Have you ever had an idea to do something but it seems like it never happens?   You just keep thinking about it over and over but you never take action? We’ve all been a victim of mental rumination at one point or another.  Over thinking about our goals, ideas, and dreams doesn’t get us any closer to making them a reality.  Some studies suggest that over thinking makes them less likely to happen.  Basically,

Idea  +  Inaction = No Change

When I first realized that I wanted to change my life for the better, I thought about it a lot-too much in fact.  I would ponder, think, reflect and contemplate on what I should do and how I should do it.  I quickly learned that all of my thinking didn’t make things happen.

In fact, all of my thinking made me hesitate any sort of action.  I began to think about what can go wrong and the problems I might face.  Instead of thinking about my ideas and possible successes, I began focusing on the obstacles.  And that made me nervous so when I did take action, it wasn’t decisive action.  Over the years I have transformed from a thinker to a doer.  One dictionary defines a doer as “One who does, performs, or executes.  One who is wont and ready to act; an actor, agent or attorney; a factor.”

Being a doer has made the difference in my life.  It has made me more confident and capable of reaching my goals.  I often still ponder and think about my goals and ideas.  The difference now is that I am more likely to take action.

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The Quick Confidence Guide Book Review on Improvedconfidence.com

A few weeks ago I found myself browsing the blogosphere and reading several different blogs.  Eventually, I landed on a blog that I found interesting.  It was called improveconfidence.com written by Kate Irwin who specializes in self-esteem and self-confidence.  I read a few posts and thought the articles were interesting and well written.

Then I thought, “I wonder what she would think of my book.” 

So I decided to ask her.  I contacted her and asked her if she would consider reading the book and giving it an honest review.  At this point, I hadn’t asked any blogger to review the book but I thought Kate would be the best person to ask.  I mean, she is a self-confidence specialist.

She agreed to read it and give it an honest review.  Even though I have gotten great feedback from people who have read the book, I was a little curious to see what she would think of it.  Since she is obviously a great writer on the topic of confidence, I was hoping she found the book valuable.

Imagine my excitement when I read the review.  Not only did she enjoy the book, she gave it a 5 star rating on Amazon.com.  Check out The Quick Confidence Guide book review for yourself at her blog Improvedconfidence.com

Imagine climbing a mountain and getting half way up and saying to yourself,

“You know what, I’m going to climb back down and finish this later.”

  Sounds silly, but that is what we do all of the time.  We have projects that sit waiting to be completed.  Some people start college but never graduate.  We have books that we never finish reading.  The list goes on and on.  Many people are great at beginning things but can’t seem to finish strong.

You may not realize it, but not being a strong finisher in life can limit your ability to conquer the goals that you have.  Whenever we procrastinate, delay, or put to the side, the things that will help us accomplish our goals, we stunt our potential.

Not only does not finishing cause our lives to stall, we make it harder on ourselves whenever we do decide to start again.  Consider this; every time I begin a new exercise program my muscles are sore for a few days.  After a few weeks of routine, the muscles get accustomed to the program and grow stronger.  Thus, no more sore muscles.  Well, when I take some time off, I dread starting again because I know that my muscles are going to be sore again.

That is just one example of why learning to finish strong is so important.  Strong finishers have learned how to remove distractions, conquer procrastination and focus on getting the best result from anything that they start.

What Really Matters

I’ve read-and used to believe-that the most important part of accomplishing goals is getting started.  I no longer believe that.  I now believe that the most important part is finishing those goals the right way.  I mean, what’s more meaningful, the score at half-time or the final score?   The wedding or the 40^th anniversary?  The opening credits, or the way a movie ends? 

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One Minute Motivation: The 10 Most Inspiring Nike Commercials

Along with making us want to by their shoes, many Nike ads are very inspirational.  It is amazing how a 60 second shoe commercial can motivated us to workout, conquer challenges and face our fears.  

For years Nike has been the world leader in athletic apparel.  They have also been endorsed by some of the world’s all-time great athletes.  Nike has also influenced the way world views athletic competition by presenting some of the most creative television commercials.

Wieden+Kennedy is the ad agency responsible for creating those impactful ads.  They are the agency who came up with the “Just Do It” slogan.  Here are 10 of the most inspirational television commercial Nike has ever produced.

