Who Sold You on That Plan

"Shortly after I met my mentor he asked me, "Mr. Rohn, how much money have you saved and invested over the last six years?" And I said, "None." He then asked, "Who sold you on that plan?""

*--Jim Rohn


"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain
of improving, and that's your own self."

*-- Aldous Huxley (1864-1963) English Novelist


"If you would be rich, you will be rich; if you would be good, you will be good; if you would be learned, you will be learned. But wish for one thing exclusively, and don't at the same time wish for a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly."

*-- William James

Personal Development Plan - By Kevin Christopher

While most people realize that personal development is a positive step in improving
one’s life, some people may have difficulty in finding ways to accomplish it. This is
where a personal development plan is important. A personal development plan will help
you map out areas in which improvement is desired or necessary. A personal
development plan will also outline short and long term goals that are realistic. A personal
development plan will also identify the means to accomplish the changes that you want to
make in your life. Finally a personal development plan will document the steps you
make on the way so you can continually evaluate the progress that is made.

A personal development plan starts out with identifying the areas in which you want to
improve. Start out by making a list of the areas in your life where you have difficulty.
Then, order those areas so that you have the issue that is most pressing or needs the most
improvement so you can work on that first. It is not necessary to use a personal
development plan as a way to fix everything in your life all at once. Instead, you can
concentrate on one item at a time. This is a more manageable way to affect change in
your life and you will be able to see the results more quickly.

After you have identified the area in which you want to concentrate in your personal
development plan, think about goals that you want to accomplish. It is often easy to
come up with a grand scheme goal that will fix whatever it is you want to improve on.
However, those are generally long term goals. Once the long term goal is identified, try
coming up with smaller, short term goals. The benefit of this is that you will be able to
accomplish tasks in a shorter time period and see changes for the better. This will lead to
a sense of accomplishment and you will feel more motivated to continue.

For example, if you want to create a personal development plan for losing weight, you
may want to make several short term goals. Your long term goal may be that you want to
lose fifty pounds. Start out with short term goals such as exercising at least three times
per week for a half an hour each. Another short term goal can be to cut out or reduce
particular foods from your diet. After each short term goal is accomplished, you can
move on to another short term goal such as exercising five times per week, increasing the
duration, increasing weight training or changing your diet further.

After a goal is accomplished, rewards are a great motivation. Reward yourself positively
for sticking to your personal development plan goals. You can buy a new outfit or treat
yourself to a spa day since you will feel better about yourself. Be careful, though, not to
reward negatively in ways that will work against your personal development plan. For
example, in the weight scenario, do not reward yourself with a chocolate cake. This
could cause you to backslide.

Identify a means of support in your personal development plan. You can contact your
physician, seek counseling, identify support groups geared toward your particular issue or
read books. It is not easy to change without help so don’t try. Get the support you need.
Use your personal development plan to document the changes that are being made and
the progress you are making. This will help you continually evaluate your personal
development plan and allow you to revise it from time to time if necessary.

Kevin Christopher is the creator of Time-Success-Freedom. Your online source for personal development and motivational tips and ideas. For access to personal development and motivational courses online visit Success University to continue your learning and development.

Poorly Developed Sense of Fear

"Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear
and no concept of the odds against them. They make the impossible
happen."

*-- Dr. Robert Jarvik


"It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to make sure you haven't lost the things that money can't buy."

*-- George Horace Lorimer


"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil."

*-- James Allen

Self Esteem Means Feeling Good Inside: How To Feel Good Inside - By Karl Perera

Self Esteem is what we experience when we feel good about ourselves and when we feel good inside. What makes you feel good inside?

I think when you feel you like what you are doing, where you are going and feel you have your priorities right. Feeling good means being satisfied with what you have, with what you are doing and where you are going. Next month we will look at how ambition can help or hinder you in your search for self esteem. Let's continue with this article's theme......

Don't make the common mistake of comparing your achievements to someone else or to what you believe you should have done up to this point. You will NEVER measure up and you will bring yourself down. LOW SELF ESTEEM.
What you need to feel good inside is within your power. It is not the result but the route to achievement. You will have high self esteem when you have a sense of direction, satisfaction about your choices and actions and know that you are doing your best and doing something good.

- Do your best and you will respect yourself for it. If you don't you will know. You can cheat others but not yourself.

- Be honest and kind to others. Give yourself NO chance to be self critical.

