OH MY GHOD! ITS THE LAST CLASS!!!

How quickly time flies, eh? Well, since all there really is to do at this point is to evaluate your work, the question on everyone's mind must be: what in the world does Steve have to say to us now?

Well...let's just say that if you take very seriously what I am about to lay out for you, it will be of greater value than everything that has come before.

It works like this: All of the information about writing , all of the technique, ALL of that stuff won't do you a damned bit of good unless you use it. All of these things are the "Principles" of success in the limited field called writing.

But what makes the difference between people who get their dreams and people who don't--in other words, between those of you who will actually use the information which you paid for, and those of you who will sit on your thumbs and whine, are what I call the "metaprinciples"--in other words, the ideas, actions, core beliefs, and so forth which underlie any successful life.

Every human being is going to have his own idea about what it takes to succeed in life. You have yours. I have mine. I may well be wrong in my choices and observations, but what I CAN say is that all of the principles given below are tested, that I have taught them to thousands of people, and to my knowledge, everyone who has actually put them into play has gotten the results.

It ain't easy, but if it was easy, everybody would be happy, healthy, and wise--and we know that isn't the case, don't we? So don't worry about what's easy or what isn't. Instead, ask yourself: "Am I willing and prepared to become stronger, more centered, and more successful than I've ever been in my life?"

Until and unless the answer to that question is "Yes", chances are very good that you have wasted your money in this class. I absolutely, 100% believe that every human being has the ability to bring his dreams into existence. If you have the ability to consistently visualize or imagine success over the period of time necessary to achieve the goal, you can do it. And that ability to visualize or imagine is , in most successful people, trained rather than innate.

So here are my last, and most important words to you. They are the ten steps I would consider invaluable in actually reaching any goal.

1. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. You must let your environment, heredity, parents, mate, or anything else completely off the hook. YOU are responsible for your success or failure. YOU are the cause of pleasure and pain in your life. Had a bad childhood? Get over it. Black, Gay, Female, Handicapped, too young or too old? Nobody cares. IF YOU DON'T DO IT FOR YOURSELF, THE WORLD WILL BARELY NOTICE YOUR HEARTBREAK. Ultimately, you must care for yourself, nurture yourself, support yourself, discipline yourself, love yourself. If you were a rabbit in the woods, you would be on the constant search for food, and consistently watching out for predators. You must have something of the same willingness to get what you want out of life, and to watch out for, and protect yourself from, those who would hurt you, discourage you, use you. It's not up to life to be easy. It is your responsibility to be strong.
2. CREATE YOUR LIFE STORY. You did this, in your first week. Go back over it. Make sure that you have clear goals in ALL THREE major areas: career, physical health, relationship. Know what you want, and don't be afraid to go after it. WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN!!!
3. FIND A GOAL SETTING SYSTEM. There are many out there, and their efficiency depends largely on a match between your personality and the personality of the author. However, I would personally recommend the "Time Line" system taught by Tad James. Get a catalog from him at Advanced Neuro Dynamics, 808-941-2021. They're the best I've found. Order his "The Secret of Creating Your Future" tape set, and USE IT.
4. SENSORY ACUITY. You've have to have feedback as to your progress or problems. Income is a good way to keep track. Feedback from intelligent colleagues or teachers helps. KEEP YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN. Any feedback, including rejection letters, is good feedback.
5. RAISE YOUR ENERGY LEVEL. Without sufficient energy, your dreams will turn to dust. In fact, one of the most important steps in breaking any old behavior pattern is to raise your energy. There are several basic steps to this.Diet. Stay away from books on losing weight. In my humble opinion, most of them are designed or doomed to fail. ANY diet that you will eventually diverge from is, in my opinion, designed to fail. Instead, look at diets designed to enhance athletic performance, especially endurance. Robert Haas' "Eat To Win" diet is excellent. There are others. Find them. Don't be one of these morons who knows more about auto maintenance or football statistics than he does about his own health. They make me sick. Exercise. The two most important types of exercise are: 1) flexibility and alignment, and 2) cardiovascular.
   Flexibility and Alignment. The first can be learned in a yoga class, or a dance class--if the dance class is taught by a teacher over 40 years old. What you are looking for here is unlearning the bad habits of posture and tension which a lifetime of imprecise motion locks into you.
   Trust me: unless you are an intuitive genius at such things, (and I've never met such a person), YOU NEED A TEACHER. At least twice a month, work with a teacher, developing a 15-minute daily stretching program. Minimum. Do it.
   Cardiovascular. For energy, you need 3-4 40 minute exercise sessions a week. Walking is great. So is swimming. Be gentle with yourself if you haven't been exercising for a while. The idea is work up a light sweat. Exercise more intense than this is for athletes. Rest. Get enough sleep. Take catnaps. This is vital for those of us living a creative life. You need your dream time.
   These are the most basic prerequisites to generating more energy in your life. Ignore them at your peril.
6. FIND ROLE MODELS. Study the lives and actions of people who have already accomplished your chosen goals. Then imitate their actions, beliefs, and thought patterns. Even better is to find several different people who have accomplished goals similar to the ones you hold dear. Cross reference them, and find out what things they ALL had in common. Do this "core" stuff religiously, and you will save yourself years and decades of wasted effort.
7. FLEXIBILITY. Keep trying different things until you reach your goal. Keep your eyes on the prize, and simply flow around any obstacles. Be like snow melt winding its way to the sea. Eventually, it will get there. It may take a life time--but do you have anything better to do? Let's face it: ten years from now, you will either be ten years older, or ten years older and wiser. The choice is up to you.
8. NEVER GIVE UP. Resolve here and now that you will keep moving forward until you have reached your goal.
9. 1%. Divide the work necessary to accomplish your goal into bite-sized chunks. Do about 1% of it every week. No more. You can walk to Disneyland--but you can't sprint there. Be very careful about trying to do too much. It can be another way of setting yourself up for failure.
10. MASTERMIND GROUPS. One of the most valuable things you can do in reaching any goal is to find a group of like-minded people, and meet with them once or twice a week (I suppose you could set this up over the Internet). You share goals, dreams, and support. Every week, every member is responsible for moving his goals forward, for having taken another step. For a very full explanation of how to do this, read "Think and Grow Rich", by Napoleon Hill. This is probably the best book ever written on self improvement.

The thing that makes me happy is the possibility that you--that's right, YOU, are the one in a thousand who will actually follow through, who will follow good advice, who will go after your dreams and not let anything stand in your way. I hope it's you. You seem like a nice person.