Art of Positive Thinking: How to Overcome Our Thought Pollutions

Thought pollutions results from the unskillful use of emotions, the most basic element of thought energy. Often when we feel down or sick, it is because we are picking up these thought pollutions, which we can absorb very easily. But we can also learn quite simply how to remove them from our minds and bodies and to extract the positive thought energies. Learning how to overcome our thought pollutions is one of the ways towards mastering the art of positive thinking.

Art of Positive Thinking #1: Overcoming Greed

Greed is an unskillful emotion that seeks to accumulate anything in order to feel safe and secure. Greed creates ill health and problems with insecurity, money and relationships. Whenever greed creeps into you, start running the images of the wind or sea and focus on one of these sounds and direct these sounds towards eroding your greed and developing an understanding that all things come to fruition in their own time.

Art of Positive Thinking #2: Overcoming Anger

Anger comes into being when a person is overwhelmed by the world and feels powerless to change it. People influenced by anger seek perfection in all things and see themselves as leaders and inspirers of other people. To transform anger, first think of how you can be of service to your fellow human beings. Focus upon your thought energy to bring you a greater experience of love and spirituality in your daily life.

Art of Positive Thinking #3: Overcoming Arrogance

Arrogance is a lack of confidence. Arrogance is being unsure of what to do, so it creates a defense system of emotions. People influenced by arrogance believe that things don't last and that they can rely only upon themselves. Whenever you experience an emotion of arrogance, sit quietly and ask yourself what's the real value of your achievements. As you gain insights, cultivate them with self-love so that you will be able to recognize opportunities for positive change.

Art of Positive Thinking #4: Overcoming Selfishness

Selfishness comes about when an individual has no self-awareness, either physically or emotionally. This lack of self-awareness leads to loneliness, which in turn affects the chemistry of the brain and the body's limbic system, both of which are intimately connected to our emotions. The next time you experience the emotion of selfishness, close your eyes and visualize what's it is like to be free from selfishness and how others will be able to benefit from your kind generosity instead.

So now that you've understood the role and importance of your emotions and the thought pollutions that can impede your development of skilful thought, it is time to start mastering the art of positive thinking by overcoming your thought pollutions.

What is Positive Thinking?

What is positive thinking exactly? When you talk about someone with a positive mindset, you probably imagine this person to live a life of denial, covering up their true feelings and pretending that everything is fine even when everything appears to be doomed.

The truth is, positive thinking has nothing to do with denying your emotions or pretending that everything is great. It's about learning to adjust the way you think and feel about the events and experiences of your life, rather than letting the events which happen to you determine your mood.

Undoubtedly, it is crucial for you to understand what is positive thinking exactly if you wish to be in control of your emotions and success.

I believe many people would argue that it is difficult to stay positive always. As we encounter various setbacks in life, it's totally understandable that it's normal to feel down and even self-pitying. However, by being negative to all that happens to you is definitely not going to help things at all.

As Zig Ziglar said, 'It's not what happens to you that determine how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.'

Hence, if you want positive things to happen to you, you've simply got to adopt a positive mindset all the time.

There is a simple rule that you should apply to your thinking in everything you do.

Think Positively and you will get positive results.

Think Negatively and you will get negative results.

There are bound to be many negative people whom you will meet in life. These people will forever be worrying about almost every single thing they can think of. Before a test, they will worry that it's going to be hard. When doing projects, they will worry about the deadline. They spend a huge amount of time worrying instead of sitting down and think of solutions to their problems.

Chances are, these people will fail to accomplish big things in life. This is because they spend their whole life worrying instead of working towards their goals. Whenever they face a little setback, they are extremely pessimistic and get discourage and end up quitting.

On the other hand, people who understand what is positive thinking remains optimistic even when faced with huge obstacles. This does not mean that they choose to ignore the problems. Rather, they face it with optimism and they understand that worrying is not going to help. Instead, they choose to focus their time on generating ideas to overcome any obstacles they face and work extremely hard towards their goals.

Such positive thinking individuals are also often well-liked by their peers. Ask yourself honestly, would you rather hang out with people who are perpetually complaining and worrying or would you want to hang out with people who are full of energy and optimism. Positive people are charismatic and people love to be friends with the. So be that person with the positive mindset too!

In conclusion, it's without a doubt that most, if not all successful people are extremely positive in their mindset. So now that you've understood what is positive thinking exactly, be sure to change your mindset and make a positive difference in both your own and others lives.

4 Signs That You May Have An Anger Problem

You may not want to admit it, but many of you already know that at least one point of your life, you have had a problem with anger. But there are many people out there who are not quite sure if they have an issue with anger. To help you find out, below are some indicators:

1. When you do get angry, you do not get over it for a long time. It may last until you explode sometimes, or the anger may even stay inside of you, to fuel the fires of your rage. If you have heard of people who “hold a grudge” then those are the ones that I am referring to here.

Do you have a tendency to hold grudges? Can you think of more than one person right now, whom you have not talked to in a long time that you are still angry with?

2. You spend most of the time feeling frustrated and irritable. You get disappointed as well as unsatisfied about almost anything in life. But with all of these negative feelings you have, you do not in fact get very angry.

Anger may be an unacceptable emotion to you, whereas frustration and irritability seem more acceptable, thus keeping you in a constant state of unfulfilled in life.

3. Another sign of anger problem is if you never get angry. You just seem to be void of experiencing that emotion. There are times when you know you should be getting angry, but the feeling just doesn't seem to come. Your anger seems very mild or watered down, and you never are able to release it.

4. Last but not least, you may have an anger problem if you tend to be very sarcastic or cynical not only about yourself, but everyone and the world around you. Your time around people is spent on judging other people and making constant “jokes” that have very negative connotations around them.

Although you try to make yourself believe that these jokes are harmless, deep inside you know that constantly putting everything down and disguising it as a joke is just a way to cover up your anger issues. For some reason you are not able to express your anger and it becomes apparent when it is “leaking” from your conversations.

What Is Anger Management?

If you are wandering where you can get help for your anger, you do not have to wander anymore. You can find help with expressing your anger and releasing it naturally when you decide to use anger management. You can find many workshops in your area that deal with this type of problem. It is normal to have these feelings of anger and that is why there are these workshops to help you with your problem.

The natural way to express your anger is to respond aggressively. This is a very natural usual way to respond to threats. It is a powerful emotion and one that you will usually have control of to some point. However there are people that cannot control their anger and that is where the anger management comes into play.

People will use their feelings of emotions to determine how they are feeling. They will naturally express their feelings and this will defiantly include anger. However, some people take their anger too far. When this happens they will hurt people around them without even knowing it. There are words that hurt people just as much as hitting them can. Sometimes when people that have too much anger in them will say nasty and hurtful things to those that they love.

There are also people that will physically hurt the people around them when they are angry. These people must seek anger management help so that they can control the way that they feel and not hurt anyone anymore. It is very important to get his help fast and effectively so that they can live happy lives. The anger management courses are there to help those that are in need and they will take the necessary procedures to make sure that they are helped.

The first step is for the person that is angry to realize they have a problem. They must want to get help for their anger so that it can be addressed in the proper way. When the person with the anger is ready, they can get help for their anger issues so that they are not hurting inside and they are not hurting the people around them. No one wants to be angry all the time and the sooner they realize this, the sooner they can get the help that is so important.

