The hardest part of success is the **courage** you need to succeed--when you think: "I'm afraid to talk to people.", or "I'm a loser, nobody in their right mind would follow me.", or "I could never do what he/she does..", or "I'm afraid to talk to people on the telephone..."

When I first started out in on the internet I was in awe of the money that could be made, and I was positive that if someone--Nay, anyone else could be successful in this business, then why the heck couldn't I?-- I'm no idiot, and so I joined my first company, but it wasn't as easy as everyone made it out to be. In fact it was quite HARD. I spent two years of my life reading, studying, and internalizing all of the writings from the greatest minds in Internet Marketing, and conventional Self-help Gurus. I read books from Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar, Mark Yarnell(who is now a partner of mine), Leo Clements, John Milton Fogg, Richard Poe, etc. One problem is that I spent the entire time reading and studying...afraid to just go out and do it.

However, one book that changed my life, for the better mentally, would have to be Psycho-Cybernetics 2000, by the Maxwell Maltz Foundation, and Bobbe Summer, the entire book is written for the person who suffers from a poor self-image.. the person who keeps hearing words in his or her head like, "I'm not good enough", "Mom was right, I will never amount to anything", and a skew of negative thoughts about ourselves; about why we can't stop smoking, or lose weight, about our inability to have a successful relationship, and the list goes on..The bottom line is that I spent two years seriously searching my soul, *two years* afraid to START, and *two years* afraid of success, afraid that I wasn't worthy enough to be rich, and successful..

And then I stumbled upon the process known as the C.R.A.F.T. Process...

C.ancel

R.eplace

A.ffirm

F.ocus

T.rain

Step 1: Cancel Negative Thoughts...

Your walking along in the supermarket and you see a magazine featuring a supermodel or muscular hunk, and you think "I'm not sexy, girls like that get all of the men.. I'll never meet someone with my flabby thighs." When you are consciously aware of the negative thought say aloud CANCEL! When you say it aloud you surprise your subconscious mind, it not only hears it internally, but externally as well, and it is twice as powerful!

Step 2: Replace the Negative with a Positive...

John Milton Fogg likened our mind to a balance scale, that contains one thing--your habits of beliefs, these are the beliefs you have about yourself, it is pretty much synonymous with self-image; now on the one side of the scale are your positive beliefs: "I am a great driver", or "I am good at my job" etc.. on the other side are your negative thoughts these are thoughts which say the opposite of your positive side...

We live in a pessimistic society where 98% of our habits of belief weigh in favor of the negative..in order to change this we need to begin adding to the positive side...start weighing it down..and that is what affirmations do..ask anyone who is successful if they use affirmations and 99.998% will say yes--you betchya!

Let's put it all together-you walk by a magazine featuring a sexy supermodel, your first response is "I'll never be as sexy as her, no man will ever want me.." or "I could never get a girl like that with my body" then stop, say "Cancel" and say "I am beautiful/handsome in many ways, and I have many qualities that every man/woman would want in a woman/man...and I am sexy.."

Step 3: Affirm your new image to yourself!

This is really a re-emphasis of the previous step--only this time write out your affirmation on a note card and post it somewhere you are sure to see it frequently.. eg. bathroom mirror, car window, desk at work, etc...Also repeat your affirmations every time you do something that is part of your daily routine for instance whenever you brush your teeth, or walk into a certain room, or open a door...this way the affirmation will become a quick and unhindered thought process, and it will be completely natural, and automatic...

Step 4: Focus on an image of yourself already being successful!

In my networking business..I write out a vision of myself at least once a week, if I don't write it.. I walk myself through it verbally.. usually while I'm outside in nature..I personally like to look up at the stars and envision my new self...but choose what method and place works best for you...

This REALLY Does Work...Because your subconscious mind CANNOT tell the difference between a REAL Experience, and one that is VIVIDLY Imagined, so the more visual you are the more likely your subconscious mind will accept it! Use all of the senses... see yourself as a great trainer, and leader, a great public speaker, and networker, see yourself traveling the world conversing in languages that you cannot yet speak--fulfilling all of your dreams.. see yourself accomplishing goal after goal, and BE SPECIFIC!

Step 5: Train yourself for lasting change!

Your goal may be to try something new.. such as dancing, or painting. You may think "I cannot dance", or "I am no artist" well the previous steps in the craft process, talk of getting over the negative thoughts, but no matter how much of a positive self-image, you have regarding a specific goal or challenge, depending upon the goal, you will have to go through the motions. You may have to take dance lessons...

Now that you believe that you have the ability to dance you need to train yourself to bring it out, same goes for painting, you may need to take an art class. Networking--you may need to take a class on leadership, or relationship building, something along the lines of the Dale Carnegie courses ("How to Win Friends and Influence People")

In a nutshell the 5 step CRAFT process will make any self-image problems easier to overcome they will give you the "Courage to Succeed"

But be patient--'Rome wasn't built in a day', on average it takes between 4-6 weeks for your new self-image to boldly step forward. Do not get discourage!If you want it bad enough it will be yours!

In closing I'd like to say that, for me the hardest and most strenuous part to building my business, was taking that first step--it took me two years to work up the courage to take that step but when I did..the rest became easier, and now I even take my success for granted sometimes--just keep at it...

And remember...

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..." --unknown, by me

and so it is with Network Marketing, and anything else in life...