Keys to Success

"Keys to success... Research your idea, Plan for success, Expect
success, & just plain do it! It amazes me how many people skip the
last step! Practice being a "doer" and success will follow you every
step of the way!"

*-- Josh S. Hinds


"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in
other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people
interested in you."

*-- Dale Carnegie


"Saying yes and no clearly builds confidence and rids us of the
misconception that we are powerless."

*-- Marsha Sinetar

By Lisa J. Allen - Our Worst Enemy

Who do you consider as your worst enemy? The criminals roaming
the dark streets? Your boss who's killing you mentally and
emotionally with stress and harsh words? The people in the office
who are engaging in graft and corruption, instead of helping
those in need?

We have many implications of who our enemies are; but we have
one common foe who is the main cause of our failures and misfortunes, and quite frequently we're not even aware of this opponent.

You may not want to admit it, but our worst enemy is ourselves.

Who do you blame when something goes wrong? You blame the people around you, the weather, maybe even God. But we are the ones who are in control of ourselves. We can change the outcome
of our lives because we have the capacity to do that.

It is our fear, jealousy, greed, laziness, etc. that is ruining our lives.
Some people who never managed to get out of poverty blame the
government, other people, their parents , siblings, or their jobs. But they're too afraid to try out new ventures that may improve their lives. They half-heartedly go to work, then when the day is done, they watch TV or go out aimlessly having fun or drinking without seriously thinking of what great opportunities the future has in store for them, if only they would try to do something different with their lives.

Fear has caused many to remain frigid and to never go out seeking
the wonderful things this world has to offer. Many people would
rather stay where they are -- in an unsatisfied state -- than risk difficulties and obstacles for the sake of attaining their dreams.

If their lives are not getting any better, they have no one else to
blame but themselves.

Jealousy and envy can also cause relationship problems. Some people immediately jump to conclusions without first analyzing the situation. They let their sudden emotions control their behaviors without thinking of the consequences that may result. If they're having problems with their relationships, they have no one else to blame but themselves.

This goes to show that we decide what will happen to us. Of course, there are circumstances that are beyond our control, like natural disasters. But we can still utilize to our best advantage the things that we have control of.

For instance, you got rejected by your dream girl (or guy). Some people would just get drunk and feel miserable, thinking that it's the end of the world. Some will move forward with their lives and find the best in what remains with them. See? It's really up to you. You decide if you want to have a good life or not.

You failed in your exams? So what? There's another opportunity. You can just sulk in sorrow or you can study harder to get a high score in the future. It's up to you. There's no use crying over spilled milk. You don't have to get frustrated over misfortune. Concentrate on how to make it better in the future.

If we encounter a problem, we can either give in to it, or we can treat
it as an opportunity to become stronger and to become better individuals. Winners always treat their problems as opportunities.

Oh yes. We can be our worst enemy, but we can also be our best friend. It's all up to us!

Lisa J. Allen, MEd, MIS;

http://www.yellowgekko.com/

Your Own Resolution

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed
is more important than any other."

*-- Abraham Lincoln


"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at
earth and you get neither."

*-- C. S. Lewis


"Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to
solutions."

*-- Anthony Robbins

Energy at Work - By Jeanie Marshall

Energy works for you, with you, in you, and as you. In fact, you are energy.

In the workplace, when you enhance your sensitivity to energy you can enhance your experience of empowerment, effectiveness, and efficiency. Energy is synonymous with movement. When energy is blocked, you are less creative and satisfied.

Energy is at work every place, not just in the workplace. Enhancing your awareness of energy assists you in every situation. As your awareness of energy increases, you find an even greater need or desire to be more aware of energy to facilitate the ever-increasing acceleration of creativity and intuition. It is exponential.

You notice energy in your own unique way. The ways available to you include: your five physical senses, your sense of balance, your intuition, and your feelings. I call these "noticing mechanisms" or "channels of perception." As you notice these noticing mechanisms, they become more efficient and effective. As you notice energy, energy flows in the direction you notice. Your attention expands whatever you are noticing.

You are individually responsible for how you direct this flow of energy, so it is important that you focus on the areas that you consider to be worthy of your attention. What is worthy of one person's attention is not necessarily worthy of another person's attention. The world keeps expanding because you view, read, and interpret energy in ways that are different from others. Differences are to be celebrated, not absorbed into sameness.

