thoughts and experience the world without your ongoing commentary.

Acknowledge daily successes – I've been journaling my daily successes each night, as it’s easy to forget about them when you still have so much work to do on your goals. Success builds self-confidence, so it helps when can see that each day, you’re making progress and achieving small goals.

Overcoming Perfectionism

Perfectionism can be debilitating. It keeps us in a state of high anxiety, worrying over how we’ll never live up to someone else’s expectations (or even our own), that we’ll be found out to be a fraud, or that we’ll never recover if we make a mistake.

Perfectionism prevents us from getting things done – and enjoying ourselves as we complete our tasks. Here are my top five ways to break the cycle of worrying and start enjoying life.

• Set realistic expectations – Have you ever started a project only to realize a little while into it that you've bitten off more than you could chew? Before starting your next project, ask yourself whether your goal or expectation is reasonable. Could someone else in your shoes hope to accomplish it? If not, break it down into something more manageable. You can always increase the scope of the project later when you have more time and resources to devote. For now, focus on the next mission critical step and devote your attention solely to this phase until it’s completed. Then, you can tackle phase 2.

• Give yourself credit for what you have accomplished – When you set goals, it’s easy to focus on the fact that you have not yet achieved them. Instead, focus on all the mini-accomplishments and milestones you have accomplished on your path to achieving your goals. Success is a journey, not a destination.

• Accept that mistakes are part of the journey – No matter what you set out to achieve, you’ll find that there were always things you could have done better. Instead of dwelling on could-have-beens and should-have-beens, learn from them and move on. Mistakes are opportunities for personal growth.

• If you’re stuck, seek help – No one but you expects you to know all the answers. The best athletes have coaches and the best business minds have mastermind groups precisely for this reason. Sometimes you’re too close to the problem and need an outsider’s perspective to help you take a step back.

• Focus on the present – Too often, we spend our time worrying about past things we can’t change or future things that will never happen. Instead, focus on the present moment. How can you make what you need to do enjoyable now? What would make you feel good in this moment? Perhaps it’s visualizing how you’ll feel when the project is done or knowing how your work will have helped someone else.

As a friend of mine likes to say, “Good is great but done is better.” The trick is to get out of your head and take action towards completing your task or goal. Action leads to feedback and new perspectives. And you’ll often find that it wasn’t as bad as you thought and that 99% of what you worried might happen didn't.

Dedicated to i -Yash!

The Strangest Secret

Some years ago, the late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer was asked by a reporter, "Doctor, what's wrong with men today?" The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, "Men simply don't think!"

It's about this that I want to talk with you. We live today in a golden age. This is an era that humanity has looked forward to, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years. We live in the richest era that ever existed on the face of the earth ... a land of abundant opportunity for everyone.

However, if you take 100 individuals who start even at the age of 25, do you have any idea what will happen to those men and women by the time they're 65? These 100 people believe they're going to be successful. They are eager toward life, there is a certain sparkle in their eye, an erectness to their carriage, and life seems like a pretty interesting adventure to them.

But by the time they're 65, only one will be rich, four will be financially independent, five will still be working, and 54 will be broke — depending on others for life's necessities.

Only five out of 100 make the grade! Why do so many fail? What has happened to the sparkle that was there when they were 25? What has become of the dreams, the hopes, the plans ... and why is there such a large disparity between what these people intended to do and what they actually accomplished?

THE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

First, we have to define success and here is the best definition I've ever been able to find: "Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal."

A success is the school teacher who is teaching because that's what he or she wants to do. A success is the entrepreneur who start his own company because that was his dream — that's what he wanted to do. A success is the salesperson who wants to become the best salesperson in his or her company and sets forth on the pursuit of that goal.

A success is anyone who is realizing a worthy predetermined ideal, because that's what he or she decided to do ... deliberately. But only one out of 20 does that! The rest are "failures."

Rollo May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrote a wonderful book called Man's Search for Himself, and in this book he says: "The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice ... it is conformity." And there you have the reason for so many failures. Conformity — people acting like everyone else, without knowing why or where they are going.

We learn to read by the time we're seven. We learn to make a living by the time we're 30. Often by that time we're not only making a living, we're supporting a family. And yet by the time we're 65, we haven't learned how to become financially independent in the richest land that has ever been known. Why? We conform! Most of us are acting like the wrong percentage group — the 95 who don't succeed.

GOALS

Have you ever wondered why so many people work so hard and honestly without ever achieving anything in particular, and why others don't seem to work hard, yet seem to get everything? They seem to have the "magic touch." You've heard people say, "Everything he touches turns to gold." Have you ever noticed that a person who becomes successful tends to continue to become more successful? And, on the other hand, have you noticed how someone who's a failure tends to continue to fail?

