“We are all failures-at least, all the best of us are.”

Ever wonder what makes achievers excel? Why some people skyrocket while others plummet? You know what I’m talking about. You can call it luck, blessing, or the Midas touch-call it whatever you want. But the truth is that some people just seem to achieve incredible things in spite of tremendous difficulties.

What makes the difference? Why do some people achieve so much? Is it…

Family background, wealth, opportunity, high morals, the absence of hardships?

No, none of these things are the key.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

How people see failure and deal with it – whether they possess the ability to look beyond it and keep achieving – impacts every aspect of their lives.

Even positive people have a tough time learning how to see failure positively. Perhaps your attitude towards failure is…

1) You fear failure.
2) You misunderstand failure.
3) Your unprepared for failure.

“People are training for success when they should be training for failure. Failure is far more common than success; poverty is more prevalent than wealth; and disappointment more normal than arrival.”

In life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with your problems. What are you prepared for?

If your perception of and response to failure were changed, what would you attempt to achieve?

No matter who you are, you are facing obstacles in your life right now. But whatever they are doesn’t matter. What does matter is that your life can change if your willing to look at failure differently. You have the potential to overcome any problems, mistakes, or misfortunes.

Here is your first step: Realize There Is One Major Difference Between Average People and Achieving People.

* Take responsibility.
* Learn from each mistake.
* Know failure is part of the progress.
* Maintain a positive attitude.
* Challenge outdated assumptions.
* Take new risks.
* Persevere.

No matter how difficult your problems are, the key to overcoming them doesn’t lie in changing your circumstances. It’s in changing yourself. That in itself is a process, and it begins with a desire to be teachable.

In the past few years we’ve been bombarded by sensational news reports about the possible danger of taking higher doses of Vitamin E. These reports have been based on a review article that was published in the Annuals of Internal Medicine [4 January 2005; Vol. 142 No. 1] written by Dr. Edgar Miller, of the John Hopkins School of Medicine. Miller concluded that a “high” dosage of vitamin E supplements (over 400 IU per day) may increase death rates and should be avoided. Obviously, careful evaluation of this study is warranted, since most of us are consuming these optimal or advanced levels of vitamin E.

The Rest of the Wonderful Story

Here are important facts that the media reports didn’t mention:

• This is not a new study. It is simply a review of 36 controlled trials, with follow-up of longer than 1 year, done from 1966 to 2004. There is no new research here, just an interpretation of old data.
• Only 19 trials were considered for statistical interpretation. Out of the original 36, they eliminated 17 trials that did not have more than ten deaths.
• None of the individual trials noted any statistically significant differences in the mortality between the control group and the Vitamin E group.
• The studies involved patients that were already very ill. For example, the CHAOS study (Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study) involved over 2,000 patients who had already suffered a heart attack. The ADCS study (the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study) involved patients who already had moderate to severe Alzheimer’s dementia.
• Many of the patients in both the Vitamin E group and the control group died.
• 8 of the 19 studies actually showed fewer deaths in the Vitamin E group than the control group. The authors were even very careful to point out that their marginal findings of increased deaths from all-causes could not be carried over to healthy individuals. But you didn’t hear that on the evening news.

Twisting the Numbers

First and foremost, realize that you can prove anything you desire by simply setting up the criteria of the study to meet the conclusion that you desire to achieve. Out of the original 36 trials, the reviewers eliminated 12 trials because there were less than 10 deaths, 3 trials were eliminated because there was no mortality data available, and 2 trials were eliminated because the mortality data was confusing. This left the reviewers with 19 trials that lasted for greater than one year and involved more than 10 deaths. They pre-selected trials that supported their conclusions. That’s just bad science.

But then the numbers get twisted even more. In order to have results that mean anything, you have to have “statistical significance.” In order to do this, you plug your data into simple formulas that tell you whether your results have a cause or whether they were the result of chance. When all the trials are considered together, or when each study was considered individually, there was no statistically significant connection that could be made between Vitamin E and death. The differences could only be attributed to chance.

However, by focusing their analysis on only one or two of the larger studies, they were able to show a very slight statistically significant difference in deaths between the two groups of very ill patients. These studies used higher dose vitamin E primarily and the researchers came up with a marginally significant difference in deaths between these two groups. But remember, the higher doses were only given to patients who where the most ill, so we would expect a higher death rate anyway.

When they compared the deaths between the control group and the Vitamin E group for all 19 studies, there was not a statistically difference in the death rate of either group. Had they analyzed all of the trials and let all the data speak for itself, they would have not found statistical significance. So the conclusion that higher doses of vitamin E causes more deaths from all-causes is absolutely bogus. This is truly a manipulation in the highest sense of the word. They were literally grabbing at straws for anything they could show statistically. First they had to eliminate 17 of the trials. Then they eliminated the low dose vitamin E studies and focused on those who were most ill. Even by their own admission they state, “High dose vitamin E trials were often preformed in patients with various chronic disease, and we could not evaluate or project these findings to healthy adult populations.” But you didn’t hear that on the news either.

