Confident Lifestyle

Attitude Is A Really ImportantThing

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:58:00 +0000

Regardless of your age, your place in life, your occupation, or the ways you choose to spend time, I can guarantee that your attitude is one of the most significant things that determines your happiness and contentment in life.

Attitude is so powerful because it is one of the few things that every single person has the ability to be in control of regardless of any other factors in life. When life is going well and we have no complaints we can choose what kind of attitude to face each day with. Fortunately, when our lives seem like they couldn't get any worse we can also choose what kind of attitude we will have each day.

Can you think about a time in your life when your attitude made all the difference? Or, maybe think of an example from the life of someone you know. Can you think of a situation when all things looked grim and yet you or someone else's attitude made that situation better just by being positive?

You may be wondering why it is important to keep a good attitude regardless of other factors in your life. Good question. One thing I've learned about life is that it will not always go my way. It is highly unlikely that every single day for the rest of my life will be filled with joy, friendships, and peace. It is possible, but unlikely. It is much more likely that life will throw me things I wasn't expecting. Tragedies, sicknesses, and relationship trials will come my way and it will be my attitude that determines how those events affect me.

Keeping a good attitude in life allows us to remember that even in tough times we have much to be thankful for. Choose to let your attitude reflect this perspective rather than reflecting the fact that you are not getting exactly what you want at a moment in time. Let your attitude reflect all of the ways that your life has been blessed and all of the good things that have happened to you.

We have all heard it said that "attitude is a little thing that can make a big difference." I agree with whoever said those words wholeheartedly, but I'll even take it a step further and simply say that attitude is a big thing. Attitude is perhaps one of the biggest factors that determines the path and results we see in life. When we can look at the worst situations with hope and a right perspective, nothing will be too difficult to bear.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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10 Things To Do Before The End Of The Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:41:00 +0000

Here we are in August already - 7 months of the year already gone. I don't know about you but this year has been flying by for me and I realized there was only five months left to complete all my resolutions I made for this year.

I decided this weekend to take a look at how I've done and realized that I didn't do half bad with my resolutions. I still need to lose two pounds to hit my ideal weight. I painted the rooms I wanted to paint and my garden is doing awesome this year.

It hit me then that I still had time to accomplish a few more things before the year end and I hope that you join me and make some mid year resolutions. Here is what I plan to do and hope you choose some of these also.

1. Reconnect with an old friend or colleague. If you decide to do this, you will know who it is to contact. It will be the person who came to your mind as you read that sentence. Make the effort to call or contact them. But do more than just say hello. If they live close, get together for a meal or an evening. If they live further away, schedule time for a long, relaxed phone call. However you connect, make sure that you spend time on more than just “the good old days” and the old stories. Learn about what this person is doing, their goals and dreams. And see what you can do to help them achieve those things.

2. Spend one day in service to others. Volunteer your day to a service organization. Go to a nursing home. Rake the neighbor’s leaves. Use your professional skills in a pro bono way. It doesn’t matter what you do, just do it with a giving heart. Perhaps have a end of summer yard sale and donate the funds to charity.

3. Read one book you’ve wanted to read. If you are a big reader, you already have a stack to read. Pick one and commit to getting it read. If you read less and don’t have a book in mind, talk to someone you trust and admire and ask them for a suggestion. It doesn’t matter what the book is; pick it, and read it. Me I am re-reading one of my favorites.

4. Give someone a book that you have found personally valuable. Maybe it is the book you are now going to read. Maybe it is something you read in January, or maybe it is your favorite children’s book. Again, what the book is doesn’t matter, the joy comes in identifying a person who will enjoy and benefit from it the way that you did. When you give them the book, make sure you share with them why you are sharing it with them – it will mean so much to them. Each year I give a large stack of books to our local hospital and one of my favorite Senior Centers.

5. Make a list of the things you’ve learned this year. Hopefully it is a long list! Don’t try to do this all at one time. Give yourself a place to write and a couple of days to allow your mind to find these nuggets.

6. Identify the top five. Review the list you made from above and pull out the five that are most important to you. Write them down and think about why they are so valuable to you and how you can benefit from them today and in the future.

7. Make a list of the most fun things you have done this year. You will have fun making this list – and yes I do mean make a list!

8. Identify why they were the most fun so you can do more of it next year. This only makes sense. Once you have thought about your “most fun”, figure out how to get more of it into your life – whether it is an experience, time with specific people or whatever.

9. Commit to having another experience before December 31st that you could add to your “most fun” list. Too often fun gets sidelined, especially near the busy end of the year. Don’t let it happen. Make sure that you have some big fun before the end of the year.

10. Make a list of things you want to learn next year. Some things in life we learn serendipitously, and those are precious indeed. But we can also determine what we want to learn and why. Make some of those determinations now before you turn your calendar to the New Year and get a head start on learning.

Some of these are forward-looking tasks, some retrospective. That is intentional. It is important for us to consistently and regularly reflect, and of course when we look to the future we will see where we are going – and correct our course to get where we want to go.

These items may feel more personal than professional. Actually they are both. If you are reading this from a professional development perspective, I urge you to do these items.

These actions will be like magic in your life. Your life will be richer and more satisfying and you will be moving in the direction of your potential when you do these things.

Get stated now and have a wonderful rest of the year and as always have a confident and positive day.

JD
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10 Easy Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:33:00 +0000

I was visiting a friend the other day when he starts on about his health, what medicines his doctor has him on the restricted diet his doctor wants him to follow and how he needs to start exercising. Then comes the discussion of the high cost of his insurance and how much he has to spend on his prescriptions etc. He then asks me how many different prescriptions I had.

My friend was amazed when I told him that I used no medication, had no prescriptions and didn't have regularly scheduled doctor appointments. What shocked him the most was when he realized that I am six years older than he is.

Of course he wanted to know how that could be and what I did to stay so healthy. From that discussion I will share the 10 tips I gave my friend.

Following are ten things that you can do to promote optimal nutrition:

1. Watch what you eat. Your meals should consist of a healthy daily balance of foods. Knowing your nutritional needs and not eating too much or too little can lead to a more balanced lifestyle. This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a good pizza now and then or a sweet tasty dessert. I just enjoy in moderation.