Anger management courses are usually a public service that is free. However sometimes you will see that you may have to pay for the classes. When this is the case, it is important for the person that is angry to find a way to get the help they need. There are certain instances that anger management classes can be free to those that are in desperate need of help.

There is no shame in getting anger management classes. You should not feel conscious about getting help. There is nothing wrong as along as you are willing to admit that you are having a problem and that you need to have the anger management classes to get your life under control.

Anger Management Techniques

Anger is one of the most common and destructive emotions and it afflicts our mind almost every day. We need to empower ourselves with anger management techniques so as to solve our problem of anger. Anger management techniques are easy to apply especially when anger gets over us and our physical wellbeing. It is important to know anger management techniques to help us cope with situations everyday.

What is anger? Anger is a natural human emotion and it is an adaptive nature which empowers us to "ward off" any attacks or threats to our well being.

However, it sometimes can cause us to focus on the bad qualities of an animate or inanimate object, make it unattractive and increase our desires to perform negative actions on it. But the truth is, anger is not a problem but the mismanagement of anger. Mismanaged anger and rage cause us to face conflicts and difficulties in our personal and professional relationships. Thus, we must know anger management techniques in order to cope better with it.

Anger management techniques are simple to apply but we must first recognize the anger within our mind and acknowledge that it is harmful to both our selves and others. The idea of being tolerant and patient is central in anger management techniques because it is when we lose our tolerance and patience that we begin to feel angry.

In addition, anger management techniques are really just practical methods that can be applied in our daily lives to help us reduce our anger and finally to prevent it from arising at all. They can help us because excessive anger can cause health problems, family issues, drug or alcohol abuse, financial despair, extreme fear or stress, and spiritual void. Domestic abuse, road rage, workplace violence, divorce, and addiction are just a few examples of what happens when anger is mismanaged.

To get started with applying anger management techniques, you need to admit that your anger is out-of-control is essential to tackling the problem of anger. This requires honesty, courage, and tremendous inner strength. And also requires help from others.

When in a situation that needs you to apply anger management techniques, be consciously determined to be calm and communicate and express slowly what you are feeling. Look at the positive side and try to look at the situation from another point of view. Try to relax at the same time and just think about something good to distract yourself from the overwhelming feeling of anger. In addition, you can regulate your breathing to become slow and relaxed to allow you to think and react better in the situation.

Remember that anger management techniques help you to control your anger to the best of your physical well being, social functioning and relationships! Uncontrolled anger only results in added troubles to your life and controlling your anger is a choice you can make! It is no disgrace to admit we have a problem and seek outside help.

Get More Done By Doing Less

Have you ever been so busy trying to keep up with the pace of modern life that you just can't get anything done? Do you find yourself constantly putting things off because you just don't have enough time to handle them? And what about the lack of progress that comes about as a result of never getting to the things that would make a real difference in your life?

Just from those 3 questions you have an idea of what I'm about to talk about. Or do you?

There is a general principle that most business people know about. This principle seems to apply to every area of life, not just business, and has been the cause of most successes or failures in life. The principle is called the 80/20 rule, and basically says that you will get 80% of your results from 20% of your activities.

In sales, it's the best 20% of your customers that create 80% of your wealth. In relationships, it's the first 20% of the time you know a person that reveals 80% of their personality. And in personal development, it's the final 20% of your progress that will take 80% of your time to acheive.

Huh?

Took you by surprise, did I? Yes, when you're working on developing yourself, you will get the biggest gains in the beginning - 80% of your results will come from 20% of your activities, and the final 20% of your results will come from 80% of your activities.

What's the real difference between those who are average and those who excel? Aren't the ones who excel those who spent more time developing their abilities? Aren't professionals expected to be better than average people?

There's another side to the 80/20 rule. It's that 80% of business is done by the best 20% of those in that business.

The best 20% of all drycleaners will get 80% of the drycleaning business. The best 20% of all doctors will get 80% of all money paid to doctors. The best 20% of all books account for 80% of all book sales. The best 20% of all musicians get 80% of the money spent on concert tickets and CD sales.

What's the lesson in this? Simple. If you want to get the best results from your activities, be the best in what you're doing.

But that takes work. Time. Committment to personal development. The hard stuff that no-one wants to do.

Yep, that's right. And that's why it works. Because no-one else will take the time to be the best, you will have a greater chance of succeeding because you are willing to stick to it until it pays off. You will be the one that everyone wants to go to, simply because you can do things that no-one else in your field can do, and in a way that no-one else can duplicate.

Clearly, even those with less skill than the top 20% will get results from what they do. The top 20% only get 80% of the pie, which leaves another 20% of the pie to be shared by the lower 80%.

In business, those with less ability will still make sales and get customers. But for every customer a business in the lower 80% gets, a business in the top 20% will get 16.

Some people will argue that the top 20% of businesses got that way because they had money behind them, investors who were willing to pay for the businesses advertising, payroll, and inventory. Let's think about this for a moment. What did those investors see in this particular business that they didn't see in another business that they chose NOT to invest in?

Let's say you have $10,000,000 to invest, and 2 potential business partners come to you asking for your help in getting their business off the ground. Which business are you most likely to invest in? The one that looks like it will be the most successful, right? And how would you determine that? Most likely by the level of skills of the person involved in that business.

The best 20% of business partners get 80% of the investment capital out there.

Let's move away from business examples for a moment and take a look at a personal example. Relationships.

Why are some couples happier than others? Although there are a wide variety of factors that come into play here; things like common interests, compatible personalities, and degrees of attractiveness; the bottom line in most happy relationships is that the people involved have developed their skills in communicating and cooperation.

Those with the best relationship skills tend to have the best relationships. And I'm sure that if we were to calculate the percentages, the familiar 80/20 rule would show itself again.

For the most part, everyone knows this: the better you are in what you do, the better the results you will get from your activities. But here's the thing that most people miss: when you're that good at what you do, you can do less and still get the same results as before.

Why spend 40 hours a week earning a living when you can spend 5 hours and earn the same amount of money?

Why spend months working out a problem in a relationship when you can have the problem worked out in a day and be back to enjoying your partner's company again?

Why spend your whole life trying to get noticed by the people who matter in your life, when you can spend a few months developing the right skills and have the recognition you deserve within the year?

Yes, personal development takes time, energy, and committment. But the rewards are more than worth the effort.

3 Important Areas Of Your Life To Get Organized Immediately

Do you start and finish every day as if you had no control of your time? Does everything in life seem to run together like a big blur? If you answered yes to these questions then you may want to start investing time management techniques into your schedule. It has been said that time management, properly set up as daily goals, can dramatically improve the quality of life and increase the amount of work that gets done.

One of the key components of time management is organizing all of the compartments that exist in your life. By taking on the task of one component at a time, you can start today to get your life in an orderly fashion and take back control of both your time and your schedule.

The easiest way to start organizing your life is by merging items that can be merged and trashing the things that are simply taking up space. Remember that another habit of people with good time management skills is to take on one task at a time, with focus, until that task is finished and before moving on with the next one. The same holds true when it comes to merging and purging your life's “compartments”. So where should you start first?