A Question of Motives?

Why would such a marginal review of the medical literature be reported in the media as such a sensational finding? The media has jumped all over this study and created a tremendous scare. Maybe there is a common thread. The pharmaceutical industry sponsored this study, at least in part, and they have a tremendous influence on the media. When you look at the maneuvering that was done to try to show a negative result, you have to wonder.

Realize that this is a study that hasn’t even been released yet. The last time that I recall the media jumping on a pre-released study was with the Fen/Phen crises. Mayo Clinic had concluded in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that over one-third of the patients who used the Fen/Phen combination for weight loss for over 3 months had heart valve damage. For obvious reasons, this study needed to be reported as soon as possible.

When you compare the present review study to this situation, you can see why I am suspicious. I don’t know what the motives were behind this study. However, I personally believe that this is going to be only one of several negative studies that we will be dealing with over the next few years.

Different Perspective

This fat soluble vitamin continues to receive high acclaim as an exceptional antioxidant especially when paired with vitamins C, beta carotene, and selenium. There are actually two natural plant sources of vitamin E. The first is a group called tocopherols and include d-alpha (or RRR-alpha), beta, gamma, and delta. The second group are called the tocotrienols, of which alpha tocotrienol is the most biologically active. Of the two groups of vitamin E, the d-alpha tocopherol is the most biologically active and all other forms are compared to it in terms of their respective activity levels (alpha = 100, beta = 25-50, gamma = 10-35 and alpha tocotrienol = 30). There is also a synthetic vitamin E known as dl-alpha or all-rac-a-tocopherol, but it only has an activity level of 74% of natural or d-alpha tocopherol. Many people won’t think that this information is important on the surface, but if you are looking for natural vitamin E or trying to perform a calculation on equivalents, it becomes critical.

New preliminary reports are indicating that exercisers and those exposed to UV light and ozone may have a greater need for vitamin E. In a small test (5 men) conducted by German researchers at the University of Ulm, Germany, it was noted that the subjects experienced very little DNA damage to white blood cells when 800 IU’s of vitamin E was taken twice on the day before exercise and one dose a day afterward. This same group experienced significant DNA damage when the same test was repeated without the vitamin E supplementation (Mutation Research, 1995). Lester Packer, Ph.D., University of Berkeley, recently presented some of his recent findings regarding UV light and ozone. In a recent animal study, Packer observed that when skin was exposed to a single dose of UV light (suberythemal), vitamin E levels dropped by 40-48%. Exposure to ozone caused a similar decrease in vitamin E levels.

Putting these Studies in Proper Perspective

The overwhelming majority of the individual studies showed major health benefits for those who took Vitamin E, yet the Miller report ignored them. Consider these findings:

The CHAOS study showed a 77% decrease in the number of non-fatal heart attacks in the vitamin E group when compared to the control group. This is a major statistical improvement.

In the ADCS study, the patients with moderately, severe Alzheimer’s dementia who took high dose vitamin E (2,000 IU) were able to stay home 2 to 3 years longer than the control group. In other words, the Alzheimer’s dementia in the control group advanced much faster than the patients in the Vitamin E group.

The patients in the Vitamin E study not only showed a decrease in the progression of their Alzheimer’s dementia, but also saved a considerable amount of money that would have otherwise been spent on skilled nursing home care.

These findings are collaborated by many, many studies that show that a full and balanced nutritional supplementation program is highly effective in preventing chronic degenerative diseases and helping those who already suffer from them.
Applying the Facts about Vitamin E There are some valid concerns about the use of high-dose vitamin E supplementation:
Never use vitamin E alone. Vitamin E is not a drug but simply a nutrient that we get from our food; however, because of supplementation we are able to get it at levels you cannot obtain from your foods.

There is always the possibility that when you use vitamin E alone, it can become a pro-oxidant and actually cause increased free radical production.

Use optimal levels of all the important nutrients on a regular basis. Vitamin E is the most important antioxidant within the cell membrane; however, it is regenerated (may be used over and over) by vitamin C and alpha lipoic acid. All the studies that look at total antioxidant status, always shows a health benefit. Beta-carotene was once ostracized when a study looked at the use of beta-carotene alone in heavy smokers, and found an increased risk of lung cancer. Follow-up analysis of that same study has now shown that when you looked at total antioxidant (beta-carotene with other antioxidants) there was a significantly decreased risk of cancer.

Always use natural vitamin E (d alphatocopherol). Synthetic vitamin E (dl alphatocopherol) may be harmful. The body does not recognize this mirror image of natural vitamin E and tries to get rid of it. Many of the studies in our medical literature, including several that were reviewed in this meta-analysis, used synthetic vitamin E.

The only difference on your bottle is an “l” following the “d”. Go for the “d” only! (dalpha- tocopherol)
Use 400 to 450 IU of alpha-tocopherol in combination with a complete supplement program for full cellular nutrition. Using just alpha-tocopherol can actually displace other very important vitamin E’s like gamma, delta, and beta-tocopherols. It’s even better to add some additional gamma-tocopherol and tocotrienols to your nutritional supplementation. Several companies are now offering this mixture of vitamin E’s in an additional supplement.

