Recently on Facebook someone asked how I was doing. And I told them I was fine and things were going great and that I was writing a book for Amazon.com to sell for the Kindle/iPad/Smart phone market. (I realize there are a few other book readers out there, Sony, Barnes & Nobles’ device…)

My friend asked what the book was going to be about and I told her that it was about how to always get what you want. I don’t mean this as some egotistical thing, but I always get what I ask for. And yes, it does tie in with all the “words are powerful” mindset, etc, but the main thing is that I’ve developed a pattern that works for me 100% of the time.

In fact, so powerful that my neighbor recently commented why don’t I use it to manifest more money?

I’ve been working on that and at first I pictured “X” amount of dollars a month. I thought that would be a great sum. But the more I asked for that – not in desperation (and that’s paramount) – I kept hearing that I should ask it as the weekly sum. So I’ve since changed my request.

Buy the book and you’ll know the secret!

Just kidding – well, sure, I want you to buy the book, but I want to share with you some highlights, too. So here we go:

1. You need structure in your life.

Everything around us has structure but we are wired to have to work for structure.

2. You have to ask without being desperate.

For some odd reason when we beg, or ask desperately like there is no option, we attract more of that crap. I show you how to short-circuit that cycle.

3. Figure out what is limiting you.

What is preventing you from having what you really want? Have you asked for it? Or is it a mere fantasy you’ve never told a soul about, or asked God about?

4. Believe you can have it.

These are all important steps, and yes, there are more, but these can give you a taste of what’s in the book. I walk you through each area I cover in the exact way I’m writing you here. You know my style – conversational and fun.

So sign up on the list where it says “Follow Me Here” and you’ll be the first to know when it comes out and I’ll make sure you get it at a nice discount.

You, too, can always get what you want. Believe me.

This is better than meditation. This is one step I recently incorporated into my ebook on living that I use and is the step that I teach others the most. The reason it is so successful is because it is so doggone easy and everybody can easily relate to it.

If you’ve ever been to a convention or around a group of people with a common cause, you know how easy it is to get pumped up and feel like you’re walking on clouds - invincible! And that can last anywhere from a day to a lifetime, depending on you. The biggest challenge is that “life gets in the way” and you don’t know how to defuse that so you slowly give in to the path of least resistance.

We are wired that way because I suppose God wants us to work to succeed. Like seeds struggling to break through the hard topsoil, not all is without effort.

People get confused when they hear that living in the zone, or on your path, or doing your purpose, that the journey is easy. That is true in part. It is smooth and natural and life expands to bring you more in tune to your calling. But like the seed, even though there is a purpose and direction and the knowledge of where to go, it doesn’t mean it’s without effort. So when there is pressure in life, don’t give up. Don’t think you’re suddenly on the wrong path. Check yourself, your thoughts – it is probably you growing through experience to get to the next level where God wants you.

Here’s how to fight feeling down or depressed, and how to turn things around when you feel hopeless, or when a bad thought seems to perpetuate in your mind:

Grab a 3″ x 5″ card and sit at table with no distractions and grab your pencil. This exercise should take only a few moments, but will benefit you the rest of your life.

Now I want you to think back on times in your life when you had huge success. Can you see that? Perhaps when you won a challenge because you were the best, or when you got up and spoke to a group and they cheered you because you were so inspiring. Maybe it was helping someone overcome their fears. Or it could be how you put together a totally cool business model that made you a bunch of money. It can be anything that made you feel on top of the world and you remember how you walked differently, carried yourself differently and could take on anything.

Write that moment down on your card. In fact, try real hard to think of a few of these grand moments in your life. You at the top of your game, where everything you did worked out right. You were in sync with it, harmony.

See these moments in your mind and feel the way you felt when they were taking place. People smiling at you, congratulating you, calling you. See where you were, the lighting, the sounds, the smells. Think of what you did later to celebrate yourself. Jot down a few of these points on your card so you can easily recall them.

By now you know what the card is for. That’s right – it’s to pull out and look at when you’re feeling at the bottom of your game. This really works as it tells the mind that you CAN do it, you HAVE done it and YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN!

You have greatness within you. You have Deity in you. So take the card and fold it over and carry it with you. If it’s too big for your purse or wallet, simply write this out on paper. This is what you will use when those thoughts come creeping into your mind. You will relive these events and your mind will instantly be taken there.

And guess what? Your subconscious doesn’t know the difference between feeling it in your mind and actually experiencing it, so the more you dwell on your success, the better. You will start attracting greatness simply by reliving something in your past, and you’ll stop attracting depressing thoughts.

Let me know if you’re on board with this and start using it immediately!

One thing that I see stresses friends and family to the max is just living day to day putting out fires.