 My Better Is Better (SPARQ)

There’s nothing worse than feeling jumpy, jittery, and nervous.  Especially in situations where you need to be calm, cool and collected.  At one time or another we will all become nervous about something.  The challenge we face is to not let the nervousness determine how a situation will turn out. 

Controlling the feeling of being nervous is important in so many ways.  Nervousness not only affects your ability to perform, but it also influences the way other people perceive you.  And that is a big deal especially if ever intend on ever come in contact with another human being.  You, do intend on being around humans right?  Great!

If you want to accomplish anything in life, you will come across situations that make you nervous.  The nervousness may come from unfamiliarity with a situation, lack of confidence in your ability, or many other reasons.  In this article I will show you how to control nervousness and use it to your advantage.

There are many situations that may make people nervous. 

-Public speaking

-Approaching someone you are attracted to

-Job interviews

-Nervous around strangers

-Meeting new people

-Tests, exams, and performance reviews

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How to Keep Promises to Yourself

Each one of us has made some type of promise to ourselves.  It may have been a promise to eat healthier, watch less T.V. and read more, or even to wake up earlier.  Our promises to ourselves are usually made in order to create a better life by adding something good, or taking something away.

There many moral reasons why we want to keep promises to other people.  It may be because you believe it’s the right thing to do.  It may also be because you want to be known as a trustworthy person.  Or even because you really want the other person to benefit from what you are promising.

But sometimes those reasons don’t apply to promises to ourselves.  It’s a lot easier to forgive yourself for breaking a promise than it is to get someone else to forgive you.  That may be one of the reasons why breaking promises to ourselves is so easy.  We’ll, I think all promises made are important.   In this post want to show you how you can begin to honor the promises that will make the most difference in your life; the promises made to yourself.

“Ok, I’ll Start Tomorrow”

This is sometimes said before a promise is made.  Let’s think about it.  How many times have you said that to yourself before going on a diet?  Or before you go on a budget?  Or maybe even before you promise to quit smoking?

 Most promises to ourselves are made based off emotion.  It usually happens when we get to a point where we are sick of something that we’ve been doing that isn’t good for us.  We know it’s not good, and we feel bad for doing it.  So we make a promise based on that feeling truly believing that we are going to keep the promise.

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How is it possible for athletes to sacrifice their bodies and spend endless hours training?  Why are successful business leaders able to bounce back after losing millions in a failed business?  What is it that enables unexplained courage, grit, and determination? 

It is the same thing that made Michael Jordan an icon.  It was what made Abraham Lincoln a legend.  And it is what made thousands of people follow Martin Luther King Jr.  It is the will to win, and you can have it too.

The Will to Win

I have to admit, this is a hard topic to write about.  When I got the idea to write this article I thought it would be a nice little motivational post that would give some of you an inspirational boost.  But the more I dove into the topic the more I realized that having the will to win affects every single area of our lives!

In sports the will to win drives athletes to push themselves and their bodies to new levels.  In business it pushes individuals to commit to

Even in relationships we have the desire to win another person’s attention, love and affection.   The more I researched it the more I realized that not only do we all have the will to win, it is a huge driving force in all of us. 

But, the will to win is a hard thing to define.  There are several different ideas of what it actually means to have this desire.  It is a combination of mental strength, personal commitment, and willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed.

What Drives a Winner?

During my research I found many examples and stories of people who displayed an extraordinary will to win.  But there was almost no mention of why these people had the will to win.  So I decided to review those stories to see if I could find out what drives certain people.  I researched the stories of a few athletes, entrepreneurs, U.S. Navy Seals and musicians.  Then I took a look at my own life to see if I could find what drives me.  

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Remember December of last year?  You were excited about the New Year and made plans to make this the best year ever.  Well as time passed, like many others, you lost some of that enthusiasm and desire.  It happens to many of us at one time or another.  But it is not too late to regain that fire and to accomplish those goals.

I take my goals and resolutions very seriously.  I do not set a resolution unless I fully intend on reaching it.  I have a high success rate when it comes to reaching my resolutions.  But it took me years failing and effort to learn how to make that happen.

 In this post I will be sharing how I go about making sure that my resolutions become reality.  I am writing this post for a very specific reason.  I really want you to accomplish what you set out to accomplish this year.  These are the specific outcomes that I want to move you to do after reading this article.