2. Sleep. When you are sleep-deprived, your body begins to shut down. Make sure that you feel rested from getting an adequate amount of sleep. This will allow your body to function at a consistent and optimal speed every day.

3. Take vitamins and supplements. Paying attention to where your diet feels lacking. Once you have determined this, you can compensate with vitamins and supplements. I personally use Centrum Silver as my daily vitamin and a glass or two of V8 to supplement my vegetable intake.

4. Exercise. You should exercise at least three to five times per week. Exercise helps your body to build muscle, lose weight and can help prevent illness and disease. Even walking daily will help improve your health and increase your stamina. Adopt a dog and take them on daily walks, a dog is a great motivator for getting out and walking!

5. Fight addictions. Avoid over or under eating, eat nutritionally balanced meals . Use alcohol and nicotine in moderation or stop using both. Over indulgence can easily disrupt your nutritional balance and cause serious problems. Having a glass of wine or beer daily may have it's health benefits but again enjoy in moderation.

6. Keep learning. There are several different definitions of improving health. Improving heath not only means diets, but there are holistic approaches that can be a part of your lifestyle. Keep researching and studying to determine what is and is not effective to help you in improving and maintaining your health. Continuous learning also keeps your mind healthy and keeps you feeling young.

7. Stay motivated. It is easy to begin working on improving our health and it is also easy to discontinue once we don’t see immediate results. A major aspect of improving your health is remaining consistent and motivated in your activities. It is important to make health care an every day priority. Set easily obtainable daily, weekly and monthly goals.

8. Get the right body measurements. Getting your body mass index taken, as well as finding where you need to focus your efforts in order to improve health can help you in staying motivated in improving your health.

9. Build a network. A network includes not only those that can provide information for you, but also support and assist you in building and maintaining health. I enjoy taking my dog along on my weekly hiking groups hikes.

10. Consult. There are a variety of health care providers and nutritionists that can help you. If you are uncertain about necessary steps to take, get in touch with the right person to determine what you need to do.

Choosing a healthy lifestyle can benefit you in several ways. It gives you a boost of energy and makes your body feel more in tune. It is important to identify ways you can improve your health. You can help yourself to live a more fulfilled life by consistently working towards improving your health. By knowing what you need to do and by following those steps, you can be assured that you will attain better nutrition and energy.

Have a confident and healthy day!

JD

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Finding Inner Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:01:00 +0000

People with pessimistic attitudes go through their lives fighting their thoughts and emotions every day. If they are rejected for a job position, they feel that they are not good enough to have any job. They start to think that everyone believes they are stupid, and the cycle of pessimism traps them into psychological immobility. In fact, everyone experiences rejection at some time during their lives, but when your mind focuses on the negative aspects of a situation, it is hard to find inner peace.

The first step in finding inner peace is to think carefully about your goals. What are you trying to achieve, and what are you doing that will take you there? Can you realistically reach your goals, or are you setting goals that are far beyond your reach? Do you have any goals? By putting your priorities in order, you will be on the path to peace because only chaos can result from clutter and disorganization of the mind. You can start by setting small goals that can be easily achieved. Then, instead of focusing on failure, you can see the good job you’ve done in reaching your goal. If you fail to reach a goal, use this situation to learn how to do better next time. Don’t wallow in your failure.

When you feel good about yourself, you will have an easier time finding peace of mind. Peace is essential for happiness. If you constantly feel sad, you are living under a great weight that brings you down to a point where you could sink into a permanent state of self-pity. Self-pity only encourages negative thinking. Remember, you are not the only person facing rejection or hurt in life. There are other people much worse off than you are. People with negative thinking miss out on inner peace because they let every little setback throw them off track. They criticize themselves for no real reason and go down a road that only leads to misery.

Sometimes, hearing the word ‘no’ is a good thing. If you’ve lost out on a job, maybe that is for the best. What if you had been awarded a job position only to find out that it was not what you really wanted, or that you couldn’t do it as well as you thought? Of course, maybe you like being involved in situations that may lead you to harm. Maybe someone says ‘no’ to you to keep you from hurting yourself. Maybe they say ‘no’ because they love you.

Every life is full of rejection, so we would do well to turn our rejections into positive actions. Taking action can lead you to inner peace because activity makes you feel more positive about a situation. Positive attitudes result in peaceful states of mind. If you are feeling bad about yourself all the time, you need to break the cycle and get out of the habit of doing so. You can train your mind to think more positively. It will take work and effort, but it will lead you to inner peace, and this will be worthwhile.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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Qualities of a winner

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:04:00 +0000

Out of millions, comes one big winner and out of billions, comes a winner who overtakes every other winner in the world. Look at the history of the world, and you will always find few individuals during a certain period who were winners of that time. Lincoln, Gandhi, Churchill, Roosevelt, were all winners of their time. The question is not, who is the winner of a given time, but what makes a winner.

Who is a winner and what qualities are needed to make a winner?
Overcoming Obstacles

Winners come across same obstacles as everybody else. But they take them as challenges. An obstacle can be treated as a hurdle or something that challenges the mind to overcome it. Winners take them as challenges and rather than getting frustrated, thrive on obstacles. Every new obstacle makes them sharper and better, while a large majority surrenders in front of the same obstacles.

Focus

The winners have focus. Rather than giving away their energy to small ideas, they focus on the larger objective and work towards that. It is like walking on a road. The winner keeps walking, whereas other mortals try to explore smaller streets that connect to the road. Walk towards the goal.

Hard work

Winners are not afraid of hard work. To achieve their objective, they work ceaselessly. There is no word such as tiredness in their dictionary. The objective of working towards the goal gives them so much energy that the tiredness finds no place in their scheme of things.

These are some of the qualities that define a winner. Many other qualities add up to make a true winner in the millions. Why shouldn't all of us become winners?

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5 Fun & Easy Ways To Get Out Of The Rut

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:47:00 +0000

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel less than great. Low, grouchy, fed-up, and bored are all words you could use to describe what I’m like on those days and I’m probably not the best company. The thing is, days like those are part of the deal with being human – it’s not an elective. There will always be off days, and that’s okay.