- For most people doing good things brings satisfaction and a good feeling inside. If you have done something wrong and feel guilty about it your self esteem will suffer. Try to help others. Spend time with your kids, listen to others, call someone - be nice! Your self opinion will go up and you will feel self respect. The bonus is that others will be grateful to you and this will also boost your self esteem!

- Focus your thoughts on what is right in your life and on what you like. How can you make things better? Don't neglect ever what you want from life. Some sacrifice is necessary especially if you have family but you don't have to be a martyr. Self Esteem will only blossom when you decide to love yourself.

- One of the benefits of Self Esteem is confidence in yourself and knowing realistically where you are and where you are going. But careful - don't aim too high. Keep your sights on small improvements and planning to get where you want to be. Each time you have a small success you can feel happy and motivated to continue.

- Give and be generous! Give your time and of yourself. By doing this you will have no guilt when you want to spend time alone or on your own projects. if you organise yourself you CAN make time for yourself and others. You will feel more in balance and will feel you are living your life.
Concentrate on these points and act on them. Next month I will focus on a different aspect of Self Esteem - being happy with what you have (how to manage ambition).

This article was written by Karl Perera author and owner of the website that helps you build your self esteem and confidence - www.more-selfesteem.com. Visit the site for courses, information and advice, tips, many more articles, past newsletters, books and more!

Why I Succeed

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games.
26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed.
I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I
succeed."

*-- Michael Jordan - Professional Basketball Player


"Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!"

*--Dead Poets Society (1989).


"It is often wonderful how putting down on paper a clear
statement of a case helps one to see, not perhaps the way
out, but the way in."

*-- A. C. Benson

Why You Need To Create A Victory Log Now - By Mike Brescia

Even though you don't want to live in the past, this can be an invaluable tool for you. Throughout our lives, every single one of us have had times where we did something great, or at least really good... someone gave us an approving glance, a promotion, a new client. Perhaps we dated someone hot! Wedding day, giving birth, scoring a touchdown, winning a medal. You simply helped someone out that needed it. These events made you feel good.

A very effective way to put yourself into a great mood any time you want, especially at times where exceptional performance is needed NOW, is to create...Your Victory Log. A Victory Log is merely a sheet of paper that you have nearby any time you need to be reminded of past successes of ANY kind. By reminding yourself about your successes, by pulling out that little sheet, you'll often be able to go on and reach down and grab your greatest performance ever even from the depths of despair. Often times, you just need to be able to REMEMBER that you can do it, when your thinking is really cloudy.

If you get depressed, pull out your Victory Log and you'll feel a whole lot better. I absolutely guarantee it. Yes, this is simple. That's why it works. Do you think that the doers - the real winners in life - are that much different than you? Mostly, with exceptional people, they just keep their victories just below their consciousness, so that magical confidence is right there when they need it. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do this exercise. Don't put it off. If now isn't good, do it later today. It's easy. It's fun. And you'll feel great about yourself when you're done.

And... you'll have it forever. What a great gift to yourself. Please take a few minutes and do this!!! This silly little sheet of paper can pull you out of the deepest hole faster than anything you've ever seen. Here's how. In the areas listed below we want to create a big list of even the tiniest successes. I often look at my list when I'm feeling not up to a task. Hey, no one can be at their best all the time.

Write down just a few words to jog the memory so that when you look at it, you'll know. Many people type these out afterwards. Go back to as far as you can remember. Even kindergarten is fair game. Learning - tests, quizzes, semester averages, awards, scholarships, I.Q., diploma. Include all grades and college.

Romantic relationships - dated a "hottie," got the glance in the mall, had a particularly romantic night/week/month, had 'em all after you, summer camp, phone call, poems, cards, got whistled at. Go back as far as you need to.

Sports (even backyard sports) - touchdowns, hits, baskets, goals, blocks, double plays, great shots. Include board games and cards, too.

Work - promotions, sales, raises, pats on the back, contests, trips, saved money for the company, teamwork, great days, winning, solving a problem, saving a life, got elected, a finalist for the job, made the big sale, got the listing.

Personal - convinced someone to a new way of thinking, landscaping, painting, art, cleaning the house, new clothes, great dinners, children in plays or sports, losing weight, eliminating a bad habit, building/fixing something, tuning up the car, new car day, new home, getting a letter/notification, made dinner, helped a friend.

Social - kept your temper, you were elegant, gave a great speech, the party was a success.

Health - cholesterol is down, stopped smoking, lost weight, ran 100 yards/one mile/three miles, climbed the mountain, changed your diet, walked by the chips in the store, etc.