Below are a few tips that can help you with organizing for better time management:

1. Organizing your travel information: Create a file holder that is designated to hold all material that is related to travel. This material may include hotel information and air fares, a list of your frequent flier miles, personal and family passports, contact numbers for local taxi services, and all previous vacation traveling files. You can also keep such information on your computer hard drive so that you can print out travel details for upcoming business or personal trips.

2. Organizing important service-type information: You can do the same type of file storage for your key service providers such as your vehicle records, personal banking records, business banking records, insurance receipts, credit card information, etc. In most cases it does not take much time at all to purge this paperwork. And if it all sounds like a lot of work to do, then fear not, because once you are finished, your time efficiency will rise to new heights for all future file organizing.

3. Organizing your car: One very important area in our life that is often overlooked when it comes to time management and organization is our car. The inside of our vehicles, especially if we are always on the go, can literally become a black hole of important papers, files, and notes. We tend to store our most important items in the glove compartment and while this is ok, what is not ok is all of the other junk that goes in there with it. Clear out the clutter, merge existing paperwork, and purge anything that does not need to be there.

Return To Center

Everywhere we see the speed of life increasing, almost daily it seems.

The age of instant gratification has done a number on our schedules. It started with business people wanting to provide better service by being more available for customer requests. Longer hours, faxes, pagers, cell phones, mobile computers, and more have become commonplace in the push to be better than the next guy.

Of course, everyone feels the effects of this, as family members are no longer as available to our families as they are to their jobs. Now virtually everyone carries a cell phone in order to maintain contact with the important people in their lives. One more thing that has to be taken care of right now.

And then there are the expectations we have about our place within society. It looks like everyone else is succeeding except us. We have to keep up, buy the new toys, wear 'better' clothes, drive a 'hot' car, and so on. We just wouldn't feel right not being a part of the 'in crowd'. Take out a loan if you don't have the cash. Put it on plastic and work harder.

But look at where that is taking us. Spending more money just creates the need to work longer hours. Which in turn creates the feeling of being more stressed and less capable of handling the tasks that are before us.

There comes a time when you just have to realize that you can't do everything you want to do. There just isn't enough time to do all of it, so you have to choose. What do you let go of to make room in your day for the rest?

Do you really have to give up something? Couldn't you just figure out a way to work 'smarter'?

Working smarter is great, but is based on one basic idea. You don't have to do everything. You only have to do the more important tasks and let the rest go. It's the old 80-20 rule. 80% of the results you want can be obtained with only 20% of the effort. And the last 20% of the results you want will take 80% of the effort.

Eventually it boils down to what are the most important things in life.

Is it really important to be popular with the in crowd? Is it important to outperform everyone else in the department? Do your customers really need you 24/7? Or is it important to spend time with your family, your friends, and your self?

Some of the happiest people I've ever known were those with very simple lives. Yes, some of us would be extremely bored living simple lives, but that is only until we learn just where the satisfaction these people are getting is coming from.

When life is simple, you have time to do all sorts of things you don't have time for now. And one of those things that we don't have time for now is to return to our spiritual center.

For many of us, returning to our spiritual center sounds like one of those things that should mean a lot, but we don't really understand the significance of it. It's like sex, or love. Until you experience it, no-one can explain it to you.

And it really is like sex, and also like love. There is an experience of being enfolded within something greater than anything else you've ever experienced. Returning to your spiritual center is like receiving a big hug from God, which sparks an emotional reaction that completely overwhelms your senses. It is the ultimate 'high'. One good hit and you're flying for hours. But unlike drugs, returning to your spiritual center doesn't have any physical side-effects.

How often should you return to your spiritual center? The simple answer is "Every day". At least once a day, you would benefit tremendously from contact with your spiritual source. Your health would improve, your outlook on life would improve, and your ability to reach your goals would improve.

A more complex answer would be "Once". In all sincerity, if you were able to stay spiritually centered, you would be able to do much more with less effort. This is difficult to do, and requires much training.

But whether you are able to stay spiritually centered or not, returning to center will improve every aspect of your life. And the more you return to center, the more you will benefit in many, many ways.

Beauty should be in the eyes of the beholder

By : Jan brunkco
Marilyn Monroe had six toes. Connie stiler also has six toes ... Which fact do you find more interesting? My guess is it's Marilyn, and thats mostly because she was packaged (and still is) as a model of stunning beauty, desire and perfection. Yet, the truth is that Marilyn was not perfect by the very standards of the business that convinced everyone that she was the woman men wanted or that women had to look like to BE wanted. Still, most believed it then, and continue to believe this fantasy today.

Ever heard the old saying "If I want your opinion I'll give it to you"? Well, the fashion, beauty and Ad media industries are constantly presenting appealing ads to every man, woman and child hoping to giving us our opinion of what beauty is. And the truly sad thing is most people accept this lofy standard, putting an incredible amount of pressure on people to be "perfect" and "desirable" 24/7.

Remember this commercial? Mabey you don't remember this one in particular, but they all pretty much follow the same format ... A very pretty woman smiles at a man, obviously interested in him, and he smiles back only to realize she has a flake of dandruff on her shoulder! He walks away totally turned off now. Why? Because she didn't meet the advertiser's (and yours, if you buy it) standards for beauty. Does this seem reasonable to you? Or does it seem like a snobbish, self-centered and "holier-than-thou" attitude for a person to have?

Consider this ... If you accept big business's standards of beauty created to sell thier products, then you are isolating yourself from most of the population of the world. If you try to live up to a profit generated opinion of what is beautiful, then you have set yourself up to fail. For proof of this, just check out the tragic lives and failed relationships of the world's most beautiful, admired entertainers and models.


Here is something else to think about ... Do you know the definition of brainwashing? No, it's not a new surgical procedure! Brainwashing means: "Inducing a person to modify his or her beliefs, attitudes, or behavior by conditioning through various forms of pressure."

So, how does the ad agencies and big business pressure us into modifying our beliefs, attitudes or behavior? Lets say ads start coming out on tv, radio, print all over the world, and these ads are constantly implying that if you do not own this product, you can't be popular, desired or accepted. As more and more people accept the ad's conditioning, the pressure builds for the rest of us to conform or be isolated from the crowd.

I'm sure as a child, and growing into adulthood, you've experienced some conditioning to modify your beliefs, attitudes, or behavior because of this kind of peer pressure. We all want to fit in and be accepted, so we may change our beliefs to conform to the majority despite that it may be uncomfortable. Even when it's uncomfortable in a physical way! Females can understand this ... extremely tight clothes, high heels, bras, makeup and the incredible pressure to always be "beautiful".


Reality ... What a concept: The truth is, Nobody on this planet has ever been, nor ever will attain big business's standard of what is beautiful, and trying to live up to someone else's standards of beauty causes far more problems for generations to come than it is worth. The simple fact that you are alive, and able to think makes you a beautiful and interesting person, not what you wear. And all of the things that make someone beautiful are the things that come from within a person. Big business and the ad agencies cannot create and sell love, kindness, understanding or attractive personalities. Only you can, and it doesn't cost you a dime.

It comes down to this .. Enhance, decorate and discover what makes you beautiful as a person from within and then your REAL beauty will shine in the eyes of ALL beholders.

