Secrets to achieving success revealed

Dr John Demartini believes that crisis can force people to change careers to something they really want to do. Photo / Supplied

When human behavioural specialist Dr John Demartini arrives in the country next week to give an evening presentation and run a two-day workshop, he doesn't want to see his audience pumped up.

"I am not a motivational speaker," says Demartini, who is well known for his appearance in the DVD The Secret and the author of an armful of potentially life-changing books. "I don't want to pump people up, see them elated or start having fantasies. I want them to be poised, purposeful, powerful and patient."

Demartini says feelings of motivation are temporary so he wants to give people who attend his presentations the tools to feel passionate and positive about what they do.

"I want people to find out what is truly inspiring to them so they can see in their mind the vision of it done and then take action. I am interested in people taking action so they change their life. That is the wisest thing I can do for people."

Demartini says people need to focus on what they want, what they can achieve and understand how to go from a place they don't enjoy to one that they will. And the key to this, says Demartini, is making decisions and setting goals. But the goals have to be realistic: "I want to help people identify their values, set goals and make sure those goals are for things they can actually do."

Demartini says a lot of the stress people experience is when they set unrealistic expectations and do things that are not truly meaningful. He warns against setting goals to emulate someone else.

"People sometimes minimise themselves by thinking other people are more successful and set themselves goals that match someone else, instead of truly honouring themselves and their own magnificence." Demartini says he would rather have people set one clearly defined goal and be willing to do whatever it takes to get it done than use a scatter-gun approach.

"I am a firm believer that it is wiser to have fewer goals that are true, than have many which are not," he says. "However, you can set more than one goal so long as they can be dovetailed together."

He says achieving goals has to be done in an almost clinical fashion - leaving little to chance. He likens it to building a house.

"If you are planning a house, then any detail you leave out of the plan is an obstacle and a challenge you'll probably have to face during the implementation and execution of the job," he says. "So it is wiser to focus on the details. I always say a master is one who focuses on the fine detail. The vitality of the individual is directly proportionate to the vividness of the vision - the vision becomes crystal clear when the details are in place.

"If you are setting a goal and you are not willing to do that detail on it, then it is probably not meaningful to you."

And when it comes to realising a goal, Demartini says you have to focus on high priority tasks and not be distracted by anything that has nothing to do with achieving your goals. "There is a law that has been identified in business management and life in general that goes way back in time," he says. "It says that any space or time that we don't fill with high priority actions will be consumed with low priority actions.

"People need to prioritise things, delegate things, have checklists in place and organise their time. People should be grateful for what they achieve each day and say 'thank you'.

Demartini's latest book From Stress to Success has arrived at a timely moment for people feeling the pressure of the recession - even though it was written in 1994. The book features 31 "secret" keys to overcoming stress, burn out and feelings of being overwhelmed.

Demartini says every crisis - financial or otherwise - has a hidden opportunity in it, although it may be hard to recognise at first glance.

"The opportunity may be that people become closer to their family, they may end up getting more creative, going back to school, they may swap careers to something they really want to do - for example they may have been stuck in a job that was boring and burning them out anyway. Now they are free to go on to be an entrepreneur and do something they really love.

"I am not saying it is not challenging, but it is the challenge that makes us grow.

"I like to help people find out what they can do and what inspires them, so they can make a difference."

Dr John F Demartini will be at the Stamford Plaza, Auckland, on Thursday October 8 when he will give a talk, do a book signing and answer questions from the audience. Tickets: $39 via Ticketmaster or $57 on the door.

Steve Hart is a freelance writer.
Contact via his website at www.SteveHart.co.nz