Motivation-I want this post to motivate you to take action.  I not only want you to be inspired, I want you to take initiative.

Refocus-I want this post to help you refocus on your goals and why you wanted to accomplish them to begin with.

Share- I want you to share what you’ve learned with someone else in one way or another.  The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.

I don’t want you to just read this post, get a good feeling, and go about your business.  I want you to take action!  I want you to apply these techniques to your life.  I want you to succeed!

Why it’s Not Too Late

 It’s not too late to get on that path to achievement.  No matter what month it currently is, you still can set yourself up to accomplish a lot this year or put yourself in a good position to succeed next year.

One of the reasons why I think that many resolutions do not happen is because people aim too low. You many have set a goal to make just a little more money or to lose a few more pounds.  It’s going to be hard for you to get motivated about a few pounds.  Even a goal of volunteering more isn’t going to spark fire in your heart. 

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Do you have a hobby that you love?   I mean really love?   Have you ever thought to yourself, “If only I could make money from doing this”. Well, there may be a way you can make money from your hobby.   With research, planning, and work it is possible to profit from just about any talent, hobby or passion.

Turning talents into profits is just like starting your own business.  Whether you are an artist, musician, or writer, you will need to develop, market, and sell what you have to offer.   Essentially, you will be your own manufacturing, marketing, and sales department.  

This post is about taking something that you love to do; and making it profitable so that you can do it more often.  If you do the work that you love, you never have to work a day in your life.

Passion VS Profits

We all have something that we are passionate about.  Some of us are passionate about music and art.  Others have a desire to help people or to help make the world a better place to live.  Great!  Having passion helps makes life exciting.

But passion doesn’t pay the bills. You may be a great writer but when the power company sends you a bill, they want money.  You can’t slip a 5000 word article in an envelope and mail it to them.  We’ll, you could, but you will probably be writing by candlelight for a while.  

Instead, you would have to turn that article into currency.  That is true for any type of talent or skill.  The difference between a business and a hobby is the amount of money that is generated.

It can be hard sometimes to focus on the profit if you are starting a business.  Especially if you are doing something you love.  Doing what you love everyday can be so enjoyable that we forgive ourselves for not making a profit.  But that attitude is not sustainable and will eventually drive us out of business if we let it.

At the same time, it is important to stay passionate about what you love.  Turning your attention fully to making a profit can be a disaster.  Thinking only about the money made can drive you to compromise quality and loyalty to your customers.  It may also cause you to lose the love that you had when you started.

The key is to find a balance between passion and profit.  If you are completely engrossed in your passion then it may be a good idea to get a partner who can handle the accounting.  That way, you can focus on creating the product while your accountant handles the finance.

Have you ever started your work day or project focused and ready to succeed just to find yourself thinking about something that has nothing to do with what you are working on a few minutes later?  

Maybe you have a goal that you intended to accomplish just to see it fade because you were unable to stay focused.  We all have an issue with staying focused at some point or another.

Recently, I’ve had a hard time staying focused.  My lack of focus has cost me to be ridiculously unproductive.  After a few a few good months of high productivity and accomplishment, the last few weeks have been a bust.

It seemed no matter what I was doing, I felt as though I should be doing something else.  If I was writing, I felt like I should be getting some exercise.  If I was exercising I would be thinking about how long it’s been since I hung out with some of my friends.  If I was out with friends then I was thing about how much writing I needed to get done.  It was endless.

I was unable to focus on the tasks at hand because I was always thinking about something else.  To try to combat my lack of concentration, I began multitasking which turned out to be an even bigger disaster.  Even though my multitasking made me feel as though I was accomplishing a lot, the truth is I was accomplishing less.

I took a look at my life and I knew that I had to make a change.  After experimenting with different methods, I found a combination of techniques that helped me get my focus back.

The Affects of Task Switching

Being able to multitask is sometimes seen as a sign of productivity.  We often marvel at the person who is able to answer emails, create spreadsheets, talk on the telephone, and eat lunch at the same time.  This type of superhuman juggling is sometimes seen as a sign of productivity.   But according to research, that may not be the case.

Our minds are not able to focus on many things at once.  Instead, when we ‘multitask’ we are actually quickly switching from one to another.  In a study done by The National Academy of Sciences, researchers tested young and senior subjects on their ability to perform a memory task as well as solving simple equations.  The study revealed a cost in accuracy and latency when task switching when compared to performing each task alone.