But what happens when you get a whole string of those off-days, maybe lasting weeks, months or even years? Too many of us say that we’re in a rut, feel stuck, fed-up, or bored and admit that we don’t want things to be that way, but we don’t know what to do to change. That’s the problem, when you’re in a rut, you don’t have the energy or motivation to change things for the better, and it’s tough to find the insight or resources you need to make that jump.

Here are five fun and easy ways you can use right now to climb, or better yet, leap, out of the rut and start to get something better for yourself.

1. Do Something Differently
Life tends to run smoothly when we establish systems and routines for things, but the problem comes when things run too smoothly and we become blinded to any ideas or choices that sit outside of our routine. All the stuff we do every day becomes the norm, running on auto-pilot, and it becomes our whole world.

Start with making one or two simple changes to your day - be it at breakfast time, your radio station, gym routine, route to work, lunch routine, etc. Don’t worry about what the changes are or whether they’re right or wrong, just make a couple of simple choices that will serve you well.

Doing something differently or changing parts of your routine, instantly takes you out of the norm and allows you to shake off the things that make you feel confined. Step out of your routine and you’ll be in a position where you’re able to make different choices, see things differently and get a different result.

2. Use your Intuition

Your intuition is a powerful ally, and we all have it even though you might not recognize it. The dictionary says that intuition is:

1.a. The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.

1.b. Knowledge gained by the use of this faculty; a perceptive insight.

2. A sense of something not evident or deducible; an impression.

One of the best friends you'll ever have in life is your intuition, and tuning in to it and learning to trust it is something that can have some truly remarkable effects. Accessing your intuition is a bit like working and developing a muscle, but unfortunately it can be harder to locate than a bicep or quadriceps, which tend to stay in the same place. Here are some quick tips for accessing and trusting it –

• Practice maintaining an open-minded, playful, experimental, non-judgmental attitude. This is the most fertile ground to tap into your intuition.

• Practice making wild guesses in your everyday life. Guess what a salesperson's name is, what a new person or place will look like or who's calling on the phone. Don't worry about getting it wrong, you're just working that muscle.

• Try a few simple observation exercises in your daily life. Whether you're in a restaurant, on a train, in a bar, or out shopping, practice noticing non-verbal behavior in others. Look for shifts in posture, eye movements, vocal tone or tempo, etc. Guess how they're feeling or what they're talking about.

3. Nourishment

Imagine you’re walking home from the supermarket with a couple of bags of groceries, but those bags have holes in them. You’re walking along merrily leaving a trail of your things behind you, but when you get home you unpack what’s left and ask, "Didn’t I have more than this?"

Nourishment is about plugging those holes in your life and making sure you have things that keep you feeling nourished – nourished in your head, nourished in your heart, and nourished in your stomach. Remember that you can’t give away what you don’t have, and can’t spend energy you’ve already spent.

It doesn’t have to be the big things in life that nourish you and it’s often the simplest little thing that strikes a chord, makes you feel like yourself again, or makes you smile from ear to ear – calling a friend, talking a walk in the park, or listening to your favorite song, for example. So what keeps you balanced? What relaxes you or makes you feel peaceful? What makes you feel like you again?

The fact is that you’re important enough to spend time taking care of yourself and it doesn’t matter what it is, just take the time to do it. If necessary, go as far as booking time in your diary. You’re the only one of you there is, so it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re okay.

4. Perfect Day

Here’s something to play with – your Perfect Day. This idea came to me a few years ago when a good friend suddenly asked me "What would be your perfect day?" I’d never been asked that before and I found myself spontaneously making up a story – telling her about my Perfect Day from the moment my eyes flickered open to the moment my head hit the pillow.

I went through each part of the day telling her what I was doing, who I was with, where we were, how it felt and what happened next. Bit by bit and without even thinking about it, I’d put together a rich, colorful, exciting, and comforting day, which still holds true as my Perfect Day. The best part is that you can start introducing little bits of your Perfect Day into your real life or working to make some of it happen. For example, in part of my Perfect Day I visit a company where I’m helping the directors and employees to focus on their strengths and to create a environment where people love to work and can be their best – and that was even before I knew that there was such a thing as coaching or that I could be a coach. My Perfect Day has now become like a good friend of mine whom I can call on whenever I want to.

So what’s your Perfect Day? Don’t think too much about it and don’t worry about it sounding silly or too grand. Just shoot from the hip and see what comes out naturally for you. Write down words, ideas, themes or a whole narrative – even draw pictures if you want to. Have fun with it, play with it – it’s your Perfect Day.

5. Get Some Fun, Fulfillment and Freedom

The Three F’s – Fun, Fulfillment, and Freedom - encompass a lot of what people are looking for in life, and also contain the solutions to having, doing and being those things. Here are some definitions,

Fun, n. - A source of enjoyment or pleasure; playful activity.

Ful-fil'ment, n. - To bring into actuality; to complete; a feeling of satisfaction at having achieved your desires.

Free-dom, n. - The capacity to exercise choice, free will; frankness or boldness; the absence of constraint in choice or action.

Read those again. Those things are huge, deep, and broad, and are a lot simpler than we make them.

Where are you in relation to each of the Three F’s? How much of each do you have right now? How much of each do you want? Whatever gap there is, recognize that it can be closed, and that you can close it. What would things be like if you were to close that gap? What would happen if you climbed a point or two on the Fun scale? What if you could add a point to your level of Fulfilment or Freedom? How would that feel? Pretty good, right? So what one thing can you do right now to help you get more?

By themselves each of the Three F's are a powerful thing, and can really help to move you forward, enjoy where you are, and feel alive. But when the Three F's come together . . .well, just hold on to your hat and keys.

Rut? What rut?""

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Steps to Building Your Self-Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:04:00 +0000

Accept yourself

The very first step in building self-confidence is to accept yourself in an unconditional way. You are human, therefore you are not perfect, so don’t dwell on what you see as flaws. Everyone has qualities that someone else does not. This is what makes us want to go out and find partners who give us love, and make us feel wanted and complete. Those great feelings would not be possible if you were perfect. Accept yourself how you are. It will help to rid you of constant stress and worry over things that you cannot control.