The difference is goals. People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. It's that simple. Failures, on the other hand, believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances ... by things that happen to them ... by exterior forces.

Think of a ship with the complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where the ship is going and how long it will take — it has a definite goal. And 9,999 times out of 10,000, it will get there.

Now let's take another ship — just like the first — only let's not put a crew on it, or a captain at the helm. Let's give it no aiming point, no goal, and no destination. We just start the engines and let it go. I think you'll agree that if it gets out of the harbor at all, it will either sink or wind up on some deserted beach — a derelict. It can't go anyplace because it has no destination and no guidance.

It's the same with a human being. However, the human race is fixed, not to prevent the strong from winning, but to prevent the weak from losing. Society today can be likened to a convoy in time of war. The entire society is slowed down to protect its weakest link, just as the naval convoy has to go at the speed that will permit its slowest vessel to remain in formation.

That's why it's so easy to make a living today. It takes no particular brains or talent to make a living and support a family today. We have a plateau of so-called "security." So, to succeed, all we must do is decide how high above this plateau we want to aim.

Throughout history, the great wise men and teachers, philosophers, and prophets have disagreed with one another on many different things. It is only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement — the key to success and the key to failure is this:

WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT

This is The Strangest Secret! Now, why do I say it's strange, and why do I call it a secret? Actually, it isn't a secret at all. It was first promulgated by some of the earliest wise men, and it appears again and again throughout the Bible. But very few people have learned it or understand it. That's why it's strange, and why for some equally strange reason it virtually remains a secret.

Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, said: "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it."

Disraeli said this: "Everything comes if a man will only wait ... a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment."

William James said: "We need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question were real, and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion that our interests in it will be those which characterize belief." He continues, " ... only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly."

My old friend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale put it this way: "If you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results." George Bernard Shaw said: "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."

Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? We become what we think about. A person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that's what he's thinking about. Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear, and worry will thereby create a life of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing ... he becomes nothing.

AS YE SOW — SO SHALL YE REAP

The human mind is much like a farmer's land. The land gives the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care what is planted. It's up to the farmer to make the decision. The mind, like the land, will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant. If the farmer plants too seeds — one a seed of corn, the other nightshade, a deadly poison, waters and takes care of the land, what will happen?

Remember, the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants — one corn, one poison as it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant ... success ... or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal ... or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant it must return to us.

The problem is that our mind comes as standard equipment at birth. It's free. And things that are given to us for nothing, we place little value on. Things that we pay money for, we value.

The paradox is that exactly the reverse is true. Everything that's really worthwhile in life came to us free — our minds, our souls, our bodies, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our intelligence, our love of family and children and friends and country. All these priceless possessions are free.

But the things that cost us money are actually very cheap and can be replaced at any time. A good man can be completely wiped out and make another fortune. He can do that several times. Even if our home burns down, we can rebuild it. But the things we got for nothing, we can never replace.

Our mind can do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big ones. So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It's the most important decision you'll ever make in your entire life.

Do you want to excel at your particular job? Do you want to go places in your company ... in your community? Do you want to get rich? All you have got to do is plant that seed in your mind, care for it, work steadily toward your goal, and it will become a reality.

It not only will, there's no way that it cannot. You see, that's a law — like the laws of Sir Isaac Newton, the laws of gravity. If you get on top of a building and jump off, you'll always go down — you'll never go up.

And it's the same with all the other laws of nature. They always work. They're inflexible. Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind's eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you have reached your goal.

Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts. We are where we are because that's exactly where we really want or feel we deserve to be — whether we'll admit that or not. Each of us must live off the fruit of our thoughts in the future, because what you think today and tomorrow — next month and next year — will mold your life and determine your future. You're guided by your mind.

We must control our thinking. The same rule that can lead people to lives of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things they ever dreamed of — that very same law can lead them into the gutter. It's all in how they use it ... for good or for bad. That is The Strangest Secret!

Do what the experts since the dawn of recorded history have told us to do: pay the price, by becoming the person you want to become. It's not nearly as difficult as living unsuccessfully.

The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you're immediately a successful person — you are then in that rare group of people who know where they're going. Out of every hundred people, you belong to the top five. Don't concern yourself too much with how you are going to achieve your goal — leave that completely to a power greater than yourself. All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord, and at the right time.

Start today. You have nothing to lose — but you have your whole life to win.