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There are many different ways to persuade people to your way of thinking.  Politicians, writers, and advertising companies use multiple techniques to get the masses to buy into their message.  But persuasion techniques are important for everyone to learn.

We are constantly trying to persuade others in one direction or another.  Whether it is trying to convince your friends to eat at one restaurant instead of another, or getting your boss to give you a raise, being able to persuade other people is important.

Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle understood the power of persuasion.   They used persuasion (rhetoric) to win support from the people.  In his writings, Aristotle outlined three elements of persuasion; logic, emotion and character. 
 

A lot has changed since the fifth century B.C. and many new persuasion techniques have been developed.  But do they really work?  I set up a challenge to test 5 common persuasion techniques to see if they really work.

Persuasion vs. Manipulation

There is a difference between persuasion and manipulation.  Being persuasive is having social influence to move others to your way of thinking.  Manipulation is usually always unethical and does not pay off in the long run.  While doing my research for some of the best persuasion techniques, I found that many of them were borderline manipulation tactics. 

Manipulation uses other people’s emotions against them.  It involves making people do something that they obviously don't want to do.  If you’ve been manipulated, you understand that feeling.  Giving misinformation, reducing others to ‘things’ instead of people, and attempting to control are all characteristics of manipulation.  Here are some other common manipulation tactics to watch out for,

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How comfortable are you with approaching strangers?  Are you able to take a risk and not think twice or are you getting nauseous just thinking about it?  We all know that in order to accomplish more, we need to expand our comfort zone and challenge ourselves. So why is it so difficult to do?

I used to be afraid to leave my comfort zone.  About 5 years ago I realized that there was a direct correlation between my comfort zone and my level of success.  Once I understood that staying in my comfortable guaranteed a mediocre life, I began to look for ways to challenge myself and expand my zone.  

For me, getting out of my comfort zone is an essential part of life.  Now, I tend to find the things that are difficult or challenging.  I get bored easily which has helped me take on more challenges.  I still have my comfort zone that I sometimes fall back into, but now I able to recognize when it begins to happen.  

Face the Fear

Most of the things we fear are things that have not happened yet or are unlikely to happen.  It’s amazing how much of an affect something that hasn’t happen can have on a person.  If you tend to be afraid of the unknown, creating a best case and worst case scenario list is a great way to dissolve that fear.  Here is how it works.

Write down the things that you are afraid of. Then write down the worst case scenario of that fear.  Then, on another piece of paper write the best case scenario. For example, if you are having doubts about an upcoming presentation at work, the worst case scenario may be, 

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The Change Blindness Phenomenon and How to Stop it From Ruining Your Plan

Experiments have been done to see if people would notice subtle differences in two identical pictures.  Researchers would show the subject a picture then the exact same picture would then flash but with a change to a significant item in the picture.  Many people have a problem finding the changes.  It’s one thing to not notice an item that has changed in a picture, but it is a completely different thing to have that change happen in real life.

Watch this Change Blindness Video

75% of the people did not notice the change!  I thought that was amazing and I wondered if I would have noticed the difference.

Changes in Our Daily Lives        

Watching this made me think about changes in our daily lives.  Most people feel as though they have a great understanding of how things change in their lives.  But I wonder how often change happens without us even realizing it.  Change blindness is a visual phenomenon but wonder if the same thing can be applied to other parts of our perception.

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Life is full of give and takes.  But when it comes to criticism, most people would rather give than take.  People react differently when they are criticized.  Some people get angry while others may lose confidence in themselves.  Then there are some who can take criticism and apply it in a positive way.  My goal in this article is to help you become one of those people.

Giving criticism can be as difficult as taking criticism.  If your intentions are good but the delivery is not, your message will not be well received.  When that happens, the person will not have the opportunity to improve.  Instead, the feedback may be seen as an attack.  That is why understanding how to give criticism in a constructive way is so important.

The Magic of Feedback

Getting feedback is a valuable tool for self improvement.  Sometimes it is hard to hear that you are not perfect but the truth is, you’re not.  When I was a child, I couldn’t stand to hear that I was doing something incorrectly.  Now, I constantly ask for feedback because I realize that it really does help me improve myself.