Author Resource:- Jan Michaels is truly in love with the truth. When not writing myth busting articles, he doesn't do much of anything really important, unless feeding the cat counts.
You can see more of his musings or various and sundry humorous items at: http://www.brunkc.com

How to Lose 10 Pounds Or More Quickly and Safely

By : Ken Black
As reported in the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations recently published Calories Count - Report of the Working Group on Obesity, people who are overweight is a serious public health problem in the United States. Since the late 1980s, adult obesity has steadily and substantially increased in the United States. Today, 64 percent of all Americans weigh too much and over 30 percent are obese; in 1988 through 1992, fewer than 56 percent were overweight and fewer than 23 percent of American adults were obese.

The trends for children are even more worrisome. Recent research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 15 percent of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 are overweight - double the rate of two decades ago. As Americans get heavier, their health suffers. Overweight and obesity increase the risk for coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. According to some estimates, at least 400,000 deaths each year may be attributed to obesity.

What people must know is that you can improve your health quickly with just a small amount of weight loss. We know that physical activity along with reduced calorie consumption can lead to the 5 to 10 percent weight loss necessary to achieve remission of the obesity-associated complications, says William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Most doctors agree, losing one to two pounds a week is safe and recommended by most doctors for most people. This breaks down to 250 to 1,000 calories per day. You can achieve this easily if you follow some or all of the following guidelines :

1. Use skim milk instead of whole milk or cream in your coffee.
2. Eat low fat yogurt instead of ice cream.
3. Eat more bright colored (green, yellow, orange, red) fruits and vegetables.
4. Eat more lean fish, chicken, or turkey and cut down on red meats.
5. Eat whole wheat or multigrain bread, instead of white bread.
6. Use a sugar replacement instead of sugar (avoid Aspartame).
7. Drink water instead of soft drinks.
8. When you eat out, avoid fried foods.
9. Walk or do similar exercises (e.g. Golf, Tennis) at least 20 minutes a day.

If you do even just a couple of these every day for the next month, you will feel much better and you will lose weight.

And if you are concerned about getting hungry all the time, or losing your energy, try taking a safe appetite suppressant, like Hoodia Balance. This supplement is South African Hoodia from the Kalahari Desert, which makes it more effective. This type is a non-prescription medication and has been tested for years to be safe for most people. It can control your appetite, yet increase your metabolism and energy.

However, do not take any herbal supplement without checking with your Doctor first, if you are on any prescription medications, due to possible interactions between the two, or if you have a special medical condition.

If you follow these simple steps, you will surely reach your weight loss goals and become a much happier, healthier, and oh yes, lighter person.

Author Resource:- Ken Black is the founder of Weight Loss Discovery, a site all about http://www.weight-loss-discovery.com.

Habits Can Build You, or Kill You

by: Jorge Fernandez de Cordova

Habits are the most overlooked thing about life. One of my mentors taught me that "People Form Habits, and Habits Form Futures." MAN!!! What a POWERFUL statement.

We go through our life creating sets of habits that in the end will create the life we want to live. We create this habits unconsciously. You might don't know but these habits are the things that are holding you back in life, so STOP blaming others for your failures.

I wll give you few bad habits that you are probably conscious of right away.

-Not returning phone calls on time.
-Being late for meetings and appointments.
-Having your cellphone ON all the time.
-Answering the telephone during family mealtimes.
-Handling the mail more than once, etc, etc.

These are just few of many others.

Check yourself out by making a list of all the habits that keep you unproductive and not moving towards your goals. Take an hour or more so you can really think through this process, and plan it so you won't be interrupted.

You can also ask for feedback. Talk to people you respect and admire, who knows you well. Ask them what they observe about your bad habits. What you are looking for here, is consistency. What do I mean by that, if you talk to 10 people and 8 of them tell you that you are always late to meetings, pay attention.

THE OUTWARD BEHAVIOR IS THE TRUTH, WHEREAS YOUR INNER PERCEPTION OF YOUR BEHAVIOR IS OFTEN AN ILLUSION.

For your Success,
Jorge Fernandez de Cordova
Success Coach
www.successismylife.com.

About The Author
Jorge Fernandez de Cordova

My Mission is to give those that truly desire it; the tools and the knowledge to get the most out of life helping you achieve your goals and dreams.

Memory Techniques

Silly Stories For Memorization
by: Shareen Aguilar


You’ve heard about several memory enhancing techniques. Linking and associating, creating a story out of several items you need to remember. There are in fact, many ways how you can remember important information such as numbers, events, errands and names. The challenge is how to make all the information easy to retrieve, out of the top of your head in a random situation.

Memory techniques work on anything that you like to master. There are things you may need to work on in memorizing something for the first time but all information has techniques on how they can all be memorized. It just takes a lot of interest and enthusiasm to be able to absorb all the information we want to understand and remember.

Creating an absurd and outrageous story from a list of non-related items will do well enough to stick in your head. What else is that it stays there in your memory the way the story is created, the chronological order and even the positioning of the character! The fun part about this technique is that there’s no limit to how you want to create the story and the sillier it is; the easier for you to remember it and the keywords that comprise it.

Now you’ll say what if you need to memorize an entire chapter of items and information; surely you can’t create a novel out of this. True. But in fact, what you can do to get around this problem is to break down all the information you need to remember. Try to put the related or similar items in one cluster and name it. Do the same with the rest. You can also create acronyms out of the clusters you have made and then, create a silly story using the acronyms or the cluster of words you’ve created.

Once you have this ready, you can then associate mental images with the story and each key word you’ve made. It has been proven that the imagination, especially when there’s clear images associated with it work efficiently – efficient enough to be remembered.

Following these techniques for the first time may come a bit slower and difficult but practicing them can gradually increase your expertise over any memorization tasks. You can learn more important details regarding memorization improvement techniques at http://memory-improvement-techniques.com.


About The Author
Shareen Aguilar is a writer for Memory Improvement Techniques which has Memory Improvement Books and Memory Game Software.http://memory-improvement-techniques.com

Use Self Belief To Shape Your Own Destiny

by: Elaine Currie

Of all the things that go towards shaping our destiny, it is our belief in our own abilities which has the greatest influence. Our level of self belief determines whether we succeed or fail to achieve our dreams and ambitions. As Henry Ford said "If you think you can, you're right. If you think you can't, you're right."

I was watching a program on the Biography Channel the other day which illustrated the truth of Henry Ford's words and highlighted the importance of self-belief. The subject of this program dropped out of the educational system without a degree, in fact, he quit school before he even reached college age and left school with woefully inadequate qualifications. The reason for this academic failure was a combination of dyslexia and general lack of interest in school work.

Sadly, the lack of academic achievement was accompanied by a complete lack of prowess on the sports field. To top it all off, as well as being a dunce and a sporting failure, the poor kid was not even good looking. He did not have rich parents to give him financial support . His parents were not business owners, so there was no chance of a career via nepotism. He had no obvious skills or talent, so a career as an artist or musician was not an option.

This sounded like the stereotypical beginning for a person who will at best survive by taking low-paid employment and, at worst, will drift into a life of crime as a way of snatching what he is incapable of earning. His school headmaster is credited with saying on his premature departure from the education system, ‘I feel sure you will either end up in prison or become a millionaire'. To entertain the idea that this person had any prospect of becoming a millionaire, you would have to know his character. We can only see the external disadvantages, the headmaster was aware of the strength of character and depth of self belief existing within this person. That self-belief more than made up for any lack of education and academic qualifications.

