B E A T R I Z M A R T I N E Z - P E N A L V E R

8 STEPS TO TRIUMPH

1

STEP ONEA Clearly Identified Target Can Much More Easily Be Hit

You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourselfIn any direction you choose.

—Dr. Seuss

Imagine you have to hit a specific target on a wall about seven feet away from you. You see it clearly and then you shoot with a beanbag. Now imagine someone blindfolds you, spins you around a few times, and asks you to hit the same target again. How close do you think you will be? There’s definitely a big difference between the two, right? When you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, it’s like hitting a target while blindfolded.

On this first step, it is important to pinpoint clearly what you would like to conquer. Maybe there is something about you that you would like to change. Perhaps the way you are treating one of your classmates, maybe you want to pay more attention to your nutrition, or maybe you are tired of getting a C in one of your classes and would like to get a B+ or an A. Or maybe a close relative or friend has a debilitating disease for which they have found no cure, and you dream of finding it one day. Or perhaps you’d like to see the whole planet only using solar energy. Whatever it is—addressing a character flaw, reaching a short-term goal, or working on a dream—you have to be able to put your finger on what it is you want to create for yourself or the world.

The moment you identify your target and decide to hit it, know that you can achieve it. The only reason you will not hit that target is if you quit trying or discover that your dream has taken off on a different direction, perhaps a much bigger and better one. Reaching your goals will take persistence for sure, and it may take a few or many attempts. But what will keep you trying is believing that you can achieve it. The moment you stop believing, your goal will crumble.

Triumph

2

3

STEP TWOA Student Who Wants to Learn Always Writes Notes

A goal without a plan is just a wish.—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• This class should be no different than your language arts or any other class. A notebook is required.

• Write your goals, one per page. Include the actions or the specific things you plan to do to accomplish your goal. (See notebook illustration for example.)

• Write frequently about the actions that can lead to successfully hitting your dream target.

• Choose no more than three targets at a time. One at a time is also fine.

• This is your private journal, not one that you need to bring to school or share with others. With the present technology, you can keep it password protected on your tablet, computer, or phone. Or you can simply use a notebook.

• Setting goals gives you direction. It helps you get into action mode and will motivate you.

• This does not have to become a “feelings” journal. It’s keeping a record of what you are actively doing to hit your target.

Diana Scharf said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.” Setting target dates for your actions is very important. This helps you prepare more and work with a purpose. However, meeting your target dates is not as important as having pride in all the actions you are taking and in the person you are becoming as a result of your work.

To me, writing is the most helpful tool in organizing my brain. I use different to-do lists. I keep a to-do list on my computer with my long-term goals, but when I want to make sure it gets done on a specific day, I write it on my phone calendar with a time and an audible alarm to remind me. Look for what works for you to make sure you are actively working on your plan. Remember that your potential is unlimited, but your time is not. Use it wisely. A journal will help you keep focused and save time.

When journaling or writing about what you are doing to hit your target, it is important to write any steps you take leading you to success, regardless of how small they are. Sometimes we don’t acknowledge our efforts when they don’t produce big results. Paying attention to the small steps you take will help you stay motivated.

Triumph

4

For example, let’s say you are very shy and you set as your goal to ask questions freely in class. Then you had a class where you really wanted to ask a question but didn’t have the courage to do so. After class you stayed and pushed yourself to talk to the teacher. This should be noted as action leading to success. Any attempt to raise your hand and talk in class, even if you do not get called on, is an action leading to success.

Documenting every attempt helps you see that you are actively working on your goals and motivates you to continue working on them. You are changing with every positive attempt whether it is successful or not.

No goal is unrealistic as long as you persist with your plan. Albert Einstein was considered a slow learner in school and later received a Nobel Prize in physics.

Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver

5

Goal: I want to improve my grade in history.

Actions:

1. I will read my notes and book every day for 20 min.

2. I will ask ^Ronnie if I can study with him on weekends-he does very well in hx

Sally

11/14/15

Journal

in doing it any other time either. I’ll ask Sally- she’s very good in hx

I studied my notes and book 3 days this past week. I asked Ronnie if he

could study with me this weekend but he said no. He wasn’t interested

11/21/15

I studied 4 days this wk and I feel better already when I come to

class. I asked Sally if she could study with me and said no. I will

ask uncle Sam.

Target Date

On-going

11/20/15

Triumph

6

1. I will ask my science teacher what he suggests I do. Done 11/18/15

2. I will read about the lives of 3 people that have found a cure for an illness.

3. I will read about CF and genetic engineering.

Goal:

I want to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF)

Journal:

11/20/15

I spoke with my teacher this week and he suggested I start reading about

people that have helped find the cure for diseases like polio, meningitis,

etc. He also asked me to read as much as I can about research done for

CF. Maybe in the future I will be able to volunteer somehow with a CF

foundation. That will be so exciting!!!

