I don't want you to think that I'm unique. Most successful people I know had something. They've just got their own brand. I did like so many people did—I was trained in government schools by institutions to become a good employee. That was the only thing they teach you that I've ever encountered in school.

So it was a real struggle, because I was not a square peg. I was a round peg, but there were square holes, right?

I couldn't get it together for the first twenty years of my professional life. I could not keep a job. I bounced from the oil field to downtown business offices, and I ended up teaching at California State University. That was the last thing I was doing when it kicked off for me.

When it arrived, it hit me finally. I had just spent an intense several months with Think and Grow Rich, because I was just so disgusted. It hit me there, and I took off.  I had come from my lowest point. My entire house was a single-axle camper trailer parked out on the county line.

Really, that book, the philosophy of getting it together… That allowed me to recognize—and this was great, really—that where I was had no real relationship to where I could engineer myself to be.

Everybody has hardships. Everybody has circumstances. Few people are trained any better than I was. I was taught to be an employee. It took courage to look past that.  It took courage to look past the fact of having no security, no insurance…all that crap that people get. It's all about lame excuses.

And of course when I was reading Think and Grow Rich, I looked at principal #7, and the title of that chapter is Decision. But it was really all about courage, just saying, "This is what I'll do, and I will take the consequences."

Surprisingly enough, the universe responds to your definite intentions.

Let's call a spade a spade. In a corporate environment, a lot of times the question is, "Well, can we do this?" I'm here to tell you that there's an attitude that you can adopt and winners have adopted, and I say that consciously. The people who are winners made themselves winners.

They adopt it, and it's something like this. They don't ask if, they ask how. Once they figure out that they would like something, they just figure out how. "I'd like this new project. I'd like this new boat. I'd like this new house. I'd like to vacation. I'd like to put a new section on the house."

They don't get stuck in I don't have that kind of money and the bank won't loan me any. They ask, "How do I get that?" And then they go to work producing it.

That's what I wish for you.

Most people think that they're very ordinary, very normal-or said the other way around, "Well, there's nothing special about me," or, "What's special about me?"

The fact is, there's another group of people who say that everybody has a gift to give, something unique. For a Mozart, of course, the gift comes in the framework of music, whereas a Shakespeare's gift comes in the theater and in literature.

Now, I know very few of us will have a gift of the monumental proportions of a Mozart or a Shakespeare; however, I would suggest to you that part of the reason for that gift is that they passionately pursued it.

Now, listen, it's a belief system that you want to adopt-and that's what makes the difference. Do you believe that you're not special, there's nothing special about you…or do you choose to believe that everybody has a gift to give? You're going to pull yours out, refine it, pursue it with passion, and make a contribution to this world.

The choice is yours. You know, we talk about think and grow rich, and this think part-well, what do you choose to believe? What you choose to believe is thinking, and what you choose to believe will lay the tracks of your destiny. Underachiever, normal, nothing special, or someone who has a gift to give…

Passion. I can't even tell you how much better you'll feel in every single moment when you're passionate. Passionately pursuing and making the world better for other people-it's only thinking, but thinking is the cause. The prosperity, the passion, the fulfillment, the actualization, the love in your life, the number of quality relationships you have, is the result!

Yes, listen to people whom you know intuitively have discovered the secret-and it's not that hard to find. A lot of them are out there teaching it!

See? Grab hold. Think rich. We're telling you you've got to think rich, and we're giving you many, many different angles to look at this. It's like looking through a kaleidoscope-we're giving you that many different angles.

Your results will be the actualization and the prosperity that you desire-if you're courageous enough to one, believe, two, adopt, and three, commit to moving on the beliefs that enlightened contributors, enlightened receivers, demonstrate!

Hi Dear Wealth Friend,

I was not thrilled yestermorn when my radio alarm opened the day with news of the terrorist plot to blow up 10 planes flying between London's Heathrow Airport and the United States.