Summing Up

Remember, don’t believe everything you hear in the media! This latest study has been blown way out of proportion and is strictly a statistical manipulation. Unfortunately, it will have an effect on physicians and the market place. Doctors will not take the time to do an in-depth objective evaluation of this study, but it will strengthen their bias against supplements. I know, because I know several physicians that have practiced this way for over 24 years. It truly makes me sad. Their conclusions and claims are bogus and they completely ignore the wealth of studies that show a tremendous health benefit of using high-dose levels of natural vitamin E as part of a full program for cellular nutrition. The overwhelming majority of studies show tremendous health benefits for using supplements for very serious illnesses. These studies show a much greater health benefit than almost all of the drugs studied in these same diseases. When individuals add these optimal, advanced levels of antioxidants to a proactive lifestyle, they decrease their risk of developing the chronic degenerative diseases that were being studied. The other serious fallacy of this meta-analysis is the fact that there is no way you can translate this study of serious ill patients to the general, healthy population. Even the reviewers themselves came to that conclusion. And finally, the number of deaths between the two groups was insignificant. They only found a statistically significant finding when they looked at just a few studies in the more serious ill patients who were receiving higher dose vitamin E.

No doubt, we are going to see more and more studies trying to demonstrate the danger of taking nutritional supplements. It is ironic when you consider that medications are the third leading cause of death in this country. If you don’t believe me, get a copy of my book Death by Prescription and look at the evidence.

Confidence means a state of mind or a manner marked by easy coolness and freedom from uncertainty, diffidence, or embarrassment. Confidence stresses faith in oneself and one’s powers without any suggestion of conceit or arrogance.

Here is a list of nine important points that will help to build your confidence.

Build Your Dream: It all starts with a dream. It’s the “why” behind the “how”. Try this exercise: take a look at the back of your hands. Focus on them for a minute. Now close your eyes and imagine your hands wrapped around the steering wheel of your dream car. Picture yourself driving it. Revel in the emotion you feel as you experience that car. You can do the same with any dream you have, tangible or not. Picture the expression on someone’s face or the sense of anticipation as you hand someone a special gift; whatever your dream, imagine it and savor the good feelings it produces in you.

Our thoughts have a profound impact on what manifests into our lives. The more we focus on what we want, the more we attract that into our lives. By the same token, the more we focus on what we don’t want, the worse we feel, the worse we perform, and consequently, the more we attract what we don’t want.

Dress Sharp: No need to give up your style while you conduct business (unless it’s sloppy, sleazy, or downright scary), but do dress up to the same level of professionalism as your leaders. Professionally dressed people draw more trust, respect, and credibility. If you need some help picking the right threads, or if you have questions about hair, make-up, to shave or not to shave etc., get some perspective from someone on your support team.

Smile and be yourself: People who smile are 100% more approachable. Smiling is also the quickest, least expensive way to improve your looks and your results in the business. You are at your best when you are true to your inner self. Don’t try to be something or someone that you aren’t; just work on being the best you.

Get Organized: Don’t clutter your valuable mind space with things that you need to remember. As a professional in this business you need your brain to think. Get yourself a pocket calendar, a notebook, or a planner and write everything down. Important dates, tasks, your prospect list, your dreams, goals, thoughts- write it all down. The more you dump your thoughts on paper, the more space you’ll have in your brain to think. Try it and you’ll be amazed at how the fog lifts!

Prepare to do business: Have on hand what you need to show your business and to follow through with prospects including any materials you may want to leave them. You should also have your own set of personal favorites (books/audios) to keep you up and on your game, especially after those times when your prospect turns out to be a dud. Don’t load up on a bunch of stuff you’re never going to use, but don’t shortchange the things that you do need.

Know and use your products: It’s the building block of your business.

Start reading, listening, and learning: Give yourself a week before your attitude is challenged. The only way to equip yourself with the right answers, the right attitude, and the right perspective for what you are about to face as you talk to people about your business is to devour the books and audios recommended by your coach. Your support team has some sort of continuing education program they recommended – subscribe to it. Whether you are smart or not, when you read and listen often, you’ll come across as an informed business owner because you’ve acquired the knowledge, attitude, and belief of top leaders. And even if you feel you don’t need it, there will be someone on your team who does. Stay informed and you’ll know what books and audios to promote to your team.

Set a goal: Point your compass toward something achievable that is also a bit of a stretch. If you don’t have a simple goal that comes to your mind this instant, stop reading, give it some thought and then write it down. Talk it over with your support team and develop a strategy to obtain it. Short-term goals give you focus, they get you moving, and of course, when accomplished, you’ll feel great to have a win under your belt.

Keep an open line of communication: People headed for quicksand usually don’t know it so it’s important to keep in regular communication with someone on your support team who can guide you through the field you’re trekking. One piece of advice could be the difference between one week and one year. Keep them informed of what’s going on and try to learn from them every step of the way.