I want you to think about that statement.  Putting out fires.  Is that what you do?

Do you get up with a routine, knowing what happens to be done, but having no plan?

Before you click away, I don’t mean something so regimented that it takes away your “free” spirit.  Just the opposite.  This is something that actually liberates you.

Yesterday I chatted on MSN (I’m dave at davejackson.com on there) with a friend who admitted he loved working for a paycheck.  And the more we got into the conversation, I could see that what he really loved was the freedom from stressing out over what had to be done.  Go into a job, punch your timecard, get a coffee, and see what has to be done that day.  Putting out the little fires.

Is that what you really want out of life?  And there is a sense of security in that.  Yes, even when others who pitch their lifestyles to you, telling you that many who have had corporate jobs forever have found themselves unemployed, you look at your job and find security in that.  It’s OK.  Don’t stress.

The question you have to ask yourself is whether what you’re doing is getting you any closer to what you had in mind for life?  It may be… slowly.

Take two things away from this today, OK?  First, I don’t know about you, but for me, the best way to stop living putting out fires, stressing out all day, is to plan.  Now I didn’t go out and buy a planner, but I do have one of those 99 cent composition books beside my bed, and I know where it is at any given time.  I write things in it.  Plans.  Things I know I want to get done.  And it works.  Something about that writing down stuff.

Next, don’t stress out about it.  I find that making my “plans” about helping other people in life make it fun and worth doing.  It’s not all about me, then.  It’s how I can help others.  That’s the main reason for this website.  I’m hoping it helps others…somehow.  I don’t stress out about it.

Plan and help others.  Hey, a good motto.  Think about it.

If you don’t know that quote, it’s from the amazing Bob Proctor who says that if we want things to happen in our lives, we have to write it down in the present tense. For example, I am so happy and grateful now that we have our winter retreat in Maui.

You probably should be much more specific than that but you get the idea.

Truthfully, I’ve done this in some form at one time or another. The first time I put what I wanted to paper was back in 1995 after I read Unleash the Power Within by Tony Robbins. The results? It was like a cascade of good things that followed – from living in an apartment to growing a tiny company past the million dollar mark. So I know it works.

You’ve probably done the same thing or are considering it. But your thoughts are keeping you from doing anything about it. I almost wrote “life” but I know that life is all about what we think and what we do. What is crazy is that we don’t do this more often, or ever.

The biggest challenge is belief.

First, in order to make a list like this you have to believe that you have enough time to do it. That when you sit down and start putting that pencil to the notepad, that you’re not taking away from productive time. I am told almost daily by people who feel guilty that they can’t squeak out an hour each day to keep their mind at optimum power. The thought is that they should be doing something else, more productive, and that people will look at them and think they’re wasting their time.

I guess the real issue is – who are you doing this for?

Stop right now and take your hand and pound it on your chest and say, “I’m doing this for me!”

Become selfish about this because to do otherwise is failure. You might take more time watching TV with your loved ones than you do at working on yourself. Think about it.

This day is not over yet. You still have time to write down what you want. Maybe you find it hard to know exactly what you want. Dreams you once had seem real impossible now. But remember those are thoughts you need to end.

When you write down what you want, it becomes clearer. Use a pencil. It doesn’t have to be permanent. You’re growing and this list will change. You want it to change. Take at least 30 minutes to work on getting clear about what you want. And don’t feel guilty about it. Yes, there are needs and wants. This is about what you want to make you become all you can be.

Are you with me?

Believe it or not, some people never attend funerals.  In fact, one person I know vows the only funeral they will ever attend – you guessed it – will be their own.  And I think when you go, it’s a great opportunity for life lessons.  When you consider what is happening, it’s time to think of changes in your life.

Don’t blow this off.  We all have to go sometime.  And it’s nice to have the insurance and know your loved ones are cared for.  But I’m talking about preparing in another way.

Lately I’ve seen a few sites where friends have written a bucket list of things they would like to accomplish in their lifetime.  I believe this is really cool and that there is a special connection when we write something down.  Magic stuff happens and for some reason there is more power in it, and the chances of it happening go up exponentially.

So I’m thinking even while at a recent funeral, what is left that I REALLY want to accomplish, and if someone were to look at my plans right now would they agree that I’m going to accomplish it?

How about you?

What is that one thing you really want to accomplish before you have to leave this dusty ball of clay?

And then you know the next question: What is your strategy this year to make it happen?  Have you done anything this year toward reaching your goal?  Honestly?

After you read this, grab a scrap of paper and write down one thing you can do that will move you toward your goal.

Remember that bits of paper and even funerals never got anything done.  It takes action to make things happen.  Don’t delay.  Take massive action now!