Have you noticed an increase in activity and creativity in all parts of your life, with more and more of everything? You have more ideas than you can carry out. And so do others! More technology exists than most individuals can comprehend. The Internet connects people from different parts of the world in ways that are not possible through any other medium. With more and more of everything, you must be more discerning about how to invest your energy -- at work, at play, at home, in the world.

Reading energy is a powerful skill for helping you to find the products or friends or ideas or travel routes or jobs that are worthy of your attention and/or are more efficient, effective, or empowering. You are reading and interpreting energy all the time, because everything is energy. If you do not think of relating to people, places, things and ideas as reading energy, just open yourself to that possibility. With awareness and practice, you can learning how to read energy more clearly.

Here is a simple approach to reading energy more clearly over time:

1. Set an intention to be more aware of energy. (For example, "I want to be more aware of energy.")

2. Close your eyes or focus your eyes on a blank wall or paper. (You can practice best with no one around by closing your eyes; if others are present, choose a focal point that minimizes your looking for verbal clues.)

3. Listen inside yourself. (Focus the attention inside yourself for the most effective reading of energy.)

4. Notice how you feel. (Use any or any combination of your noticing mechanisms.)

5. Repeat. (The only way to become really good at reading energy is to practice, practice. practice.)

How are you going to notice and use your energy today? This week? At your next meeting? In the next hour?

Copyright © 2006 Marshall House Jeanie Marshall, Empowerment Consultant and Coach with Marshall House, produces Guided Meditations on CD albums and MP3 downloads and writes extensively on subjects related to personal development and empowerment.

Voice of Jeanie Marshall, http://www.jmvoice.com

Believe In What You Are Doing

"If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you
up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been
done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the
work done."

*-- Dale Carnegie


"The important thing to remember is that if you don’t have that
inspired enthusiasm that is contagious whatever you do have is also
contagious."

*-- Danny Cox


"Don't mistake movement for achievement. It's easy to get faked out by
being busy. The question is: Busy doing what?"

*-- Jim Rohn

Dare to Dream Big Dreams - By Robert Prentice

Never be afraid to dream big dreams. Be bold and allow your thinking to get way out there. Take a step outside of the norm, where most people fear to tread. I should caution you though, that this time of dreaming big is not yet the time to share with others. There are people who have a tendency to be dream stealers-thieves who shoot down and attack other people's goals, passions, and possibilities. You certainly don't need that kind of interference in the beginning.

When you are dreaming, allow your mind to take that leap into the realm of the impossible. Believe you are capable of anything your heart and mind can agree upon. Do not second-guess yourself. Have no doubt in your personal potential and remember that each and every one of us has a great wealth of potential that is often lying dormant and just waiting to be tapped.

Once you have done some dreaming, take time to clarify your dream, by writing or typing three or four paragraphs, so you can hold it out in front of you and see it in black and white. Read what you have written, and look at it from as many perspectives as possible. When you believe your dream is sound, and you are clear in your mind about what you really want and what it will take to get what you want, and you know you have a real passion for achieving this dream of yours, then go ahead and share your it with someone that you trust, respect and/or love. Give them a copy of your specific dream and enlist their cooperation in holding you accountable for the fulfillment of your big dream.

Of course, you could always opt not to dream big dreams. Or you could dream big dreams and just never act on them. After all, status quo is pretty easy, isn't it? No harm may be done at all if you fail to dream. But then again, you really never know what you, or the world might miss if you don't.

©2005 Professional Development Systems All Rights Reserved

Robert Prentice of Professional Developments Systems has spent the last twenty years bringing inspiration and motivation to business owners as well as their employees. For more information visit his website at http://www.mrattitudespeaks.com

It Will Look Better

"It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning."

*-- Colin Powell


"Forgiveness is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself.
If you can’t learn to forgive, you can forget about achieving true
success in your life."

*-- Dr. Wayne Dyer


"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics
without strategy is the noise before defeat."

*-- Sun Tzu

Enthusiasm Makes the Difference! - By SK Wong

How enthusiastic are you about your dream list that you have created? Do you eyes glow with sparkling light whenever you talked about your dream list?

Emerson said, “Nothing Great ever Achieves without Enthusiasm.” The word enthusiasm came from a Greek word enthios which means ‘the god within’ and that literally translate as; with enthusiasm, you will be able to achieve whatever your heart desire to be! Though, to achieve our heart desire, it may be influenced by many factors and the circumstances we were in, the chances of success are very much depend on our level of enthusiasm.
Without enthusiasm in doing what we aspiring to do, we will be dragging to work like hard labor, it definitely will affect the quality of our work; like the story that follows.