If you are going to try to do anything worthwhile in life, you will be criticized.  Even if you choose not to do anything worthwhile, you may still be a target of criticism.  People who are unable to handle feedback well are unlikely to reach their full potential.  They miss out on the experiences and insights of others.  Learning how to take criticism constructively is big step towards improving your performance and effectiveness in all areas of your life.

I have decided to collect as much information on this topic as possible and I’ve separated them so that you will have a situation followed by how to give and take constructive criticism in that situation,

For the Friend-How to address an issue with a friend without losing them.

For the Blogger-For all of you bloggers out there, this will help you to handle negative feedback.

For the Artist/Performer-This is for artist, musicians, speakers, and anyone else who presents their craft to an audience.

For the Employee-If you would like to know how to talk to a fellow employee or boss about their habits or actions, this section is for you.

For the Employer-Being in charge means that you will have to give criticism and sometimes it means that you need to take some too.

For the Romantic Relationship-Giving feedback the wrong way in this situation could lead to a major argument.  Learn how to dish it and take it in this section.

For the Friend

Friends are supposed to be able to talk to each other open and honestly.  But giving criticism the wrong way may offend a very important person in your life.  Saying “no offense” before or after a harsh criticism won’t make it any less painful.  Here are some ways to give and take constructive criticism without ruining a friendship.

It’s Monday morning and you have hit the “snooze” button twice and now its finally time to get out of bed.  Eyes still closed, your feet slide across the floor on your way to the bathroom as you think,

“4 more days until its Saturday again, I have two more months until my vacation, and there is another 37 years until I retire. “

How is it that some people can get out of bed early and start their day with a smile while others don’t speak in the morning until they get to work?  I used to wonder about this all the time when I was a late sleeper.  Now that I am an early riser and have been for years, I can’t imagine waking up late.

Years ago, I used to hate being awake before 11 a.m.  The waking up process was always a slow one for me.  A job that required me to wake up earlier forced me to become an early riser. I’ve been waking up early for many years now but I wondered if I could improve my productivity and overall lifestyle by waking up at an extremely early time.

The 3 A.M. Experiment

I decided to try to wake up at 3 am for a week without hating it.  I wanted to track results in productivity, how I felt throughout the day.  I also wanted to find out if I had the discipline to do it. It was going to be hard but I felt that if I could develop a routine, it may go a little smoother.

I made the decision to do this challenge on Monday so I decided to start the very next morning.  I knew that waiting until the following Monday allowed too much time for me to talk myself out of it.  I don’t drink coffee and my morning tea is decaffeinated so I made sure to continue that practice so that I didn’t have a crutch for this experiment.

Tuesday

“Buzz, buuuzzz, beep beep beep beep!” Day one of my extreme early riser experiment and I’m already regretting the decision.  Today’s task is to write and answer emails.  I like writing and answering emails from visitors so the experience should be pleasant.

The day started slowly as my body was not used to waking up this early.  But after a few minutes of “man, this was a bad idea” I worked my way to my pc and began answering emails.  I was working on an article so I worked on that until about 4:45am.  Then it was off to clear my head.  I went back to my bedroom and sat at the edge of the bed and said my prayers and meditated for about 20 minutes.  I felt good and I wasn’t tempted to lay down for a quick 5 minute rest. Read more ->

Have you ever seen the game of chicken played in a movie or in real life?  The game is played by two people in order to determine who is tougher.  In the movies, two guys in fast cars face off and drive towards each other at high speeds until one of them “chickens out” and swerves at the last second narrowly avoiding a deadly crash.  The winner of the game is the one who did not flinch.

In the past few days I’ve had several conversations with people on the topic of fear.   Fear is a common part of the human existence.  But the more I live and try to stretch myself, the more I believe that fear is not supposed to be a part of our daily lives.  Especially the type of fear that stops our growth, advancement, and effectiveness.

Like most people, I’ve had to deal with fear.  My past fears held me back from opportunities that were potentially life changing.  Once I realized how much fear influenced me and prevented me from achievement, I took action.

I have adopted a practice in the last few years of playing ‘chicken’ with

irrational fear.  What this means is that if I find that there is an irrational fear in my life, I’ll identify it, isolate it, then I run towards it at high speed until the fear flinches.   In this article I will show how you can challenge and overcome the irrational fears in your life.