7

STEP THREEBe Aware of the Different Ways Fear Talks to You

Fear is the brain’s way of sayingThat there is something important

For you to overcome.—Rachel Huber

There are a few very important facts about fear that you need to understand.

• Fear will find any way to disguise itself as excuses, complaining, blaming, and feeling like a victim to get you to abandon the steps that can lead you to your target.

• When you catch yourself coming up with excuses or feeling like a victim, know that is fear talking to you. Go back to your journal. Pick one or two actions, and get busy working at it. Don’t let fear disguise itself with messages trying to convince you that hitting that target is not important anymore.

• Every time you catch a fear as it’s occurring, answer with what you think your highest self would say. Your highest self is the person you are when you don’t feel any fear and the person you tap into every time you conquer your fears. Your highest self is the one that tells you, “I am confident,” “I am capable,” or “I am talented.”

• You become what you think repeatedly. Watch out for those negative thoughts that are based on fears and constantly trying to sneak in. These thoughts will say, I can’t do it, I am not good at … Substitute them immediately with affirmations (see list of affirmations on page 14), or do an empowering visualization (step 4 shows you how), or go in silence (covered in step 5).

• Remind yourself often that everything you want to create in your life can only happen after facing your fears and taking the necessary risks.

• Fear will give you all sorts of different messages and try to convince you your actions aren’t going to work. I compare a negative thought to a weed in a beautiful flower garden. It spreads very quickly and will kill every flower if you do not pull it fast enough.

• Almost 90 percent of the things your mind tells you to be afraid of never happen, and the 10 percent that do will help you grow.

• Drowning your fears requires persistence. Fear will always be a part of life, but as long as you stay on target, you will find a way through every fear.

Triumph

8

Be concerned when you have no challenges, nothing that gets you a little anxious, or no fears. This may be a sign of complacency and not pushing yourself to grow. Complacency is the quickest route to getting stuck. It’s better to have some remorse about pushing yourself to conquer a fear and making a mistake than living with that fear for the rest of your life, always wondering how things would have been had you pushed yourself to reach your dream.

The fear of failure often stops us from even trying. I love what Winston Churchill said: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver

9

You are the gardener of your mindpull out the weeds;

this is where your future is designed.

= any fear or negative thoughts

Triumph

10

= positive thoughts

Thoughts become things.Keep them beautiful.

11

STEP FOURFake It until You Make It.

Close your eyes my little oneClose your eyes and dream

You can be anyone,Anyone you dream

You can go anywhere,do anything,meet anyone

Just close your eyes and dream your dreams—Rebecca J. Burns

There was nothing my husband and I loved more than watching our daughter pretend play. She loved to dress up and be so many things. She and her friends were always creating so many stories; it was fascinating. It’s time for you to dream again, this time with a bigger goal. This goal may even take you to discovering your true purpose.

The first time I heard someone say, “Fake it until you make it,” I was in my early twenties, and I was confused. I’d been taught never to fake anything; faking something meant I wasn’t being true to myself. Now here I am, telling you that you need to fake or act as if whatever you are working on is already part of your life.

• Go back to what you once did so well: pretend play. When adults play this game in their minds they call it visualization. To do this well, I need you to think that you have accomplished your goal, and feel how you think you will feel when you achieve it. Imagine exactly, with all the little details, how you would act if you had already achieved what you are working toward.

• Pay very close attention to how you feel when you think of yourself having achieved your goal. Connecting to that feeling is the most important part of the visualization exercise.

• Stay with that feeling for as long as you can. Enjoy it, smile, feel the emotions, enhance them.

• Take all the time you want to imagine it. (Maybe it’s not a good idea to do it during any of your classes though. ) Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge.

• Repeat it over and over again in your mind. Repetition is what helps the subconscious mind register the message and how things begin to change.

Triumph

12

• Then act as if you have reached your target. When you repeatedly do this, doubt begins to disappear. When doubt is released, confidence and knowing take over your mind.

For example, if walking into a room with strangers makes you feel a little anxious, practice walking in with a big smile, head up, and making good eye contact. Pull your shoulders back and chest slightly forward. Display a confident smile, and give a firm handshake when greeting others. You will need to act as if you feel confident, and connect these confident behaviors with the feeling of empowerment.