A man visited a sub-urban area and saw two workers were laying bricks. He approached the first man and asked, “What are you doing?” The first worker replied, “Don’t you see I am laying brick!” He then approached the second worker and asked the same question. The second worker replied, “Good Morning sir, I am building a magnificent building which will become the monument of this town. It will provide a meeting place for all of us and share our joys and achievement of this town!” Same job, different replies!

What makes the different? The only different is enthusiasm, for the first worker, it was just a routine job, for the second worker, he has a different vision that his work will serve the community and he found satisfaction in doing so.What is your level of enthusiasm in the work you are doing now? If it does not light
up your eyes when you talk about it, perhaps you should start thinking of writing your dream list.

Children are more enthusiastic about any thing that’s new to them. Tell them that you will bring them for a feast in any of the fast food chain; they will enthusiastically ask you everyday is it time yet for a week. Tell them that you will bring them for a beach holiday; they will enthusiastically asked you for a month. As adult, many seemed to loose the child in them, almost all things become routine to them and every day is just another day.

Run through the dream list that you have written; talk with your love one or your close friends, the one that brought sparkling eyes when you talk about it and with great enthusiasm, will probably be your heart desired dream. You may not aware when you speak about your heart desire dream but your listener would. Draw up a plan, design a strategy and work toward achieving it! You may not see the progress in near term, but with great enthusiasm and consistent work, you will be able to achieve your goal.

“Great results cannot be achieved at once, and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk-step by step.” Samuel Smiles.

Be enthusiastic in your Dream; Go for it!

SK Wong is a Charter Marketer with a MBA in Finance providing Marketing and Risk Management training and services to his local business community. He is also a Certified Member Trainer and a Member of Junior Chamber International Senate (Senate No 50353) His online Business Resources for Small Business Home Business and aspiring netrepreneurs can be view at http://www.clickabiznes.com

To Dare Mighty Things

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even
though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor
souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the
gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

*-- Theodore Roosevelt


"The important thing to remember is that if you don’t have that
inspired enthusiasm that is contagious whatever you do have is also
contagious."

*-- Danny Cox


"Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved."

*-- D. H. Lawrence {1885-1930 English Poet & Author}

Do You Have A Map For Life’s Road Trip? - By Al Lipper

I’ve talked before about how essential it is to have a plan for life. Not just having appointments in your planner and tasks on your to do list, but making sure your actions actually bring you closer to your long-term goals.

Let me share a brief story about Bill, a man in his early forties, who hopes to transition to working only part-time over the next five to seven years in order to spend time with his kids before they leave the house. He has a dream of someday retiring to a cabin in the mountains where he can spend his time reading, fishing and relaxing with his wife. Right now, he works a 9-to5 job and makes just enough money to pay the bills each month. He has been doing this for about 25 years. When I ask him when he plans to shift to part-time, he explains that he just doesn’t have time to focus on it right now, and that maybe next year he’ll look into figuring out how to do it.

Imagine Bill is on a road trip. His vision of working part-time and retiring to his cabin in the mountains are like his destination. Suppose he started out in Philadelphia and his destination is Los Angeles. Bill is currently still in Philadelphia, hoping that someday he will miraculously be transported to Los Angeles. But right now, he has yet to consult a map and plan out his route (develop a life plan). Instead, he just jumped in his car and has been driving for 25 years. Chances are, he will run out of gas before he ever gets halfway across the country – maybe even before he leaves Philadelphia. Ironically, when asked if he’s consulted a map, he essentially says “I don’t have time to look at the map right now, I’m too busy driving.”

Bill is not some anomaly. In fact, we all tend to do this type of thing in some area of our life. We are not taught in school to plan a future – we just hear about it from friends, family and the media, taking whatever advice we stumble across. The road trip analogy is really an excellent way to look at life.

Let's consider Susan, who took a similar situation and made it come out quite different. Like Bill, she has a 9-to-5 job. She plans (not “hopes”) to work part-time, like Bill, then retire to a beach house in California. But Susan has a solid plan. She figured out that if she saves $10 each day in a mutual fund investment, she will have over $2,200,000 to retire on by age 55 (she saves this $10 by bringing her own lunch to work most days and not buying coffee in the morning). In fact, she figured out that she can begin working half-time at age 50, while still reaching these financial goals. Susan learned about the value of saving early in her life.