I Must Warn You

At the end of this post there is list of challenges that you can do to combat the fear.  The list consists of beginner, intermediate and advanced fear fighting challenges.  I suggest that you subscribe or bookmark this post so that once you get your fear fighting muscles up; you can come back and attempt more difficult challenges.

Although some of the fears in the challenges do not apply to me, I have done everything in them so I can relate to some of the discomfort that is felt.  I can also say that there is a liberating feeling that follows any challenge that is completed.  I’ve decided to choose 3 types of fears that I’ve researched are some of the most common fears.  These are also fears that I seem to get questions in my email about.
               

Opportunity Cost

What are you afraid of and what is it costing you now and what has it costs you in the past?  The term opportunity cost is an economic term that is the value of the next best alternative forgone as the result of making a decision.  In other words, what are you missing out on by making one decision as opposed to another?

Most people have regrets in life of some kind.  How many of those regrets are a direct result of some kind of fear.  Some of those fears go back to when they were in high school.  Here are some common regrets people have.

-Missed an opportunity to have a great relationship because of a fear of rejection.

-Never went after your dream job or career because of a fear of failure.

-Lost a good relationship because of a fear of commitment.

-Missed a business opportunity due to a fear of risk.

-Did not act on an opportunity purchase something that you really wanted because of the fear of making a decision.

-Allowed yourself to be mistreated because of the fear of conflict.

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Have you ever seen a trail of ants going from one destination to another?  They seem to have a great sense of direction and are intensely focused on where they are going and what needs to get done.  Even though ants are responsible for so many tasks, they always seem to accomplish everything they set out to do.  Because of their success principles, if ants were human, they would be the most successful group of people on the planet.  So how is it possible that such a tiny creature can achieve so much?

I once heard speaker Jim Rohn talk about the ant philosophy.  He explained their ability to never give up and how they prepare for the future.  I decided to take a closer look the ant and found that there are many more principles that they live by that, if applied to the human life, would almost guarantee success.

Fearless Persistence

Ants are remarkably persistent. If they are on their way somewhere, they are focused and determined to get there not matter the obstruction. They often scale great heights and travel long distances in order to get to food.  No obstacle is too big to conquer.  If an ant comes across a morsel of food too big to carry, it will find a way to summon other ants and they will work tirelessly until they have broken the food down to a size that is more manageable.

Persistence pays off in the human world also.  Persistence is a common trait that almost all successful people share.  Billionaire businessman Paul J. Meyer said, “90% of failure comes from quitting.  I’ve seen so many people, that if would’ve turned one more corner or just wait one more day, they’ve have it.”

Fearless persistence means fighting each challenge to the end.  It means looking at the things that are in the way of your goals and resolving to overcome it no matter what!  It may mean going under, over, around, and through just about anything to reach your destination.  Just like an ant, you cannot let the size of the obstacle stop you from reaching your goal.

Stay Self-Motivated

There is no other group of animals that is more efficient, effective, and motivated.  They seem to always be focused and working towards the common goals of building and repairing the nest, collecting and distributing food, and caring for eggs.  But although they have a queen, she does not direct the actions of the other ants. read

Perform Under Pressure

There is something special about someone who can perform when the stakes are high and time is short.  There’s something very heroic about Michael Jordan stealing the ball from Karl Malone, taking the ball up court, and hitting a last second shot as his defender stumbles to the floor.  We love to see the dauntless doctor on television spring into action to rescue the patient whose vital signs are dropping at a rapid pace.  Or the firefighter who is able to maintain a certain level of focus even though flames and smoke threaten to consume him alive.

Why does it seem like every time you commit to changing a bad habit, something happens that tests just how committed you are?  You start a diet, and then you get a call from a friend who wants to go to your favorite restaurant.  Or sometimes you promise yourself you are going to immediately start on an assignment that has to get done but you end up procrastinating until the very last minute?  These types of things are common and one of the major reasons why they occur to all of us is due to the lack of self-discipline.

Revolutionist, brilliant military strategist, fearless solider, charismatic speaker, tyrant, all of these words could be used to describe the life of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.  One thing that is undeniable is that Bonaparte was an astounding leader.  This Corsican born soldier who was teased as a child for not being able to speak proper French, showed fearless determination on the battle field and an extraordinary ability to lead people which enabled him to raise to become the of emperor of France by the age of 34.  read