Thanks For Your Expressions Of Concern

I hereby publicly thank all who've expressed a phone or email concern, knowing I'm headed to London shortly, to the Destiny Creator Intensive.

Talk about close... I'm flying into (and scheduled out of Heathrow Airport, and the event is being held at the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow. Click here for info.

"Was This A Brush With Death?"

If they hadn't foiled the attempt, who knows? I might not have been here in 2 week's time... Makes you think, when it gets that close.

This article is what came from that perceived close brush with death...

In this particular moment in time, being an American citizen automatically makes you the most hated person alive, the target of many willing to kill. I'm not venturing political opinions - just stating the facts as they are today.

Guerilla From The Jungle

An interesting irony that doesn't escape me... People have warned me for years about slipping in and out of "dangerous" Colombia. And, in fact, I shared the story of a guerilla swoopdown at the place where I was hanging, just hours after I left. Click Here to view that account.

SIDE NOTE: Since you like Think and Grow Rich trivia... I used that trip to Colombia to write on The NEW Think and Grow Rich. As I make this trip to London, the book is now finished, and is awaiting its launch date.

I concluded that article with the tag,

"The people are fantastic in Colombia,
but the politics are dangerous.
How about we meet up in a safer place?..."

I No Longer Know Where A Safe Place Is

I no longer know where a safer place is... It's certainly not New York or London... Who knows what city is next... After all, in this case, it's not where the strike is made that's the important issue, it's just that Americans must die, apparently, en masse. (I must conffess, as an "innocent" American, I feel uncomfortable.)

In Colombia, the guerillas were looking for a little fat cash... They only kept 3 people, presumably for ransom posssibilites.

To the contrary, the people operating in the "first world" have a hatred so intense they're even willing to kill themselves in the process, knowing they're helping kill hundreds or thousands of Americans in a clever airborne plot.

But, for the moment...

As a personal achievement coach, I ask that we leave intrigue, war and justice to the combatants...

There's some lessons pertaining to personal success here...

Time Moves Fast

Time moves fast for everyone! Have you ever thought about loving those around you like you had the awareness you might die the following week?

What if you put yourself into your work with such passion, you left a legacy when you died the following week?

Perhaps the wisdom of a fast-paced Steve Jobs offers some perspective..

"The purpoce of your life is NOT to arrive safely to death"

That's called actualization. That's one of the gifts the Think and Grow Rich philosophy lays in your lap.

A Plane Doesn't Need A Terrorist To Go Down

A plane doesn't need a terrorist to go down. No place is "safe". The good guys and the bad guys both kill innocent people.

You don't need a terrorist or an airplane to die, either. God bless her soul, I have a close friend in Colombia who passed on this weekend at 46 from cancer.

Everybody dies. Even if you can't be certain of the exact date of arrival, you can be certain of the fact.

What Are You Doing In The NOW You Do Have?

So the question becomes, what are you doing now, in your present environment, to make life better for yourself, your family, your community, your planet, and for humanity? That you can control.

Life is full of uncertainties.

Your job is to apply the level of due diligence you feel comfortable with, and get on with contributing to the world. This is how you become more than you are, this is how you receive more than you now have. This is the now you do have.

Your job is to be a light. The rewards come, surely. Give first, then, receive by Law.

True, you may have a few years, but you don't have forever. And no matter how long you have, in the Cosmic scheme of things, your entire life is briefer than a match strike...

The way you play the game to win is to play it now, while you have it, and do all that you can do, everyday, to consciously give to make the world a better place!

That's the way it looks from here!!

Ted Ciuba

World's TOP Think and Grow Rich Expert
Co-Author The NEW Think and Grow Rich

P.S. It's our own actions, our choices, our decisions that determine our level of success.

If you're ready to start now to become self-determining, to grab hold of that higher vision, and to create the real destiny you desire, there's still a couple open slots at the Destiny Creator Intensive. Click here for full details. Hurry, it starts in London Friday evening, with a mixer, and the MEAT begins Saturday at 9am.