Do what you want!

How long it has been since you last did something that you really liked, something that you enjoyed doing as a child? How long has it been since you went out for ice cream with a friend? These simple things have the power to build your self-confidence and add fulfillment to your life. Life can be very quite simple. It is easy to get caught u in the rat race of today’s world, and lose yourself in the process. It is easy to forget your purpose, what you like and what you enjoy doing. It happens to people all of the time. It is your responsibility to yourself that you get back to those simple things in life.

Find a group of friends

You’ve heard the saying, “birds of a feather flock together”. It is important to find people with whom you enjoy spending time and doing things. You will find that life is a little bit easier when you are among the people who share your interests and your feelings. There is an understanding between you, as well as an open dialogue. Good conversation and friendship are healthy and important for our minds and souls.

Set goals and just do it!

Take one step at a time. Those single steps will develop into a giant gait over time. Do not overwhelm yourself, but simply do the task at hand. But set achievable goals and go for them! Don’t focus on the big picture, concentrate on the small steps. This is the only way to accomplish anything, and to avoid procrastination and depression. Even the smallest achievement will give you a sense of accomplishment that will boost your self-confidence.

Have a great weekend!

JD

3 Simple Winning Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:15:00 +0000

Life is full of ups and downs and sometimes has a few sideways thrown in too. When things go wrong or don’t go as planned, or when something happens to throw us off balance and doubt ourselves it can be tough to deal with. After all, we all want things to go well and to end up as ‘winners’. But life will always throw challenges at us, and we can’t control everything. Nor should we try. It’s not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you that makes the difference. Here are three easy ways that you can always come out on top.

1. Focus on Your Strengths

We’re a bunch of contradictions – sorry to break it to you. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad; sometimes hopeful, sometimes pessimistic; sometimes childish and sometimes mature. We also have a whole load of strengths and weaknesses that affect what we do and how we do it, but tend to put more focus on our weaknesses and not our strengths.

A strength is something that you do consistently well or at a near-perfect level of performance – it’s something you’re just able to do, you’re hard-wired to do it well and you get an inherent satisfaction from doing it. It could be tackling and solving complex problems, empathizing with people, having a lively imagination or being able to make the perfect omelet.

Focusing on what you do well rather than what you’re not so good at makes all kinds of sense. When you look at what you’re not good at you feel bad about yourself and your ability, but when you focus on and play to your strengths you’re guaranteed to get results, and can even eliminate any negative effect your weaknesses might have.

2. Set Things Up Ahead Of Time

Sure, there will be times when you can just head into something, do brilliantly at it and get the result you were hoping for (normally if you’re playing to your strengths), but other times you might blunder forwards, wing it and not get the result you wanted. Whatever challenges or opportunities you’re facing you’ll stand a much better chance of getting a great result if you set things up to succeed ahead of time.

So what exactly do you want to happen? What solution, outcome or result would be great? Get really clear on the outcome you want from what’s facing you and how it would feel to get the outcome you’re looking for. Then start breaking it down – what can you do to set things up so that your desired outcome happens? What needs to be put in place? What will help to make what you want to happen, happen? And to ensure the best outcome, what are you willing to do?

Whatever faces you, it’s possible to get the result you want by being crystal clear about the kind of result you want and by putting effort into setting things up so that it happens. Look at this way – you’re infinitely more likely to get your most wanted result by putting time or effort into setting things up ahead of time than if you don’t. Your choice.

3. There’s No Such Thing as Losing Anyway

What’s life all about, really? Getting a good job, getting married, feeling valued, having fun? It’s about different things to different people, but to boil it down I think it’s about doing the best we can to have, do and be the best for ourselves and those we care about. Sometimes it’s a struggle and sometimes it’s a joy, but what is constant through it all is our capacity to learn, develop and grow. Humans have an unparalleled ability to learn and adapt, which is exactly why we’re able to do the best we can and find ways to have, do and be more.

That’s why everything you do takes you one step forwards and it’s only by doing one thing, then another and another that the most astounding things in our world came about. As Thomas Edison said while he was on his 207th prototype for the electric light bulb - 'I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.' He's absolutely right – everything you do that doesn’t work out is another tick in another box and another step forwards, because you know one more way not to do something and what not to do next time. You’ll never get to 100% without going from 1% to 99% first.

In all that you do, whether it turns out how you wanted it to or not, there’s the capacity for learning. That means that it’s all part of the process and everything that you do and learn is an important step forwards.

There’s no such thing as losing, only learning and growing. So here’s to your continued success!"

Have a positive and confident day,

Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:13:00 +0000

Does your mind sometimes feel like a television station you can't quite tune in? You know there's an interesting program on - or several, but everything is mixed with static. What if you could "tune in" at will, have clear thinking whenever you want it? Try some of the following.

Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips

1. Take a walk. Science will eventually prove this to be a great way to improve the quality of your thinking, but don't wait for the proof. Aren't there enough other reasons to take a walk anyhow?

2. Stay away from sugar. If you want to understand what brain fog is, eat a sugary donut on an empty stomach, then do math problems twenty minutes later. What you will experience, along with the "sugar blues," is brain fog. At least lay off sugar and simple carbohydrates when you need to think clearly.

3. Organized space means clear thinking. It's rare that a person can actually work better in clutter. Organized working space means you won't have the thought "where is that..." distracting your mind.

4. Get better sleep. Sleep requirements vary, but the minimum for most is somewhere around five hours. Some suffer if they sleep less than eight hours. The research, however, indicates that after a certain minimum quantity, the quality of sleep is more important to normal brain function.

5. Try meditating. No time? Just close your eyes, relax, and watch your breath for a while. Accept that your mind will wander, but continually return your attention to your breath. Five minutes of this, and afterwards you'll feel a boost in your brainpower.

6. Resolve your "mind irritations." Watch your busy brain. Maybe a call you need to make has been bothering you, just below consciousness. Find these stressors, and do something to let them go. For example, make that call, or put it on a list, and your mind will let go of it for now. Just seeing a problem and saying, "There's nothing I can do about this until Friday," will often stop unconscious worrying.