Do this for every area of your life. I have one for kicking a 50 yard field goal. Believe me, I'll never forget it. Especially when NFL kickers have missed 30 yarders to lose games! But even the small ones, like walking by the potato chips today... That's a victory and shouldn't be discounted. Because you were strong just then, and deserve recognition. No one else is likely to do it, so you MUST.

Don't think little things are not important. They're everything -- everything. Watch during sporting events, when a player makes a mistake and the other team scores as a result. Momentum shifts. Why? Because after mistakes they begin focusing on what went wrong... instantly. And the team that scored is focused on their scoring. They're pumped up. Confidence rises.

You need that confidence too, to do your best every day and every minute. So focus on what you've done right, and you'll develop it. How can you do this? Your Victory Log... the fastest way in the world to build your confidence and increase your skills. "What does your Victory Log look like?"

WINNING BELIEFS:

-- I keep my Victory Log with me at all times

-- When I look at my Victory Log I feel powerful

-- I have many victories to power my determination

-- My victories give me confidence

-- I have many little victories every day

-- I give myself pats on the back when I do something well

EMPOWERING QUOTE:
"Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!" -Andrew Carnegie

What if you had the same minute-by-minute thoughts as the super successful? Mike Brescia has developed the ultimate mental conditioning programs that can help anyone wipe out intense fears and enjoy huge successes in all areas of life.

Mike Brescia is the creator of the world-renowned Think Right Now! Accelerated Success Conditioning Programs. Mike becomes your own personal success coach - guiding, motivating, inspiring, teaching and moving you in a way that only a best friend would. Mike will inspire you to take a hard look at yourself and be accountable for what you are in life, to be dissatisfied with the "old you" and the bad habits, to take action, ready to happily do whatever it takes to win the game of life.

Find descriptions of all his products at http://www.thinkrightnow.net

Finished It On Paper

"Never begin the day until it is finished on paper."

*--- Jim Rohn


"Continuous effort--not strength or intelligence--is the key to unlocking our potential."
*-- Winston Churchill


"Don't bother about genius. Don't worry about being clever.
Trust life to hard work, perseverance and determination.

*-- Sir Frederick Treves

It's Your Life, What Are You Doing With It? - By Tim Connor

The only thing in life that is certain is its uncertainty. You can either learn to embrace the unexpected and release the expected, or live with a great deal of frustration, anxiety and stress.

Life for everyone can be either a joyous adventure, or filled with struggle, pain and adversity. Life is a neutral process that does not select some people for success and others for failure, some for happiness and others for loneliness, or some for wealth and others for poverty. Life comes to each of us one day at a time, and we make choices and decisions that create our outcomes and consequences.

Some of these outcomes may at first appear positive, but over time we learn that they had negative lessons. Others at first may seem to be negative, but with the passage of time bring positives that we never could have anticipated.

Many would argue that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. I would argue first that all of this depends on the definition of bad and good. What can seem to be bad for us (loneliness, for example) can bring us growth, peace and surrender in the end if we can learn to see the good in solitude. What can seem to be good for us (wealth for example) can bring us fear, arrogance and isolation.

One of my basic life premises is that every life has its share of opportunities, struggles, successes and failures, and that, regardless at any given moment what you may be experiencing in your life, it can be either positive or negative depending on:

1- how you feel about it.

2- how it makes you feel about yourself.

3- what you do with it or about it.

It is not my premise that everyone can (or should) experience the same type or degree of anything in life – i.e. happiness, success, fear or ignorance. That is not for me, or any other person, to wish for you or to expect life to take from you. We are each here to learn, grow and experience life – whatever form it takes for each of us – as we move through the days and years of our lives.

This article is not about answers to your needs, questions, struggles or dreams. It is about asking you to think differently or uniquely about whatever life has put in your lap at any given moment (either suddenly or over time) – whether it is perceived as good or bad, and whether it lasts for a fleeting moment or for many years.

In the end, each of us has the power to choose. Even a prisoner or servant can choose what fills his mind and spirit. Being free is not just a physical idea, but also a mental one. There are many people who have the ability to get in their car and drive across the country, but are afraid to leave the safety of their own living room.

This article is about freedom. The freedom to:

· believe

· change

· understand

· let go

· begin again

· enjoy

· accept

· feel

Do you want anything in your life to be different or better than last year or yesterday in any way? Do you want greater success, more peace, less stress, more friends, more financial freedom, more fun, or _________ (add your own)?

What are you going to do different this year than last? Today vs. yesterday?

