An old Amerindian legend tells of a brave who found an eagle's egg one day and put it in a prairie chicken's nest. The eaglet hatched at the same time as a nest full of prairie chickens saw the light of day, and grew up alongside them.



All his life the young eagle did exactly what prairie chickens do. He pecked for insects and grubs in the earth. He clucked and cackled exactly like a prairie chicken. And when he flew, it was always in a cloud of feathers and only for a few yards at most.

After all, that's how prairie chickens fly. The years passed and the eagle grew old. One day he saw a magnificent bird gliding high in the cloudless sky. Gracefully the huge bird rode the air currents, hardly moving his great golden wings.

"What a beautiful bird!", exclaimed our eagle to his prairie chicken friends. "What is it?"

"That's an eagle, the king of birds," clucked his neighbour. "But you better forget about it. You'll never be an eagle." And so the eagle forgot all about the magnificent bird and died, thinking he was a prairie chicken.

Most people live life as a prairie chicken because they believe they are something less than they actually are, or could be.

They slave hard at work, for little money, in a job that they think is secure, only to retire old on a pittance of a pension. They look at successful businessmen and entrepreneurs who have made if for themselves, but are constantly told:

You better forget about it. You'll never be a millionaire! This is not the way to live your life. If you want to be an eagle, you need to start thinking and acting like one NOW. With the above in mind, you need to sit down and set yourself some clear goals.

When setting your goals:

-Decide exactly what it is that you want.

For example, if you are an aspiring property investor, one of your goals could be to buy a 100,000 pound property with no money down, before 1st August 2007.

-Write your goals down.

Merely thinking up a goal and leaving it in your head is never a surefire way to success. To guarantee certain success, you MUST write it down.

-Create a deadline for your goal

Having a deadline will help your goal become more realistic. For example, buy a 100,000 pound property with no money down has no sense of urgency and hence has a high chance of failure.

Create an action plan to achieving that goal.

For example,

1.research my local areas for properties up to 100,000 pounds

2.visit local estate agents to arrange viewings

3.develop my marketing plan to bring in possible deals

4.set up my finances

5.organise my legal team to handle the purchase

etc.

An action plan will greatly enhance your chances of success as it helps break a larger goal into easily digestible chunks.

Once you get into the habit of actively setting your goals and truly believing that you can achieve them, you will find to your amazement that you consistently meet your targets and reach the dizzy heights you previously thought you were incapable of.