7. Don't drink alcohol. At least don't drink too much. While moderate amounts can be conducive to creative thinking, all the evidence says that it is bad for the long-term health of your brain.

8. Make decisions quickly. Nothing gets in the way of clear thinking like a dozen decisions hanging around unmade. If nothing else, decide when you'll make the decision.

9. Get some fresh air. Go outside and breath deeply through your nose. You'll get a good dose of oxygen to your brain, and the change of surroundings can help clear your mind.

10. Satisfy your physical needs. Clear thinking is easier if you aren't too hungry, thirsty, or hot.

You can think more clearly starting today. There are certainly more than ten ways, but you really only need to make a few of them a habit to have a more powerful brain. Why not try one or two right now?

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Happiness Quotes!

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:49:00 +0000

Here are some happiness quotes to kick off the weekend with. May you all have a happy and joyful weekend!

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happiness is never stopping to think if you are.
Palmer Sondreal

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy.
Cynthia Nelms

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
John Barrymore

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.
Margaret Young (one of my all time personal favorites, jd)

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
Frederick Keonig

The best vitamin to be a happy person is B1.
Author Unknown

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Have a happy one!

JD

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You've Got to be Brave to be Different?

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Simple question - how many good ideas have you had that you simply never bothered to do anything about? And, have you ever noticed that some of the most successful people are where they are as a result of some really simple idea - the kind of idea that you say to yourself "I could have thought of that!"? Well, we all have great ideas at least once in a while, we're all struck by 'inspiration' from time to time - it's just that normal people laugh these ideas off as a flight of fancy. And that's what makes normal people just plain simple normal - they do nothing about anything that might just change their lives, whereas there are those few who actually do something about their good ideas. These people are abnormal - abnormally successful, exceptionally successful people.

So, next time you catch yourself wishing that your life were different - and if recent surveys in relation to just how much people don't like their jobs are anything to go by, wishing your life were different is happening all the time - realize this: for your life to change, you have to take action yourself. You're the one who's got to do something a little different, a little brave and a little courageous. Not a lot - a little will do for starters.

Ah, but you'll say to yourself that you're not the kind of person who could set up a successful business or develop an innovative idea. You'll say to yourself that you're not the kind of person that takes risks - you're not the kind of person that would ever appear on the front of Fortune Magazine. But it's only this defective thinking, that's lodged deep inside your own head, that's keeping you off the front pages of international magazines. It's only the pathetic little voice inside your own head that's holding you back.

Perhaps, like the vast majority of normal people, your life is simply not bad enough for you to do something about it! Perhaps you're not uncomfortable enough to get up off your normal ass and start living the life that you really want instead of going through the motions, day in, day out. Maybe you're afraid that other people will laugh at your ideas or be uncomfortable with the idea of you being a success. Well, first things first - don't waste your time worrying what others (even your so-called friends) are thinking about you - they're not - they really don't give a damn. And, even if they are uncomfortable with the idea of you being different or successful, chances are that it's just jealousy on their part.

Forget about everything and everyone else (apart, of course, from your very nearest and dearest) you're the one who has to lead your life - otherwise you're not really living at all, you're simply riding aimlessly around on normal life's sorry-go-round. You're the one who's got to take action - otherwise you'll lie on your deathbed wondering "what was that all about?" You're the one who has to do something - and something has to be done now. There's no point in waiting for a miracle - you've got to get the ball rolling yourself. So, today, do something different, do something brave - even if it's only shaving with the hand with which you don't habitually shave! Yes, you heard me right - you don't have to do something earth-shattering for starters - you've got to get your normal mind used to the idea that it can do things differently. You see, you've been doing everything the same for all of your adult life. As a result, your mind is mesmerized by a form of self-hypnosis. You've got to snap out of that self-induced coma.

Once you do one thing differently, you're breaking the habit of an adult lifetime, you're breaking the spell that habitual repetitive automatic behaviour has you in. You're setting your mind up to do lots of things differently. Once you start doing little things differently, you 're-set' your mind and that means that the next time something occurs to you that might set you off on a new path in life - call it 'inspiration' if you will - you will be both more alert and more likely to do something about it. Your life is simply 'more of the same' every day because you haven't done anything to make it different. Until you do some things differently, nothing different will happen.

But once you do - and, remember, all you have to do is start small - different things will start happening. In making little changes you open your mind up to the endless possibilities and opportunities that the normal hypnotized mind simply cannot see. Psychology tells us that we get only what we expect to get out of life. Change one thing and everything else changes - or, in other words, expect something different and something different will happen.

By Guest Author: Willie Horton

Willie Horton has been a Personal Development expert since 1996 - working with top leaders in major organizations. An Irish ex-accountant, ex-banker, published author and keynote speaker, he travels the world, from his home in the French Alps, enabling people "live the dream". All his work - including his acclaimed Personal Development Workshop - is now online at http://www.gurdy.net

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Live your life the way you want!

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:36:00 +0000

If you are one of those people for whom things are just not going the way they want .... if you think that things work out wonderfully well for everyone else BUT you, then you should sit back, relax and ponder upon your situation in this light:

We have all been brought up "in comparison" to others. There is an ideal time to go to school, finish college, get married, make money, have children etc and then everything HAS to repeat itself the same way for our children and so on!

If we are ever "behind" anyone (or everyone) in achieving a certain goal, a lot of anxiety and despair comes rushing into our lives. We then desperately try all kinds of things to get to that goal, all the while worrying that it will not happen for us...and what is the result? It actually doesn't! The more you despair for something, the more of these "wanting" vibrations will be released into the Universe and you will end up with more of "wanting" and no "gaining".

I want you to remember that it is always a BIG mistake to judge your life by comparing it with others. Your circumstances are completely different from them.... plans and things that work for them cannot work in exactly the same way for you. By worrying about why things are not working out for you in the same way, you CREATE a reality for that time; that those things or plans are not working for you. It is all because you are defining your reality by comparing it with someone else. Some one else's reality does not have anything to do with your reality.