· Are you going to work harder or smarter?

· Are you going to learn more?

· Are you going to communicate more honestly?

· Are you going to ______ (whatever)?

There is one sure way to guarantee that the dreams in your life will be realized. There is one thing you can do, starting now, to ensure that the mistakes and lessons of last year are used as stepping stones to a better future. There is one action you can take now that will create a year in your life that is filled with happiness, achievement, success and prosperity.

Remember, your are here for a little while, then gone forever!

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 91 Challenges Managers Face Today and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com.

Most Limitations Are Self-imposed - By Tim Connor

It has been said by many people smarter than I, that “the only limitations we encounter in life are those self-limiting ones we place on ourselves.” If this is true (and at this point I am neither agreeing nor disagreeing with this premise), why then do so few people reach their full potential? Why do so many people feel stuck, out of control and without hope in their lives? Why do so many people give up, quit, settle, resign themselves or operate out of blame, anger, guilt, resentment and self-pity in regards to the quality of their life?

If this question were answered in a book by the same title, it would never sell. Why? Because the very people we are talking about here do not want to take the responsibility for their lives. They insist on pointing a finger toward something or someone else for the cause of their station or circumstances in life.

I have been at the bottom of the barrel a few times in my life. I have also reached the mountaintop. I have met thousands of people who believe they do not have any choices. They are stuck: in a job, business, relationship, way of life, neighborhood, climate or career. You and I are not trees. We can change what we do not like. Then why don’t we?

…fear, comfort, procrastination, wrong motives or reasons, other’s emotional manipulation of us and our acceptance of it.

The truth is – and I didn’t just invent it or discover it – each of us came into this world headed for greatness in some way. We were engineered for success at birth and conditioned for failure along the way. We have forgotten our heritage. We have the most magnificent organ ever created in our skull – a mind that can create whatever it chooses. There is nothing we cannot do. The skeptics out there are thinking, “Sure, Tim. I can fly.”

I do not have the time or the interest to deal with skeptics or critics. If that is their attitude, I will bet they take it into other areas of their life as well. This is not about you or me flying, but realizing we can do whatever we put our minds to, as long as we put action into our dreams. Certainly there are physical limitations in many areas or with some people. My only point here is that we could do more if we would only learn that our ceilings are self-imposed.

What inner mental images are you holding in your consciousness that may be holding you back? Is it the fear of failure or success? Is it the fear of rejection or public scorn? Is it an inner feeling of unworthiness? Or is it some other emotional issue or scar that you have failed to recognize or deal with?

Tim Connor, CSP is an internationally renowned sales, management and leadership speaker, trainer and best selling author. Since 1981 he has given over 3500 presentations in 21 countries on a variety of sales, management, leadership and relationship topics. He is the best selling author of over 60 books including; Soft Sell, That’s Life, Peace Of Mind, 91 Challenges Managers Face Today and Your First Year In Sales. He can be reached at tim@timconnor.com, 704-895-1230 or visit his website at http://www.timconnor.com.

Secrets of Being a Genius - By H. Bernard Wechsler

How-to Ace School and Career

What if you could access and retrieve your long-term memories at will?

Would you have a Competitive-Edge and sail through school and your career
in the Fast-Track?

Would students laugh at exams, and executives look forward to presentations for
promotions and raises?

Three Learning-Systems

We humans have five major senses, and three of them teach us everything
we know. Vision, touch and hearing are the key tools of learning. Taste and smell have too small a bandwidth to waste time on unless you are a dog or cat.

The largest brain bandwidth for humans is our sense of sight, which sends 10 million bits of information per second. Our sense of touch, called kinesthetic,
tactile, and haptic sense, produces 1-million bits of information per second.
Finally, our auditory sense produces between half-a-million to 1-million bits
of information per second as perceived by our brain.

Approximately 80% of us are visual learners; we remember mental images
(pictures) of what we read and write. Exams are created for visual learners.

There is a Einsteinian secret of how to remember and recall what we saw and
read. It is stopping to write or dictate into a recorder our own abstract (summary)
of the key points we can mentally visualize.

To ace exams and have people think we are a genius, we have to create a mental-image and associate it with what we want to remember. What does it remind you of?

We have to collect this information in our 3rd-Eye, the site of our Pineal Gland,
and when we want to retrieve and recall information for an exam, look upward to our Eye-Brain Link (3rd-Eye), and call it up by using the name we gave it.

Example: the Battle of Trenton. The Secret of visual information is using our 3rd-Eye as a retrieval tool of long-term memory.

