I recently received an email from a man in Africa, asking for my advice on how he can change his life.

In thinking about his situation I realized that, no matter where you are – Africa, New York, London, Tokyo, or anywhere else, it’s the same process.

You can’t keep telling the same story and expect conditions to change. If you want to improve conditions in your life, you must begin telling yourself a new story.

The most important thing you can do is stop talking about the problems.

Yes, conditions are difficult in many parts of the world however continuing to talk about them and feeling victimized does nothing more than give energy to the problem.

Whether you’re trying to earn enough to feed your family, start your business or, as is the case in the United States government, create jobs, the law of attraction is always at work.

No matter who’s in office, if they continue to focus on the problem, they will continue to perpetuate the condition. This is one of the reason governments everywhere in the world are ineffective in changing conditions.

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All teachings teach something similar to the Bible statement that, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

We attract what we think about. Period. It’s non negotiable.

You cannot keep saying things like, “I don’t want to be struggling all the time” and expect it to magically change.

We must all learn to change the conversation from what we do not want to what we do. You must begin writing a new story about your life, literally. Start talking to yourself about how your life is getting better and better each day.

Learn to focus your attention on what it is you do have, what you are thankful for- however little that may be- and what is going right in your life.

Spend some time each day, in your mind, seeing the life you want to be living. Feel it with all your senses.

If it’s a job you want, begin by imagining yourself working in your ideal career, enjoying your work and feeling appreciated. Of course, don’t stop there. We have an active role to play in our lives so, after you invest time seeing the life you want, get up and do something to move toward it, however small it may seem at the moment.

If you want to start or grow a business, instead of looking at obstacles, however true they may seem, start looking for ways you can provide service.

When you find ways to serve: your community, your fellow man, and the world at large, you will begin to see ways in which you can earn money.

It’s never the other way around.

I know of no one who is successful who began by looking for ways to make money. Financial abundance is always the result of doing something that provides value in the world.

Begin now writing the story of your new life. Write it down, act it out, see it, feel it and start moving toward it.

As the title of one of my books reminds us, “This is Your Life, Not a Dress rehearsal.”