One thing the prospective jailbird/millionaire had was the ability to spot a niche for a new business. No, this is not a story of luck bringing an instant rags to riches transformation. Unfortunately his first two business ventures failed miserably. Did this set him on a path of serial business failures? Not at all, the failures probably taught him valuable lessons. He started the first business at the age of seven, so the chances of real success were pretty remote! The fact that he had sufficient self-belief to start his first business before he even reached his teenage years gives us a clue as to his character.

The condensed version of the rest of this biography is that the "hero" of the story built a successful business before he reached his twenties, was a millionaire by the age of 25 and was the owner of a Caribbean island before he was thirty. He did not stop working then, he went on from flamboyant success to even bigger flamboyant success, setting records and achieving the apparently impossible.

The subject of the TV program was Sir Richard Branson who is, at the time of writing, a billionaire several times over. He has attributed his success to hard work, belief in his business ventures and a willingness to take risks. These risks have included the well publicised (and life threatening) hot-air balloon journeys, starting a business on borrowed capital and taking risks in business where the potential losses were huge.

It is self-belief which made it possible to take those risks. Without belief in himself, Richard Branson would not have dared to borrow the money to start his first business as a magazine publisher after leaving school. Without self-belief the balloon challenges would not have been contemplated. Without self-belief the ambition to own an airline would have remained just a dream.

"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself". Those words were said by Muhammad Ali but they sum up the essence of what makes any person able to reach his goals in life. We must learn to sow and cultivate self-belief if we wish to achieve the harvest of our dreams.


About The Author
For more about self motivation in business visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Website: www.huntingvenus.com , Find more information and articles at www.elainecurri.com

Can You Work for You?

by: Holly Burnham

So you want to start your own business? Well, why don't you? This is not a hard question. I'm certain you have barriers to following your dream or you would have done it already. We need to examine what is standing in your way and coax you into dipping your toe into your dream water. Most of the time, keeping you from doing your own thing is fear. Well, fear is good. It keeps you real, but don't let it plan your life or paralyze you.

I have enjoyed owning several different businesses in my life time and hope to develop and run many more. I love the excitement of building a dream into a reality. It can be challenging, frustrating, time consuming, moneymaking or a dismal failure. You learn from each experience.

I have so many little ventures in my head to try in the future. You need to acknowledge the creativity in yourself, decide what interests you and how you want to spend your time. I read one time that if you do what you love, success will follow. I'm not sure that success is always measured in dollars... we can weigh happiness and contentment also.

I want to assure you there are issues to worry about. If you are half of a two-paycheck family and your regular earnings are needed to keep your family comfortable, you do have to recognize the risk to venturing out on your own. If you are a stay at home Mom and want to contribute to the household but have short human beings to care for, you need to plan carefully so you don't end up burning the candle at both ends, therefore jeopardizing the reason you wanted to stay home with your children.

Let's explore a few ideas and you will see that it is possible to work for yourself if that is what to really want to do.

Think of something you do you enjoy. Can everyone do this thing as well as you can? Do they have time? Perhaps you can do it for them.

I love to knit. I REALLY love to knit. Once I made flyer type posters and hung them all over town wherever I could. Grocery stores, yarn shops, Laundromats, etc. On the poster I offered to give knitting lessons in my home at the client's convenience. I waited and because I am not a patient person, when I didn't get any calls I decided this was one of the ideas I wasn't going to brag to my friends about...and then...when I had given up hope, (two days after hanging the posters, I told you I was devoid of patience), I started getting calls. I got so many calls I had to go out and purchase a scheduling calendar. I scheduled the lessons when they were convenient for both the client and me. I scheduled hour-long sessions and charged $25.00 for the first session, $10.00 for each lesson after that. No one questioned the fee and several said they were relieved it was so reasonable. I had no overhead and only profit in my pocket from showing other people how to do something I enjoyed!

doing so much. Word of mouth soon made it unnecessary to put up any more posters and I can be as busy or not as I choose. Although my husband is always supportive of my entrepreneurial endeavors, even he was surprised on a day I had three new students and two return students and made $95.00 sitting on my couch knitting.

I once decided our area could use a cleaning service for residential homes at a reasonable price. Now, previously when I said do what you love and you will be successful, I certainly don't want you to think I love to clean...quite the contrary, however, I do like to make money. I put two ads in our local newspaper. One ad advertised for someone to clean houses. The second ad offered reasonable fees to clean your home. The calls started coming in. When an applicant who wanted to clean called I would interview them, make sure I felt very comfortable with them and told them I would get back to them in a week. When folks called who wanted their home cleaned I would go to their home, see what they wanted done and gave them a price to do it. I left them a contract and asked them to think about my offer and call me back. The first week was a little disorganized and I questioned why I just didn't get a paper route. But, the second week things really began to smooth out and it just g!

ot busier and better from there. I soon had three ladies cleaning three houses a day. I could have even let this venture grow, as it wanted to take on a life of its own once it started. My part was to carry liability insurance (not expensive at all), advertise in the paper if I lost either a worker or a house and be certain that I always gave the customer a charge that would cover my expenses and pay my ladies with a little left over for me. I never cleaned a house. When I felt I had done this long enough and wanted to go on to something else, I offered the business to the first woman I had hired. She was one of my best and most dependable workers and the customers loved her. I knew she could keep things running and I could walk away from this baby feeling secure it was in good hands. My mistake, (I told you that you would learn even from your blunders), was that two years after I gave her the little cleaning business she sold it for $35,000. Hummmm, it never dawned on me I!

could have sold it. Duh…..

Can you install perennials and/or maintain them for folks. Everyone appreciates their yard looking well but few folks like getting dirt under their finger nails while swatting black flies.

Working moms stress over having to take time off for routine dental and doctor appointments. Are you in a position to do this for them? Can they call you if their child needs to be transported to a sitter because of illness during the day?

Can you bake? Well, get out that mixing bowl and stand back! People will pay you for making birthday cakes, cookies for school functions that need to look home made, and desserts for their parties. Word of mouth and return customers can keep you hopping.

Can you devote a Saturday morning to watching children while their mom, who has worked all week, does errands? Advertise yourself available to sit, on short notice from 9AM to 11:00AM on Saturday mornings. I'll bet you will make enough during those two hours a week to keep you free to spend time with your own children the rest of the week. Most working moms have sitters who don't do weekends.

Do you enjoy cleaning? I have found that even people who don't mind doing their day to day house work really dislike cleaning their bathrooms. Specialize in bathrooms. Yes, people will call on that ad. They will happily pay to have you shine their bathroom while they work. (And, Mom, you can usually take your baby with you to do this.)

The key is to think about what you love to do. If you're going to do something you don't enjoy just for the money you might as well work for someone else. Then test it. Is anyone interested in paying you to do this thing? Next, visualize how to make it happen. Can you do it during the day with children or in the evening when re-enforcements are home? Don't be afraid to try several things and fail. Eventually you will find a niche if you stay focused and realistic.

Dream a little and control the magic in your life.

About The Author
Holly Burnham is a self admitted yarn addict. The addiction will be life long and there is no hope of remission. Her constant knitting has put the cleanliness of her home in peril. Her yarn stashes are havens for generations of moths. At the risk of contracting this affliction, visit her at www.KnittingHaven.com

Vision

by: Robert Boucher

I’ve been exploring why vision is so important to being successful. Can an organization survive and do well without a vision? I don’t believe it can. Organizations need a vision to find direction, to move into the future. They need a vision to give people in the organization something to strive for, to believe in, to belong to.