It is SO refreshing to hear some of these life principles again as I begin this new year by revisiting what got me into coaching.  There is absolutely so much information on how to awesome this year and this decade that you cannot use the excuse that there isn’t a good system or a map to get you there.  Ya just can’t!  But you have to been keen on who to listen to and what to do with what you hear or read.

The best analogy I know for this is thinking of the information that you’re tapping into as a supermarket.  You go in and see thousands of items on the shelves.  There are sections you didn’t know existed.  And it may take you hours to go through the store, but don’t just shop near the front – dive in and take a look at everything.

Of course you’re going to use a shopping cart; you want to be able to take some away – get what you need.  And that’s the next part about this analogy.  You’re certainly not going to go into the store and take everything in it.  Your cart won’t hold it and you’ll never be able to use it all, anyway.

It’s the same with self-improvement.  You just can’t listen to everything and read everything – but you can check it out.  Go through books, listen to audios, Google the person, see if there are some videos you can see on YouTube to get an idea of how this person really is.  Maybe you don’t want to take them home with you!  So like a supermarket  – take what you need and leave the rest on the shelf.

That’s one way to guard your mind and lay down a strategy of acheiving your goals this year; find the teachers that you feel good about.  That’s super important.  You know who they are when you start listening to them.  Your values align with theirs.  And you get a good feeling about them and what they teach.

Happiness should be almost at the top of your list for this decade.  Strive for it.  It can come by simply being grateful for what you have and what you can do with what you have.

Circumstances and other humans can get you off track easily, if you let them.  What ever you focus on, you attract.  So focus on what you want.  If you are in less than desirable circumstances, focus on where you want to be.  And make the area where you work reflect that feeling.

If people are dragging you down and off-track, don’t listen to them.  Spend more time listening to people who are like you want to be, and less time listening to people who zap your energy, or throw you off course.  Protect what you hear.  Protect what you read.  Protect what you do.

I made a decision this year to stop listening to talk radio.  Even though I was a huge fan, worked as a talk show host in the Dallas/Fort Worth market for over 15 years, I don’t believe dwelling on what they say is where I want to be thinking this year.  I’m looking for what inspires and makes me better, and listening to talk radio is debatable, I know, but there are only 24 hours in my day.  That’s just a choice – if you’re a diehard fan, maybe you can’t do without.

Protect what you want to become.  Don’t wait.  Do it for you!

I am really committed this year to give everything I’ve got to be all that I can be.  And as much as that sounds like an Air Force commercial, it’s true.  Things have fallen into place that will make this an exciting decade.

I have started teaching online and at first was having an issue with my PC.  Here’s the deal – the teaching sites I use require that you use a headset.  I’ve tried it both with a headset and without, and the headset really makes a big difference.  These sites don’t have the technology that Skype uses in their software, which I find SO amazing that you can carry out a conversation without a headset, and even walk around the room, and people on the other side of the world can hear you crystal clear.  And yes, I could teach on Skype, which has a nifty interface with PayPal where at the click of a button you can start the clock and charge per hour/minute/etc.

So I’m looking for this USB headset I bought a few years ago at Best Buy that worked so well and makes me sound like the guy that does the promos for the movies.  I couldn’t find it anywhere.  Rachel and I zoomed off to Best Buy to buy a new set.  Microsoft has this Windows Live Messenger headset that I knew I wouldn’t have to install all the software that comes with it.  Should work as a nice USB headset.

It didn’t.

When I did install all the assorted software, that makes it work well with Live Messenger, it did work, but…for some reason on my PC there was this big delay in the audio.

Now, when I recorded my last lessons for www.NetDominate.com with a USB headset, it worked well.  No delay.  But I was running Windows Vista, and granted my PC is a few years old, no USB 2.0, nothing fancy, and it worked great.

On this recent attempt, I was running Windows 7 Beta.  My son gets these beta copies and off we go.  Like anyone, I Googled why a USB mic would be delayed in Windows 7.  And there are so many reasons, but I felt mine was because of my old PC and a new OS.  Old sound card.

While getting the real Windows 7, I went through the whole list of backing up my software and files, and installing everything fresh.  I love that it happened at the end of the year.  I love new beginnings.  I love new days, Mondays, new slates.

When looking for software, I found my CD of The Secret.  I started listening to it, again.  Wow.  I thought back on things and realized that the Law of Attraction is real and that it happens whether we think it does or not.

But I know everyone doesn’t buy into The Secret, and I want to know what you think about it.  Do you believe everything, or do you pick and choose the things that you believe work for you?  And has The Secret helped you in any way?  If so, how?