Here is a better way of thinking and putting things in perspective: First and foremost, realize completely how you have acquired this state of mind. Accept that you have been comparing your reality with others and that is not taking you anywhere... they have a completely different path in life than yours. Love yourself the way you are, love your circumstances and accept that things at present are exactly as they should be. Also, allow yourself to believe that you WILL succeed although not in EXACTLY the same way that you want to. Perhaps God/Universe/Spirit wants to take you through a different path, but you WILL get there. Trust that although things may or may not turn out to be the way that you want them to, they WILL turn out in a way that is best for you. You have to be relaxed and non-judgmental for things to start working in the direction of your success. Set your OWN definitions of success, and do not base your happiness on how everything is working out for others.

Take action, but do not struggle to control each and every event in your life. Try to do all that you can to make things right and then trust in God/Universe/Spirit to take you to your goal. You will be happier, more secure and will have peace and love in your heart and best of all, eventually things will start going your way.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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23 Points to Ponder

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:47:00 +0000

I trust everyone had a great weekend! Some of you may still be enjoying an extended weekend, but I hope all is well and everyone had a great time.

Just a brief post to share some great points that I rediscovered over the weekend and thought I would share. Please feel free to share this with your friends and family also.

The most destructive habit…………………………Worry
The greatest Joy………………………………………….Giving
The greatest loss……………………Loss of self-respect
The most satisfying work………………..Helping others
The ugliest personality trait………………..Selfishness
The most endangered species……..Dedicated leaders
Our greatest natural resource………………..Our youth
The greatest “shot in the arm”………..Encouragement
The greatest problem to overcome……………………Fear
The most effective sleeping pill………….Peace of mind
The most crippling failure disease………………..Excuses
The most powerful force in life…………………………Love
The most dangerous pariah………………………..A gossiper
The world’s most incredible computer……….The brain
The worst thing to be without………………………….. Hope
The deadliest weapon…………………………………The tongue
The two most power-filled words…………………..”I Can”
The greatest asset………………………………………………Faith
The most worthless emotion…………………………..Self-pity
The most beautiful attire……………………………….SMILE!
The most prized possession………………………… Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication…..Prayer
The most contagious spirit…………………………Enthusiasm

Have a confident and positive day,

JD
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Aim High

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:41:00 +0000

Change is difficult for many people. Often times our whole identity is wrapped up in what we've learned as children will work for us when dealing with people, allowing us to survive, thrive and fit in. While some people have had to learn to thrive in the midst of change and learned to be adaptable by being open to new ideas and embracing change, many others have had to fight for survival and every table-scrap that came their way. Behavior is learned and it takes work to unlearn and dismantle these old beliefs.

The truth of the matter is that win-win is always possible. When you are able to see beyond the ego and recognize the abundance that is available, people, minds, and ideas come together and can create amazing changes that improve the current scenarios for many, many people. When you work with people who have this abundant and generous attitude, you are uplifted, the team soars, and amazing energy and creativity is unleashed. This is much harder to do, to sustain, and to elevate within others when you encounter individuals driven by the thought of scarcity and competition.

People like Steve Jobs are visionaries that have sought to bring about such shifts in society and in business. One thing I've learned along the way is that it is often better to take the high road. This isn't about judging others as wrong or seeing yourself as better than others. This is about recognizing your truth as to how you wish to BE in the world. Don't compromise your integrity. Don't get caught up in the competition. See the vision, see the outcome, feel the purpose and passion you're driven to offer the world, and give it freely. We all die. You can’t take anything from this life with you. So give what you have to offer the world. What is not given is lost forever.

If your goal is to truly bring about a positive change and serve others, how it is accomplished becomes less important and seeing it accomplished becomes more important. While it may be a blow to your ego when others criticize your inspiration, or someone takes the credit for something you've introduced, holding fast to the benefits for everyone will often soften the sting. You do need to pick and choose those places where you'll offer yourself, the key is to evaluate whether it is serving a common good. When you’re getting compensated for your contributions, gratitude would serve you spirit of peace. If you continually feel abused and stomped on, maybe it is time to move on to a more collaborative team, as well as a more receptive and appreciative audience.

Knowing that you are accomplishing your purpose and living your passion will be reward. In time, it will be recognized. Imposters will eventually be seen and heart & soul will always outlast the mind & ego. Along the way, through the journey that is your life and career, you will need to hold fast to the true inner qualities and nature of the brilliance that is you. Don’t allow these negative experiences to become something that undermines your value. You are not the negative experience. Often times, the negativity we experience from others, is more a reflection of them and less about who you are.

We all have different lenses, different gifts, different wiring, and different experiences. Difference is not something to be judged, it is a gift of diversity that brings the pieces of the puzzle of life together and creates a society, a solution, a technology, etc., together for the benefit of us all. Don’t doubt yourself when others cannot see the vision you see. Keep true, keep your intentions, and you will attract the right support, the right people, and the right opportunities. Lower the ego and aim high the vision. Lets make a difference.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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Giving Your All

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:41:00 +0000

The act of giving your very best to the needy or charitable organization can cultivate the best emotional satisfaction in your heart. Whatever form of help you extend, be it service or something of value, you will undoubtedly receive something better in return.

Is there anything better than a simple “thank you” that is meant with sincerity? Is there anything better than an appreciation that makes you feel needed and important? Is there anything better than to see smiles on other people’s faces for having made them feel equally important and cared for?

If your physical resources are limited, you can put your talent or creativity to work. Your urge to help those in need should inspire you to find ways in accumulating resources to actualize your intention. You can come up with ideas to generate more money through fund raising programs. You may also give more of your time doing volunteer service.

In the process of giving your all, your cooperation, attention, and entire being need not be strained. You may get physically exhausted; but emotionally, you will be charged with a heart full of compliments, making you feel all-important. You will feel revitalized and invigorated. You will become more enthusiastic. All these occur because you love what you’re doing.

When you set your mind to work for a good cause, you are actually tapping and activating power that promotes health in every corner of your physical, psychological, and emotional being. Your emotions will run high in a positive manner. You will feel sentimentally contented with what you are doing. You will feel as though you’re the highest paid executive in the business; not because you’re being paid with money, but because you’re being paid with your own sense of fulfillment.