If you feel you need to work on a virtue like kindness because you’ve gotten used to excluding some of your classmates, make it a choice to invite them to sit with you at lunch, give them a compliment, and talk to them when you have the opportunity.

With daily practice, these acts get easier, and you’ll start to become someone you were not before. You’ll start to experience a much better version of yourself, one who understands that what you think you create. When you shift your thoughts, you shift your life.

Pretend play your dreams in the daily show of life; you are the lead actor. The show will take you where you choose to go.

13

STEP FIVESilence: Your Magic Wand … the Power to Create All Things

You have always been in possession of a magic wand that is able to guide your thoughts and actions in any direction you want. Only you are capable of bringing the magic you want into your life by choosing the thoughts that will get you there. Every time you overcome an anxiety, a challenge, a fear, or take one more step toward achieving your dream you get closer to understanding that the power within you is what shapes your life.

To get more in touch with this unlimited power, silence needs to be a part of your daily life. It is in silence that you’ll discover who you truly are. It is in silence that you’ll transform your ideas and yourself.

When your phone needs to get charged, you connect it to the wall because there lies the source of power to make it work. Think of silence like your charger. It will help you connect with your personal source of unlimited creativity to reach your goals. Silence helps you quiet your mind, so the connection has no interference and is stronger. If your mind is full of negative thoughts, it won’t get charged.

Imagine you are an artist and are given a canvas covered in words, drawings, and messy paint. It will be hard to find space to create your beautiful picture. The canvas is crowded. Or imagine you’re going to cook, and your kitchen is full of pots, pans, and dirty dishes. It’s hard to get motivated to prepare a great meal in a dirty kitchen. You need a clean canvas and a clean kitchen to create your art or your delicious meal. Silence is the blank canvas or the clean kitchen for your mind to get inspired and show you how to reach your goals. In silence answers come, revolutionary ideas develop, new concepts appear, and you design how to better your best. It was in silence that the idea of this curriculum first appeared.

Silence is the key element that will help you move towards a positive transformation more rapidly. The following steps and the audio included in this program will assist you with this.

• Pick a sentence or word you want to become from the affirmation board that follows or any other affirmation that comes to mind.

• An affirmation does not include any negative words, and it is always written in the present tense to represent that the affirmation is a part of your life now. For example, rather than, “I will not be afraid,” or, “I am not afraid,” say, “I am confident.” Rather than, “I will not be mean anymore,” or, “I am not aggressive,” say, “I am loving,” “I am peaceful,” or, “I am peace.”

Triumph

14

• Close your eyes. This helps your attention go within. Say in your mind the affirmation you chose, and go in silence for at least ten minutes or the time your school has allowed you.

• Paying attention to your breathing and the affirmation you picked helps block any distractions.

• If you practice it again at night before going to sleep, you will reap better results. There you can do it for as long as you want.

• When your mind begins to wonder, which is normal at times, gently redirect it to the affirmation or word you chose and to your breathing.

Silence is the workshop where you connect with your unlimited creative force and your inherent wisdom. If you want to get really good at volleyball you go and practice at the court, beach, or backyard. Silence is the court, beach, or backyard where you practice how to reach your goals. It is in this place where majestic ideas on how to hit your targets appear and flourish.

In this silence, you’ll find the sparks and ideas needed to achieve all your goals. Here lies all your infinite potential and a boundless wealth of knowledge that will ignite your creativity and take it wherever you choose. Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Bill Gates, Jim Carrey, Evan Williams (cofounder of Twitter) and many other successful people have used silence to design their masterpieces.

Work hard in silence, let success be your noise.—Frank Ocean

Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver

15

Silence without intention leads

to paralysis of expression.

- Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver

Meditation without intention leads

to paralysis of expression.

- Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver

“I am unlimited creative power”

17

Step SIXLife Is a Boomerang

Welcome to The Karma Cafe.There are no menus.You will get servedWhat you deserve.

—Unknown

• Life is a boomerang in every aspect. Not only does every one of your actions have a reaction, but your thoughts and feelings do, too. Each of your choices has consequences. When you understand this fully, you’ll begin to take more responsibility for what happens in your life.

• Consequences of your actions, thoughts, or feelings show up at various times. They may be seen shortly after or later on in life, but the boomerang of consequences will always return.

• When the boomerang returns to you, it is much stronger.

• When you understand the full extent of the boomerang effect, you will make sure that your goals and actions are based on positive emotions geared toward improving yourself and/or reaching your dreams, without harming anyone or anything around you.

• The boomerang effect also applies to gratitude. When you live in a state of gratitude, life multiplies what you are thankful for. To help you reach a feeling of gratitude, you can write a list of things you are grateful for from the past, things you have now, and the things you want to have in the future. Keep this list alive by adding things frequently.