Kinesthetic

About 10% of us are kinesthetic (sense of touch) learners. We have to feel things and work with them rather than seeing picture. These folks make great engineers,
architects, work in laboratories, and write computer programming.

The Einsteinian secret of those who learn best through their sense of touch is to
Twiddle-Their-Thumbs. Let’s be clear, when they want to learn and remember,
they must rotate all four fingers on each hand, back-and-forth across both their
thumbs. It requires between 1-2 minutes to twiddle their thumbs for creating
long-term memory, and the same couple of minutes to retrieve the memories
before an exam. They remember how they felt (emotions) when they originally learned the material, and they use their fingers to access the associated memories.

Kinesthetic learners relax by closing their eyes, inhaling and exhaling three deep diaphragmatic breaths, and using their 3rd-Eye by looking upward, to crack their Eye-Brain Link.

Auditory

Auditory learners create long-term memory by the use of focusing primarily on hearing words in their minds Ear. Their secret Einsteinian strategy is pulling on their left-earlobe simultaneously with remembering.

First they must close their eyes, take three deep breaths from their diaphragm;
inhaling and exhaling increases oxygenation, and helps create mental imagery and associations to summarize for long-term memory.

They must access their 3rd-Eye by looking upward (Eye-Brain Link) to retrieve their long-term memories for exams, and remember to stroke their left earlobe to trigger their Auditory Cortex.

What’s The Story – Jerry?

1. Goal: Read, learn and remember a chapter or a classroom lecture for an
exam or presentation.

2. Now imagine what you just studied was a movie, and summarize it in writing, or dictate what you recall into a recorder by listing the 1-2-3 key ideas. Make sure you give your mental-movie a title to later identify it: example, Battle of Trenton, Macbeth or Supreme Court.

3. Close your eyes, focus your attention upward toward the center of your
eyes. Focus mentally on the middle of your eyebrows.
We call it the 3rd-Eye; it is the camera lens of your mental-movie projector.
By focusing upward with your 3rd-eye, you are connecting with your Eye-Brain link (Optic Nerves), for long-term memory.

4. Now create a Virtual-Realty Mental-Movie or series of photos, of what you just read, studied and learned. Create a mental-image (on the movie-screen of your mind) that reminds you of the major elements of the event.

5. The two key elements of memory are: creating an exaggerated, ridiculous
mental-image, you can associate with what you want to recall.

Example: you want to recall the following: Winning the Battle of Trenton

George Washington crossing the Delaware River, on Christmas Day, 1776,
with his 2200 patriots to attack the Hessians in Trenton, N.J. Mentally picture a Dog named George wearing a 22 on his front of his hat, and 00 on the back, hissing (reminds you of Hessians, the German mercenaries England used to fight the Americans), cutting down a Xmas tree.

They won because of a single strategy: surprise. It was a holiday and the Hessians were sleeping when the Americans did a surprise-attack.

6. Your job is to brief your best friend about what you read, studied and

learned. He or she should see it all in his or her own minds-eye.

7. Answer these six questions to frame your summary:

a) Who are the major characters? (male/female, titles, occupations)

b) What did they do to get in trouble? (the conflict is about what? what

happened?)

c) Where does it take place? (indoor, outdoor, U.S., Europe or Asia).

d) When does it occur? (past, present or future).

e) Why did it happen? (why is it happening? why not?)

f) How did they overcome their problem? How did it happen? How much?

8. In the Exam room, relax and close your eyes for less than one-minute,
look upward to your 3rd-eye (Eye-Brain Link), to review your mental-
movies. To retrieve your mental-movie, silently subvocalize the name of
your mental-movie, The Battle-of Trenton.

In your minds-eye you will see the dog named George, wearing the hat with the number 22 in front and 00 in back, reminding you of Washington’s 2200 soldiers Now see George, the dog, cutting down the Xmas tree. That will remind you of the date, 1776, Xmas day. Next, you will hear the dog Hiss, reminding you of the Hessians, who the Americans defeated, in the first major American victory of the Revolution.

Endwords

You don’t have to know everything, just the important things. All it takes to be a
genius are a few tools and strategies to learn and remember. They are listed here, will you use them?

See ya,

copyright© 2006

H. Bernard Wechsler

Author, Speed Reading For Professionals, published by Barron's; former
partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating 2 million,
including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents.

Interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and Fortune Magazine.

http://www.speedlearning.org

hbw@speedlearning.org