Oh yes………….when you give your all, the best will bounce back to you not to mention the boost you receive in your confidence and self esteem.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

Would you like to volunteer?

http://www.serve.gov/index.asp

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

http://spirit.prudential.com/view/page/soc/14841

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How Self Esteem Relates To Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:15:00 +0000

All Things Are Interconnected

Self esteem is a critical basic element that has far reaching consequences in the development of what we call our self image and personality. We rarely think about such things because they usually work in the background on an unconscious level. Self esteem normally doesn't become a problem if it is strongly positive, but when it is weak and negative it can and will affect many areas of our lives that we may not suspect it could. One such area is of course our self confidence which is also an important element with equally far reaching consequences.

By this point in our species evolution we should know that all things are interconnected and interdependent. We isolate certain things out of their context in order to study and understand them better, but we must not forget to put them back into context when we are through. Yet this is a mental habit that has become common in our society. We look at and examine a concept like self esteem as if it stands alone without a surrounding environment of other concepts which, by the way, can and do have an influence and impact on self esteem just as the condition of our self esteem influences and impacts its surrounding environment and this environment is the territory of our self image and thus our well being.

How We Perceive Ourselves

Our self image depends on how we perceive ourselves. If we view ourselves from a fundamentally negative perspective, usually resulting from early parental, peer, educational and environmental influences, this view will propagate throughout other areas of our makeup. A fundamentally positive perspective will propagate in the same way but with different results. Perceiving ourselves from a negative position will produce a weak self identity and a weak self identity will be compatible with low self esteem. Feelings of inferiority, self consciousness and isolation are common indicators of low self esteem. There is no social life because you feel that everyone is better than you and so you cannot meet others on equal ground.

To expect self confidence to develop in an environment such as this is like trying to plant seeds in the desert and then wondering why they don't grow. Self confidence results from a succession of successes and usually is developed in early childhood by caring, intelligent and aware parents. But even without this early advantage a person can develop confidence on their own if they have enough strength of character or a strong positive self image, these, and an intelligent understanding that mistakes are only learning opportunities and not the end of the world, and that failures are only temporary setbacks to successful outcomes. Self confidence is not likely to develop in the presents of low self esteem because low self esteem may lead to too many failures and result in the fear of trying. Without trying, there can be no successes and without successes how will self confidence arise?

Repairing The Damaged Self

As you probably realize, repairing a damaged self image isn't something that will occur over night, although it can in special situations and circumstances. But for most of us we have to break a sweat and invest a great deal of effort in the form of desire, commitment, determination, patience and faith. Over the last decade the self help industry has matured enormously having first gone through its adolescents which was seemingly populated by quick buck artist of every kind. Usually once a genuine need makes itself known, genuine resources to address those needs will come along, driven of course by economics like everything else.

While resources like meditation and yoga and affirmations and creative visualizations are very powerful in the self help world, when it comes to self image and self esteem, at least in the initial stages, I think that the self hypnosis programs out there are good because they deliver quick result and the sooner we can get some positive self perceptions going, the sooner we can get some successes under our belt and get more confidence in ourselves that will in turn lead to more efforts, more successes and more confidence. Give it a try. But either way, it is going to take some time to get lasting meaningful changes made, but you are not alone, there are many of us out here on the journey of self improvement and we know what you are up against and we know you can do it!

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Tips For Raising Self Esteem And Self Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:02:00 +0000

The Negative Programming

A condition of low self esteem is like a corrosive acid that eats away at our self image until we are paralyzed to act affectively and achieve success or self confidence of any kind. We find ourselves caught in a downward spiral of negative thoughts and perceptions that feed on themselves and can destroy any chance of happiness or a productive life. But once caught in this spiral is there any way we can turn things around and begin to set ourselves on a more positive and constructive course? Yes there is! We can begin to pay attention to how we engage in our own self defeating behaviors and redesign the processes in order to turn loose a wave of positive energy that will eventually wash away the negative mindset and replace it with a positive one.

Where we first acquire our initial negative self image is usually during our early years from peers, family or other authority figures but it isn't necessary to dwell on this for the purposes of correcting the situation other than to know about the process of conditioning by which we allow such programming to become deeply established until we ourselves become the source of the negative influences. For example; negative ideas about ourselves we got from our parents, will be perpetuated by us long after we leave the sphere of influence of our family and as long as we remain unaware of these processes.

Engage In Practical Positive Activities

The strategy here is to first make a firm commitment based on a genuine desire to change some behavior, in this case negative behavior. We can begin by taking some practical measures such as doing things to care for ourselves. These can range from personal care and grooming to paying attention to your own needs such as the need for companionship, solitude, eating healthy foods, exercise, doing things you like, get some things done that you may have been putting off, learn some new things etc.

This may seem like a strange approach, but low self esteem is an insidious influence that tends to shut down all activities and when we begin to engage in practical positive activities we begin to turn things around. This also begins to revitalize and reestablish our enthusiasm for living life which soon begins to feed on itself and grow strong, just as the low self esteem feeds on itself and grows strong. The processes are the same, we are just changing the content and goals.

Develop Self Awareness

Replacing any and all negative thoughts and views about ourselves is a matter of first identifying the negative thought patterns that are working just beyond our consciousness to keep our negative self image in place. Thoughts such as 'I'm stupid', 'I can't do anything right' when we make a mistake. Or when we fail at something, assuming our low self esteem lets us try something in the first place, we feel like it is the end of everything and that all is lost. Flagging such negative thoughts is difficult at first but gets easier with practice and is essential if we are to replace them with positive counter thoughts and ideas.

You need to develop the self discipline of self awareness, you need to listen to your self talk which will lead you to the negative thoughts that need replacing, examine those thoughts when you identify them and verify if they are true and accurate, develop positive thoughts to counter the existing negative thoughts. This of course is the process of revealing the problem behaviors so that we can begin to take control of the influences that affect our lives in whatever way, so that we can exercise the power of choice.

The Application Of Change

Take advantage of the tools of self change. From meditation to yoga, self talk to self hypnosis, creative visualization to affirmations. Use these tools to engage in an aggressive strategy for positive change. From creating affirmative lists of your qualities, skills, talents and gifts, to reinforcing a positive self image by acknowledging yourself and your successes and achievements, to using creative visualization to build a new vision / image of yourself, change is possible. Develop positive affirmations and visit them daily.