• The boomerang effect also applies to contribution. When you contribute in any way to make someone else’s life better, it comes back to you.

• Now, the key here is not to do your kind deed expecting to get something back. The only reason you want to do something good is because your heart will be happy. When you are kind, generous, and able to help someone in need—or Mother Earth—it leaves your heart with the fragrance of love, and nothing is more empowering than a heart filled with love. A great amount of research in psychology has proven the effects positive emotions have in the human body and its surroundings. The opposite of this principle is also true.

Triumph

18

Life is a boomerang...

Be prepared to welcome what you give.

19

STEP SEVENChoose People Who Bring You Joy or Add to Your Life

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.—Jim Rhon

• Choose wisely with whom you want to spend your time. This includes friends from in and out of school, colleagues, and family members.

• When you have to spend time with people who do not add to your positive emotions, make it a choice to be courteous and kind.

• Make new friends who bring satisfaction to your life, joy and peace, and direction to your target.

• Let the people who positively influence your life know about your dreams, and ask them for help and guidance to hit your target.

Understand that the qualities of the people you mostly hang around with will rub off on you. Be attentive to your peers’ actions, and see if those are the values you want for yourself.

No relationship is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. Even the friend, relative, or mentor that you think has great virtues and values may disappoint you at some point. What you need to be able to identify is if he or she brings you joy and tranquility most of the time. I always say that I married the best man I know, but even he has his faults and together with mine, joy is not with us 100 percent of the time, but without a doubt, it is present most of the time.

You need other people, including mentors, to achieve your goals and realize your full potential. We live in an interdependent world, one in which cooperation takes us much further ahead than competition. We need to learn to relate and connect with others to achieve Triumph.

Triumph

20

Qualities of people who will get you closer to your target

Qualities of people who will keep you away from your target

honesty

happiness

joy

compassion

generosity

admiration

trust

optimism

spontaneity

supportiveness

humility

flexibility

integrity

respect

responsibility

perseverance

anger

jealousy

envy

hate

anxiety

annoyance

boredom

pessimism

cynicism

snobbery

arrogance

complacency

rigidity

disrespect

laziness

selfishness

21

STEP EIGHTRepetition, Repetition, Repetition

Repetition with discipline will bear the fruit of Triumph.

This is the last step, and the one that is going to make or break your plan. Without repetition and discipline, nothing is learned.

Repetition is the way concepts register in your subconscious mind and, therefore, impact your life forever. You learned your multiplication tables by repetition, and you learned to read by repetition. You didn’t practice your multiplication tables or reading once a week for an hour; you did it every day, and you have needed to multiply or read repeatedly throughout life. That’s the reason these skills are so well mastered.

Every skill you master in your life requires learning new facts and repetition. If you often say, “I can’t do …” or, “I am not good at …” your subconscious mind will believe it. Eventually, you’ll become the thoughts you repeat the most.

• Immerse yourself in these eight principles for at least forty-five days in order to see the results.

• Repeat your affirmations and visualizations as many times a day as possible, always connecting them to a triumphant feeling.

• Once results are seen, continue to use these steps for any goals.

• If at some point you are not consciously aware of any specific target you want to achieve, practice all the other steps. In practicing silence repeatedly, you’ll be able to discover purposeful goals.

You may have many talents, but if you do not practice, practice, practice, you’ll not achieve excellence. Also, you may not be a natural at certain things, but with repetition, repetition, repetition, you can achieve excellence.

Repetition is almost like magic. The actual practice of repeating a thought or an action helps to change the human brain. Everything starts with a thought; thoughts lead to action; repeated actions form habits; and repeated habits create your future. What you will become tomorrow depends solely on what you repeatedly tell yourself today.

The happiness of people is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things.

—Ernest Dimnet

Triumph

22

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT

and rejoice in TRIUMPH.

23

Triumph Will Be Earned with These Steps

Every time you work at hitting a new target by following this plan, your mind will expand and reach new limits. If you commit to this plan and only improve 1% a day, by the end of sixty days, you’ll have a 60% improvement. Procrastination is an unproductive habit that will not let you advance even a 1%. Act now.

When you practice these principles, you’ll awaken your infinite potential. This will cause something monumental to happen within you. When this happens, your purpose will make something extreme happen in the world.

Please share your triumph with metriumph@triumphsteps.com

Order the complete Triumph system at www.triumphsteps.com

System includes student workbook, teacher guide, audio and visual aids, and a manual for administrators.Available for:

• private and public schools

• universities

• private and government agencies

• other institutions