While exploring these ideas I came across an article that supports my belief in the relation of vision to success. Mark Lipton in the Ivey Business Journal Online titles his article “Walking the Talk: Why Visions Fail.” Lipton says there’s a lot of talk about needing a vision and a lot of talk about having a vision, but are the people in charge actually following through? His conclusion is that when the people at the helm do not follow through, it is because a vision evokes a lot of emotion.

Lipton sees a gap often between what the people believe in and what they are doing. It is about believing but not having the faith to carry it on. Or maybe it is just leaders being embarrassed about having to talk about their emotions about what they do and want to do. A vision is about personal passion. We are a lot more comfortable talking about process and productions, about developing plans and objectives. It is easier to leave passion out of the discussion.

Mark Lipton describes a vision as successful when it speaks to a wide audience, tells an engaging story that people want to be part of, challenges people, and creates a sense of urgency. This type of vision becomes part of the everyday actions of the people who belong to the organization. It gives a basis for making decisions and the growth of the organization. It is the building block of success.

There are challenges, and one is to get the whole organization to know and understand the vision. As a leader in an organization, you need to believe in the vision and talk about it constantly. Mark Lipton found that vision-driven firms earned their investors 17.69 percent more than the S&P 500 overall.

Why such success? It is because clear future targets drive the people in this type of organization. They have a greater level of commitment and loyalty, along with pride in what they are doing.

If you want to be successful, you need to develop a passion for what you are doing, based on the vision of where you want to be. People respond to passion, to a direction for the future. If you are a leader in a non-profit or profit organization, remember that it is all about people and the vision – the passion that you give them.

About The Author
Robert Boucher
President
Cirrus Management Training & Sailing
1286 Rockwood Dr.
Kingston, Ont. K7P 2M7
1 613 634-0696
robert@cirrusleadership.com

Defining the Traits of a Successful Leader

by: Archie R. Lawhorne

What makes a good leader? For starters, leaders don't wait for other people to give them permission to do something. They just do it. Leaders accept responsibility for the choices they make in life. They don't get sucked into the "victim mentality" syndrome, which is characterized by a persistent desire for people to blame others for their poor choices. Bottom line: Leaders realize that the decisions they make are all theirs, and thus take full responsibility for any resulting failures.

In the world of business - especially network marketing and direct sales - leadership is the defining ingredient that separates the mediocre from the superstars. It's the act of persuasion. It's getting people to see new perspectives and do things they normally wouldn't do. It's about setting your ego aside and having the passion and charisma to get people to follow you. Leaders don't follow. They just do.

Can an average person become a leader? Yes, most certainly.

People can transform themselves and make huge strides in leadership abilities just as they do in other areas of personal development. It starts with inner self-leadership and expands outward to influence and move others around you.

Leadership is about self-direction and self-control and shows in what "we do." Become the right kind of person (passionate, responsible, doer, believer) and others will flock right into your lap, and not until.

But, like other areas of self improvement, it's no easy task, because man's natural instinct is mediocrity. Yes, mediocrity. It would be nice if we could all become leaders by simply following a few simple steps. But the path to leadership requires finding our own way. The direction we take will differ for each of us. However, there are a few key traits we can focus on.

No Fear But Fear Itself
So what is it that keeps us from pursuing opportunities, leading others, taking action and doing what we really want to do? One word: FEAR. Fear of rejection. Fear of people.

Fear of trying new things. Fear of not being perfect. Enjoying our comfort zone (average).

It's almost as if the fears we have actually begin to become like bondage. Ever feel that way? You can usually tell who lives in fear. They usually wear them on their sleeves. Ever hear people say:

"I would try that but I just don't have time." "That program will never work. I already tried networking and it didn't work before." "I would listen to you, but that sounds like some pyramid scheme."

The list of the doubts and fears that roll off people's lips is endless. Stand in any line with people, on the bus or at work, and listen to the idle chatter. You'll hear people's fear in their everyday conversation. "Oh, I hate working here, but the job market is just too difficult to try and find something else." If you want to be a great leader, learn to conquer your fears.

Embrace Failure
Study the histories of all great leaders and you'll see lives littered with failures. It's called "failing forward fast." And it's one of the top traits of successful leaders. That's why it takes guts to be a leader. Many people are scared of failure and don't like to tackle the tough issues. (Then again, not everyone wants to be a leader, right.) It requires being decisive and a willingness to take chances. And yes, to FAIL - but to accept it, learn from it and move on.

Become A Believer
Children need to "see it" in order to believe it. Leaders believe it BEFORE they see it. Here's something to try: Try doing what you say you will do. (Remember, the odds are against you).

When faced with problems and obstacles, choose to learn from the experience and turn them into an opportunities. Don't whine and complain about yesterday's defeats. (It's counter-productive and you look like a fool next to Thomas Edison). Key: Until you're able to wipe out the past mistakes from the movie projector that keeps playing in your head, you'll never be able to move forward.

Leaders believe in themselves and believe in abundance.

Take Some Risks
Leaders are the ones willing to make huge sacrifices in time, money and family in order to achieve their goals. Risk is the price you pay for success. You must carry the burden and have the backbone to make decisions that are not popular. Be internally directed, not "socially fit." You'll never achieve wealth and success as long as you care what other people thing of you. Yes, leadership has a price, (risk) but it also offers tremendous rewards.

Don't Follow The Crowd
Here's a crucial defining trait of a leader: they don't follow the crowd. Nothing great was ever accomplished by a crowd. A crowd merely blows with the wind, like scattered leaves. Crowds have no purpose and end up nowhere. It takes courage to go against the crowd and be a true individual, but it's the most exciting, exhilarating thing we can do. It's also the most difficult and frightening. That's why success is so elusive and so rare.

Take Ted Turner of CNN fame, for instance. He said, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way!" Was Turner moving with the herd? No, he was the captain, not one of the deck hands.

Most people live in a state of self-consciousness. They go to work, support their families are active in their communities and are good citizens. Their egos are socially supported which means they go with the flow. Thus, because they are moving with the herd and moving with the group's collective consciousness, they struggle. It's never their goals, their vision or their choices. Most people rarely, if ever, move into the direction of freedom and true self expression.

The leaders are your freedom fighters. These are people like Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Margaret Thatcher, Thomas Jefferson, Bill Gates. Leaders usually affect thousands of people. Anytime you share your energy with enough other people, BAM, success follows. The problem though is that the notion of prosperity scares many people because they were taught that money is evil, or are afraid of the responsibility that comes with success.

While the world continues to change, the traits of good leaders remain constant. The principles are timeless. Once you learn how to liberate the leader within you, extraordinary things happen.


About The Author
Archie R. Lawhorne is an accomplished writer, author and marketing consultant. To receive his free "Masters Series" 10-day marketing course that explains how to earn over $2,000 per month using a simple home-made post card and 4-page booklet, go to: www.Marketing-Funnel.com

Finding Ways To Save Time And Accomplish More Toward Goals

by: Connie Limon

A definition of time management might be a process of gaining flexibility and cutting back time. The advantage to having a time management plan is that we are loosing something that brings us reward and gaining something that brings us bigger rewards. We end up with a “no loosing” situation if our time management plan is right.

