This post is a little overdue but nonetheless I think it is worth writing about. Last week Jeremy Enke of Poker Affiliate Programs launched the first ever Poker Affiliate Radio show. Although the show is still in Beta and this was the trial broadcast, things went really well and there was quite a big turnout of both affiliates and people interested in the industry. The show covered topics from niche marketing to industry conferences and featured some really great guests including Randy Ridge and John Holloway, who are both predominant figures in the affiliate space.

I decided during the show that I was going to call in and despite not being answered the first time (I swear Jeremy has caller id) I did get a call back from the show a few minutes later. It was pretty cool to get to discuss some of the things I have been able to do in the industry such as attending the CAP conference in London this past January and I also got to ask some questions to both Jeremy and his friend Karl who co-hosted the show.

Overall, the experience was really positive and I expect that the show will be highly successful over the coming months and years. The broadcast is free, and for anyone thinking about getting into the affiliate market or who just wants to have a great time and learn something, I suggest you check out the broadcast which plays every Tuesday at 8:00pm CST.

Situational Prison: A condition, action or way of living that prevents you from doing the things you really want to.

Situational prison is something that I think many people inherentely get stuck in one way or another at some point in their lives. This doesn’t neccessarily mean situational prison is a bad thing, like having children for example would limit your ability to do certain things but may be something that outweighs whatever else it is you want to do. In this post however, I want to focus on the negative situational prison(s) that we can create for ourselves that really limit our abilities to accomplish our goals and dreams.

I have been stuck in many situational prisons in my life from relationships I didn’t really want to be in to having loads of debt that prevented me from doing pretty much anything. As I am sure you can relate, this is not a fun point in life and really brings down your overall attitude, which in turns drastically effects the bottom line of being able to do what you want with your life. Recently I have done a lot of thinking about situational prison and how it really impacts so many people, but more importantly, how I could get out of it when it popped up.

This takes quite a bit of honesty if you want to do it right, but can be useful in helping you figure out the things you need to eliminate or change to allow yourself the freedom to do what you want. Below is a set of questions I used to analyze myself and it may not be relevant to everyone, but I thought I would share.

1. What in my life causes me significant stress, unhappiness or anger?
2. Of these things, how many of them can I change? (Sorry, you have to pay tax)
3. How could I go about changing them?
4. What would improve if I made the changes?
5. What (if any) would the consequences of making the changes be?

Once you have listed all of these out, take a good look over them and answer each question for one specific situational prison. At the end, you should have a good overview of your current life and a path to changing it (if you really want to).

You may have noticed that I just put a “Reading Music” section in the sidebar of the blog. Personally, I have found music to be an incredible motviator for accomplishing work and creating a positive attitude. I realize that all of you may not have my “exquisite” taste in hip hop music (lol) but this can be applied to any genre of music that you enjoy. I really think that listening to those songs that you really like and make you feel good can have a tremendous positive effect on your overall progress and motivation. Next time your feeling tired, un-motivated or just plain lazy, throw on a track that you absolutely love and start grinding it out!

I am planning to update the reading music section really often cause I am constantly finding new awesome songs I want to share. Also, if any of you like a soca/hip-hop/reggae mix I listen to Trini Radio all day while I’m working, it’s free and broadcasted live from Trinidad and Tobago, thanks to Greg from RRRMusic for the link to that.

Back on the money side of things, I thought I would put a positive light on being rich rather than dwelling on the negative aspects. No matter what anyone tells you, there are specific traits, characteristics and actions that all successful people embody that greatly improve the way they conduct business and ultimately, their overall success. Below is my list of the 20 Traits of Successful People.

Successful People

1. Wake Up Early to get working and into the day before everyone else.
2. Are Patient in solving problems and making business decisions.
3. Innovate in most things they do, from idea to implementation.
4. Are Decisive in making quick choices.
5. Persist at anything they do.
6. Use Discipline while conducting business.
7. Organize everything to have a smooth running operation.
8. Are Entrepreneurial not neccesarrily literally, but in thinking.
9. Work Hard at every task, project and challenge.
10. Are Goal-Oriented in terms of their path to success.
11. Use Creativity to identify new opportunities.
12. Understand People and how to get the most out of them.
13. Find Solutions to common problems.
14. Are Outgoing in every sense of the word.
15. Respect Money both physically and in principal.
16. Manage Their Time effectively and appropriately.
17. Are Bothered by anything that doesn’t meet the highest standards.
18. Network with like-minded people.
19. Motivate not only themselves but others.
20. Are Curious by nature.

There you have it, how many are you able to tick off the list? Chances are, the more of these traits that describe your line of the thinking the better chance you have of being successful in anything you undertake.