Wow, this year has flown by!  I mean, really… and I look back over it and I always do this – I think if I’m working the same challenges I did this time last year.

If there is one single piece of advice that I could give you to make 2010 even better than 2009, it would be to feverishly journal everything you do.  I mean how can you – with the mind we have – keep tabs on how your life is going if you don’t grade it as you go and review it.  We’re we taught that in school?

And if not in school, certainly that’s the way the teacher keep tabs on us throughout the year.  The reason why is because it works.

So take this time in these next few days and buy yourself a nice journal for the new year.  I use composition books because I can carry those around and leave them for my kids when I move along.  Make it a fun thing.  I write something every night.

And don’t forget to look back on what you’ve written.  See what makes you tick.  You’d be surprised!  Fine tune your results into a wonderful life.

Have you ever journaled?  What did it give you?

I’ve heard my whole life that this time of year is most famous for depression.  Haven’t you heard that Christmastime is when most suicides occur?  I think a lot of it has to do with our culture that rewards people who can give more financially, such as gifts.  And when we don’t have a lot to give loved ones, couple with the fact that we’re drowning in debt, it’s little wonder our self-talk is not very edifying.

The majority of us are trapped in a routine we have become satisfied with.  We wait for some magical day when things will be all better and we will again make enough money to pay for the lifestyle we feel we deserve.  When we get a glimpse that we really don’t make enough, such as around Christmastime, coupled with the fact that we’re probably not near family, our thought process becomes downright poisoning.

We tell ourselves that it appears we can’t really breakthrough the level we have habitually been stuck at.  When we do this, we take very little action to improve our situation.  What we do day to day produces little and that feeds into our lack of belief in the whole process.

Can you see how that is a downward spiral?

What you may not realize is that you’re even in a downward spiral, or that your situation is mentally poisoning you.  I can speak from experience that it is a slippery slope once that spiral starts.

And if I told you right now what the solution was, if you are really stuck in your situation and feel a lifeline would be really good right about now – you would probably laugh at me, or scoff, or say as my oldest son used to say when I told him great things in life, “been there, done that, doesn’t work for me.”  I actually thought he was regurgitating a friends’ words, but it may have come from his heart.

So why would you laugh?  I really think there are several things at work here.  One, we all want a magical fix, that would be immediate and would require little effort on our part.  Sort of like a pill.  So culture has screwed us up in that regard, because even though many fixes are quick, some things do require effort.  And you probably have a hard time even cleaning off your desk at this point.

Few admit that they’re in a crisis mode, where really, they’re just doing all they can to keep their head above water.  They are putting out fires and planning a life is the furthest thing from their minds.  Figuring out how to pay the property taxes is more critical than creating a wonderful fulfilling life.  You want it, but your mind keeps telling you that if you leave what you’re doing now, it may get worse.

What if I told you that you can break free and that I know you already have the potential to do this?

You do!  And I’m going to help you get free from this downward spiral.  This will work during any season, at any time, you simply need to do the work I’m going to give you.   But I know you won’t do this unless you have a good reason to; you know you’re up against the wall.  So before I reveal anything, I want to have the certainty that you will follow through.  This is going to require a notebook to measure some things we discuss, so in my next post, you’re going to learn what it takes to break free and I’ll show you how you can do it for your life.

Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/naplesdave and on my free emails.

I know I’m catching most of you off-guard.  But there’s a purpose for my madness.  How many of you – and you can raise a hand if you’d like – have had a tiny desire to be on TV at some level or another.  Maybe a TV news reporter, or talk show host, or quite possibly a spot in The Mentalist.

Whatever the case, there is in us a desire to achieve something we find almost impossible.  And the key word there is “almost.”

Today I was chatting on MSN Live Messenger to a niece in Brazil.  This 15 year old has such a desire to come visit Disneyworld and the United States that she’d do almost anything to get here.

One thing she did as a child was to model for some fairly large companies.  So I asked her if she was still doing modeling.  And she said no.  I told her that it might be something she could get back into since that was one thing she knew how to do and could set aside some money to come here to the USA.

You see, if there is a will – or desire to do something – there is always going to be a way.  What is the normal path we take?  Nothing – we don’t really take a path – we just stay busy with our lives hoping that things will get better.  And they don’t, do they?  Ever?

I’ve found in life that we must take action to make anything work.  It takes going against the human flesh to make anything worthwhile.  Think about how you got to where you are today?  You did something abnormal.  Or was it handed to you on a platter?

Choices.  Today or whenever you read this, make a choice to break out of the ordinary and continue on with the quality life you deserve.  You want.  Don’t take no for an answer and don’t stop until you make it.  And let me know, if you can, how you are doing.

Talk soon,

Dave