To develop a successful time management plan we must first evaluate our time. We must sit down and ask ourselves how long does it take us to eat? How long does it take us to get dressed and groom for work? How long does it take us to prepare the meals we have to eat? Everything we do takes a certain amount of time. You might start out by writing down just how much time it takes to do each of your very have to tasks each day.

Then sit back and evaluate your list. Are you wasting 10 minutes here and there on those have to items that could be used for something else?

Where our time goes is an essential element to determine for our entire time management plan if we want to begin spending more quality with the most important people of our lives and less wasted time on some routine task. This is the absolute first step of creating your own personalized time management plan, a time management plan that will allow your more time to do the things in life that are most important to you. You must determine where you are wasting time and then decide how to use that time more effectively. Once that time is lost, there is no calling it back.

Another important element of creating a successful time management plan is to be sure and finish tasks before moving onto another task, unless you are at work, in a job that requires doing multiple tasks at one time (multi-tasking). Once you finish one task, move onto the next task and follow in pursuit of finishing all tasks. Once you finish the last task, sit back for a moment in a comfortable position and think of what you accomplished. How much time did it take you to complete task? Don’t forget to be keeping down your start time and end time. Of course this type of listing time of tasks works best for those things you do as routine each day. You want to work on completing the tasks in as little time as possible so you that you have to add in the unexpected tasks of the day or…….much better…….so that you have time to do something you really, really want to do, something that is not routinely required of you to do. For example, like visit on the phone with a favorite friend, your daughter or mother, or whoever, read some in the books you want to complete at some point or another in your lifetime.

A successful time management plan provides us with a source for more flexible schedules. When we have flexibility we have more time for ourselves. Once you have determined your priorities for time usage, then you can start adding tasks that you been putting off because you just don’t have the time to do them.

So….you now need another list of goals and plans of tasks and things you want to do but never have the time to do. One of the best ways of keeping these lists is on your computer where you can quickly erase and add to. But then again, paper in a notebook is also good, perhaps a special book.

Time management is the process of working to succeed. When we work to succeed we reach our goals. We first have to decide what those goals are, of course, and then work toward them using our time management plan. You will probably have to sit down and really ponder on what is needed to reach each goal of set of goals, and of course, decide how much time each step of the way you will need. Some people like to set short term goals, reach that goal and then set a long term goal. It might be a better plan to try and set short and long-term goals in the same time management plan. Whichever way works best for you, however, is what you should do.

Time management is essential since it demands that a person plan, act on those plans and stay focused on those goals with motivation. You must also keep reality in mind, and plan for the things out of your control that could go wrong and therefore steal time from your time management plan. Some examples would be computer failures, family illness, personal illness, inches and inches of snow and ice, horrible sudden tornados and hurricanes. It is always wise to include elements of your time management plan in accordance to what could happen out of your control. You may want to have a plan ahead of time of using your time in some other manner if your computer fails. Catch up on your paper filing or something. Right now for me, I am experiencing an internet outage. I have groomed many more Shih Tzu than the usual today in the time I usually spend answering e-mails and working on my websites.

Time management is working to succeed. If you want to succeed then you must work hard every day to meet your goals. I recently cut down my preparing and eating breakfast time by about ten minutes. Instead of my usual meal, I now mix up a Zone Shake and drink it while doing some other chore like adding to or emptying out the dishwasher, or even while opening up my daily e-mails. In reality here I am using ten extra minutes to work on my goals, rather than preparing and eating a regular breakfast.

About The Author
Connie Limon. Visit us at http://www.selfimprovementbook1.com Self Improvement Book 1 and sign up for our newsletters. Self Improvement Book is a guide to information about self improvement, personal growth and self help tips. It is an organized directory referencing information in other websites on the World Wide Web.

Success Key - How ATTITUDE Plays a Huge Role

by: Phil Barnao

The first step in the road to success lies within the importance of our attitudes. Our Attitudes and thoughts dictate our future for better or worse. The wrong attitude is probably the cause of more failure then any other principle, philosophy or strategy.

So before you think about the secrets that will lead you down the road of prosperity, happiness and wealth, let me say this… You must first cover subject of attitude or face the fact that you will never have what you truly want. On that note; we all must make a choice to either go after the lifestyle we truly desire or remain were we are.

Attitude is a choice. It’s your choice. It is not based upon feelings it’s strictly a mental thing. Attitude is a mental position toward a particular fact, state or situation. Again that means that you have control over it. Sometimes you can’t change a situation, but you have control over how you react to it. We all do and there are no excuses with this.

The fact that you are happy, joyful and excited or sad, depressed and angry is a direct result of the attitude that YOU have chosen to take at that time. It’s not like you have to be in that mood. You really have just chosen to be.

It took me a long time to figure this out for myself that this is the way it really works. But know I can honestly say that it is 100% true. Every time I am in the state of having a bad attitude it’s because I choose to dwell on something that I should not have.

Now obviously there are some things that occur in life that will cause it to be more difficult to control but the key is not to stay there too long.

Here’s why…

"As a man (or person) thinketh in his heart so is he". Basically this means that our thoughts (or attitude) are what determine our future. You have the power to create or destroy your own future based upon your thoughts.

So have a great attitude and think big...

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty score.

For life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have surely paid.

The bottom line is whether we believe we can or believe we can't, we're right. In order to receive we must first ask and then believe that it's possible. You must believe that you can have an abundance of money, have a great marriage, be the best parent or that you can actually create any lifestyle that you desire.

The truth is..."You are in control of your future the minute you choose to be and you can create absolutely anything you truly desire to and it all starts with attitude."

Attitude

by Chuck Swindoll
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”
Do not allow what other people say or do to dictate your attitude. People will with out even realizing it try and bring you down. You have to fight against it. The statement that misery loves company is more often than not a true statement. It’s not always the person’s fault that they are disrupting you because they are not aware of it, but you need to be so that you can knowingly choose to remain in the right attitude.
A miserable person or even someone who just happens to be in a bad mood (we’re all guilty of this sometimes) will try to identify with you by bringing you into their negative mental state. They don’t purposely do it, it’s just a reflection of their inability to control their attitude at that time.

The Success Scoop is provided to You
by: Phil Barnao
…Author of the explosively powerful
free Success Scoop E-zine… Success Scoop (close new window to get back to this page).

About The Author
Phil Barnao had experienced a youth of bad programming and wrong choices that led him to a life of struggle, disappointment and utter dissatisfaction. In his early twenties by the grace of God he came to a turning point in his life and was then introduced to the industry of personal development.

Phil states that the information he learned completely changed his paradigm and the course of his life forever. “The way that it all went down during that time has left me so thankful and convinced it was a divine encounter.”

Motivated by his change, Phil is determined to empower others towards success and happiness. He holds a passion for assisting others in pursuing their dreams and ambitions. He says “by creating a balanced growth in their life, implementing success strategies and making the relationships anyone can achieve the lifestyle they desire and fulfill their divine purpose in life.”

Phil owns multiple businesses and is a true entrepreneur at heart. He is a student, author, motivator, speaker, coach and minister of personal development and freedom. His company Wealth Creations International (aka… W.C. Group) will empower you towards the character, lifestyle, relationships and finances you want.