Back to our metaphor, she has looked at her map and located her destination (working part-time and retiring early), then figured out a route to follow from where she is now to where she wants to go (she created a plan). She made sure she would be able to follow her route to the destination without running out of gas money (did the math on how much she would have by age 55 if she invested $10 per day). Then she got in the car and started to drive, following her planned route as best as she could (she executed her plan). Sure, things didn't always go as expected – there was bad weather, her car broke down a couple of times, there were traffic jams and road closures, but she dealt with them as they came up, always knowing what her final destination was (In reality, she faced unexpected medical bills, got laid off, broke up with her fiancée, etc. but always found a way to get back on track toward her ultimate goal).

You get the idea. Note that there are many variations on this theme. Here are a few of them – see if you can recognize them in people you know, or even in yourself.

•Some people drive without a map (They live life as each day comes with no plan for the things they want to be a part of their future)

•Some drive with a map, but don't look at it (They once made a plan for what they want in life, but now they are way off track. They deal with this by simply not looking at their plan)

•Some looked at their map, but never get on the highway, just driving around the same streets again and again even though they once knew that those streets would never take them to their destination. (These are people who understood that they need to take certain steps to get to their long-term life goals. But they feel that it's too much work, so they put off ever starting. As a result they live one day at a time, just like the people who don't have a map).

•Some spend their time looking over the map, planning out every detail, but never actually get in the car and start to drive. (These are people who are in “analysis paralysis.” They spend their lives planning, they tell everyone what they'll do someday, but when it comes time to taking action, they say things like “I have to figure out a bit more detail…” They are forever stuck in the planning stage.)

•Some will run out of gas before they reach their destination, though even minor planning would have made it clear that this would happen. (These are people who made a plan, started out on the right track, but then when life events got them off track, they never evaluated how they were doing relative to their original goal. As a result, they've ended up lost and disillusioned, perhaps asking “How did I get here?”)

•Some pass many gas stations saying “I don't have time to get gas.” Then when the needle finally gets to Empty, they frantically start looking for gas stations only to find they are too far away to make it on the gas they have remaining. (These are people who are headed in the right direction, but sabotage themselves by not gathering the resources they need to keep going. The result is that they have an excuse like “I didn't have time,” “I don't have the money for it right now,” “My life is crazy right now because my landlord is kicking me out for paying my rent late too often.” The closer they get, the more “stuff” will get in their way – looking at the bigger picture usually reveals that it is stuff they could have prevented.)

There are four basic steps:

1. Clearly define where you want to go, then write it down. (Your goals may be for your career, family, finances, health, etc. or a combination of more than one).

2. Come up with a plan for getting there (learn from other people who have already done it before you. As Issac Newton said “I have seen as far as I have because I stand upon the shoulders of giants”)

3. Take action. Just do it. Each day, you should be taking some action that brings you closer to your bigger life goals. Large achievements are made from small steps taken day after day. (Tell someone about your goals – it's best if it is someone who will really hold you accountable, and who you would be embarrassed to have see you not follow through)

4. Continually evaluate the results you're getting to make sure you're still on track for your destination. If you're not, figure out what you need to change to get there. Then, go back to step #3. (At regular times each week, read your goals and ask the simple question “Am I closer to my goal than I was last week?” If so, great! Celebrate your success. If not, ask “What could I change that would bring me closer during the coming week?” If you get stuck, push yourself with a question like “What if I would lose my job if I didn't reach this goal – then what action would I do?”)

It takes some courage to look at your life and draw an honest analogy between your journey and a road trip. But remember, simply not looking at something doesn't make it not true. Being straight with yourself about where you are and where you want to be, as well as what you're doing to get there, will give you a valuable opportunity. Either you're on track, and deserve to celebrate, or you're not, and you can develop a plan for getting there.

I work with people all the time who never realized that they were on a road that would never get them to their greater life goals, and some who don't even know what their greater goals are. It's not nearly as hard as you might think to develop a plan and make progress on it. Imagine where you could be a year from now if you are working toward a goal like finding a new relationship, earning more money, changing jobs or anything else you set your mind to. Stay tuned for future articles on staying motivated and overcoming procrastination. In the meantime, pull out the map, get on the freeway and put the pedal to the metal!

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Coach Al Lipper of 'Destiny: Success' offers Life Coaching services for people seeking life balance. Contact him today for your free half-hour coaching session to get yourself underway toward the life you want. Visit 'Destiny: Success' at http://www.destinysuccess.com