The W.C. Group has a FREE newsletter called success scoop that is jam packed with nuggets of valuable life changing information. Phil’s philosophy is to completely over deliver in success scoop and make it the most valuable free e-zine in the industry. You deserve to have it. Go sign up for free right now! http://www.successscoop.com/ (close new window to get back to this page)

Business Failure? Don't Give Up.....

by: Tal Fighel

So you have a burning desire, the right motivation, the right attitude, and the right tools to make money with your business. That is great. But do you have one of the most important tools called the "never give up no matter what" state of mind?

There are plenty of people in the business world both online and offline who will tell you that no matter how successful you are or how well you are doing, there will always be times that your business will take a nose dive or have setbacks.

You have to be ready for this and you must know how to jump from one setback to another with enthusiasm. You will need to be like a ball and bounce back up. Get back on the horse even after you have been knocked off it for many times.

So, if you feel discouraged and you want to quit, you must exercise all or any of the following:

1. If you feel like quitting, step back and give yourself some breathing room. Don't spend too much time on your business through the day. Instead, spend shorter times going through your business (15 minutes each time).

2. When you do feel angry, frustrated, and about to quit, take some nice, deep cleansing breaths. This will relax your mind and body.

3. Exercise is one of the best stress relievers that you should do on a daily basis. Walking, running, dancing, or whatever form of exercise you choose has many benefits for a stress free mind while building your online business. Do this on a regular basis.

4. Instead of spending too much time on your business, turn your attention to other things in your life that make you feel absolutely great. Anything that takes your mind off your business can and will help.

5. Tell yourself that you are a winner. Winners like you never quit, and quitters never win. You are not like them. You have to know that you are a winner no matter what.

6. Don't give up and quit when you feel like it. Success could be just around the corner. Desperation has a way of getting your mental juices flowing and there just may be a solution in that flow.

Now, if you were just one step away from reaching your goal, would you take that step? What a shame it would be to stop making the effort, when just a little bit more would make it all worthwhile.

What a shame it would be to have taken all those steps, only to miss the very last one. The next step you take may very well be the one that makes all the others count. At some point success is just one step away. Keep going and you'll be there.

7. Reading motivational books and listening to tapes can be a great way to stay motivated. It has great powers to inspire people. Everyone does it and you should too.

8. Many successful people online today overcame many obstacles and road bumps along the way. Every time you feel like quitting, think about those people and know that they never quit when things were down for them.

9. Giving up is really NOT an option. Look for other ways to improve your business until you do find what works for you. Learn and see what other successful people do exactly on a daily basis and apply that to yourself and your business.

Copyright (c) 2006 Work-At-Home-Income-Directory.com

About The Author
Tal Fighel is the owner of http://www.work-at-home-income-directory.com/ (close new window to get back to this page). His website is geared for people who are interested in finding an online work at home opportunity or finding the perfect home based business.

How Can I Trust Anyone Again?

How Can I Trust Anyone Again?
by: Kelly Jones

Gail Asked:

I used to live on the streets and was taken advantage of in many ways. Now I am off the streets and doing much better. Trouble is, I don't trust people anymore. I always think they want something from me and consequently I can't get past a superficial relationship.

How do I deal with this? What is wrong with my thinking? I don't live on the streets anymore and don't live around those types of people. I can't make friends with this attitude. I don't want to be a loner all my life. What do you think?

Blushgirl Says:

I think you should be commended and feel proud of yourself for getting off the streets. That took courage and determination and is no small accomplishment. If you can do that, you can do anything you set your mind upon.

There is nothing wrong with your thinking. You are reacting to past experiences and feelings. This is natural. My goodness, how would anyone react after living on the streets? Any one of us would have issues to deal with after an experience like yours.

Like most things in life, trusting people comes with time and experience. There will be some people in this world that will break your trust. This is something you must accept and you probably have a head start on this one. When you encounter someone like this, don’t get discouraged, feel sorry for him or her and move on. That person will never find true happiness until they learn to treat people with respect.

Nobody is born mistrusting other people. You learned to hold back your complete trust the first time, or the second time, or the third time you got hurt for trusting someone who was less than honest with you. The situation you were in, living on the streets, was a terrible and frightening condition. People do things there which they would not normally do just to survive. So the first thing then, is to separate these things in your mind. The world you are in now is not the world you were in on the streets. They are completely different circumstances and you must try to separate them.

While on the streets, you learned that if you didn't trust, you wouldn't be blindsided when a relationship failed. Holding back, saving you the pain, protecting yourself, became very important and in some circumstances, vital. You knew no one could hurt you, really, really, badly, as long as you didn't put your trust in them. You felt secure in knowing no one could ever hurt you badly, as long as you made sure they were kept at a distance.

But the reality is, that was a different time, and a hostile environment that you are no longer a part of. Now, you must escape from it completely, and leave it behind for good. Do not however, try to erase it from your mind. Embrace the experience. Know that if it had to happen to you, maybe there was a reason, some higher calling, and it brought you where you are now.

Now you are safe, and back in the real world. Without placing faith in others, without trusting, even if it may cause you to ultimately get hurt, you'll never experience complete love.

Love and trust are partners; they work together. No matter how many times you may be hurt by people who trample the trust you place in them, you owe it to yourself to bestow the ultimate trust on the next person you choose to befriend. Choose wisely and placing trust will not be so difficult to do.

When there is trust…

1. You know he or she will be there for you no matter what happens.
2. If you start to fall, they will catch you.
3. If you are cold, they will warm you.
4. If you need a hug, their arms will enfold you.
5. If you need a soft word, theirs is the one you will hear.
6. If you need a laugh, they have a joke.
7. No matter what you need, you know they will be there, and they know the same about you.

I know it is hard to trust sometimes, but it is well worth the potential hurt, and yes, there may be some hurt. Trusting takes two and all you can ever do is hold up your side and trust the other person enough to do the same.

So how do you trust people? The bottom line is, trust is a decision. You must decide to let go of your fears and doubts, and trust other people. Henry Stimson once said, "The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust."

All things in life start with a decision. Once you decide to start trusting, it will get easier. Each time you trust another person, you will feel rewarded and warm inside. When someone breaks that trust, know in your heart that you did the right thing by giving that person the benefit of the doubt. We can’t control what others will do, but we can control how we react to it.

When you start thinking about those negative memories of the past, do something to change your focus, no matter what that might be. For me, I simply think of a memory, real or imagined that makes me smile. Try anything to jolt your mind off the bad images. Then fill your mind with pleasant thoughts and images, and before long, all the “bad stuff” will start to fade, but yes, it takes time. You will never forget it, but it won’t affect you like it does now. It will just pass away like a faded memory. I want to recommend you look into a technique called EFT. It is easy to do, and is free to learn. Go to this website to learn more: http://www.emofree.com/a/?2209/1

Do these things and I know you will see positive things begin to happen. But more importantly, know in your heart, that you are a greater person, because of what happened to you. Now the only question remains: will it defeat you, or will it make you stronger? Since you are questioning it, and reaching out to others for advice, I know it has already made you stronger. Remember, to trust is only a decision; to be free will be the result. - Kelly

About The Author
Kelly Jones, better known as blushgirl has been in the online dating scene since 1996. Her experience in the field helps her answer questions on romance and relationships for her site visitors, and allows her to meticulously review dating and matchmaking sites. If you would like to reach Kelly, please visit her at: Blush Personals.