If you started off with a genuine desire and commitment and you bring determination, perseverance, will, faith and patience to the task, all of which are the characteristics of the success mindset, you can't possibly fail. Along this journey you will encounter obstacles and resistances because the old established regime won't give up easily. But if you adopt an attitude of take no prisoners and accept no defeat, you will succeed.

Here is a good resource designed to help you gain self esteem and confidence.

Guest author Robert Darby is a self change and personal development specialist who writes for many organizations including The Agenda Of Life Foundation He focuses on developing personal power and development since that is usually the cause of all Human problems. Largely due to his fearless exploration of the true nature of our inner reality, R.E. Darby is emerging as an important writer of our time.

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noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:52:00 +0000

Webster's defines be patient as assuming pains or tests calmly or without complaint, or being steadfast in spite of resistance, trouble or hardship. This may be why patience is known as a virtue. It is little practiced, but much needed. At the first signal of trouble, many leap to an more comfortable, more fluid route, desiring to keep off the anguish and agony that is essential on the route to personal growth. But it is only by taking this rough road do we gain the experience necessary to develop our character. Impatience robs us of these types of life experiences. How would your existence be different if you applied more patience?

Patience is the ability to persevere when everyone else has abandoned. Patience is power to discharge your need for prompt satisfaction and wait for the things to come in their own time frame. Patience masters criticism and intolerance. Patience grows devoted relationships in matrimony, family, church, community and vocation. Many a big leader have showed patience by looking before they jumped, thinking before they did, and debating before they chose. Patience is the brand of adulthood. So now we know the merits of patience, how do we build up more patience?

First of all, recognize that no one is perfect, including yourself. Accept yourself and other people, imperfections and all. Everyone is fighting with their own circle of fears, weaknesses, obstructions and crises. We are all on the road of personal growth together and can help one another by expressing more patience and kindness to one another.

Second, develop a uniform doctrine of life based upon a ethic you trust in. Then when you are faced with a state of affairs, you are able to make your selection established upon the moral principle instead of an instant gratification response. With every option is a outcome. Do you move now and settle? Or do you wait to get the result you truly desire?

Third, alter your position on the past, present and the future. Cease lingering over your errors and failures. They cannot be altered. As an alternative, center and what you are able to do now to make a difference. Life is a blessing and every day should be lived as if it were your final. Begin clean everyday and recall the future arrives one day at a time. What can you do now to alter the outcomes you have in the time to come?

Fourth, face your fears instead of avoid them. Do the thing you fear the most and the fear will disappear. "That which we persevere in doing gets easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has modified, but our ability to do it has expanded." By doing more, it becomes more comfortable, and when it becomes more comfortable it becomes fun instead of stressful.

In conclusion, realize that all things come to those who wait. The Universe, the infinite force that connects us all, will bring the people who can help, the solutions you may require, the instruments and resources you are seeking when you need them. You must have faith and be patient and trust in your goals, recognizing that they will frequently not be achieved agreeing to your master plans. Conditions change. People change. Things shift. Let go of your anxiety, skepticism and question about accomplishing your goal. Know that The cosmos is constantly encouraging you and will always help you accomplish the things you want. Just be patient!

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How to Make Choices

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:25:00 +0000

Happy Monday to you. Here are a few tips to help kick your work week off and to help things run smoothly by making the right choices.

*Acquire as much information as you can about your situation.

You cannot discover the self-confidence to make a decision when you know so little about what you are faced with. Ask the five W's: what, who, when, where, and why. What is the situation? Who are the people involved? When did this happen? Where is this leading? Why are you in this situation? This is imperative. Oftentimes, the reason for hesitancy is the lack of information about a situation.

*Identify and create options.

What options do the circumstances present you? Every now and then the options are few, but every so often they are many. However what do you do when you believe that the situation offers no options? This is the point in time that you generate your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most basic to the most complex, think about every one of the ideas. At times the most extreme idea may possibly prove to be the exact one in the end.

*Weigh the pros and cons of every option.

Evaluate every one of your options by looking at the advantages and disadvantages it offers you. In this way, you get additional insight about the consequences of such an option.

*Trust yourself.

Now that you have assessed your options, it is time to have confidence in yourself. Keep in mind that there are no guarantees. So choose...decide... believe that you are choosing the most excellent choice at this moment in time.

Have a confident and positive week,

JD

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Are you or your kids bored??

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:18:00 +0000

What is the most important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid or have a kid, you can guess the answer right away. It isn’t concerns about having enough to eat, where they will sleep or whether the bomb will be dropped tomorrow. No the worse fate that can befall a kid is summed up in one plea – “What can I do? I’m bored!”

It may seem like an odd suggestion then, to both the kid out there and to the ones charged with battling this dread affliction of “boredom” in the kids on our lives that there is one medicine for boredom that you may not have given a chance. And that is community service.

Now this may be a tough sell because on the surface, community service isn’t a toy or a video game or something designed to entertain kids. It is something so much different from any of those repacked amusements. It’s for real. Lots of computer games are made to give you the feeling you created something whether it’s a city, an alien planet or a spaceship. But when you turn off the computer, that creation is gone because it never was real.

With community service you DO create something and not by talking to a pretend civilization on the computer screen. Oh no, what you create is real, it will be there tomorrow when you go back. And you are dealing with real people and solving real problems. All of a sudden, the kid isn’t so much a kid any more. He or she is a valuable member of the community, just like an adult and there is not better feeling than that!

There are tons of other great reasons to get involved in community service this summer or as a hobby to replace the endless hours playing computer games. There is such a huge variety of things you can get involved with through community service that you can get your hands dirty on a hobby or an interest that you really want to be involved in. And you won’t be just enjoying that great interest by yourself because you will be working side by side with other youths, older kids in college or beyond, young dads and moms and even grandparents all who don’t want to sit home and be bored and would rather be out there being somebody for someone else.

Volunteering can even give you as much variety as playing games or fooling around with toys might give you and you don’t have to beg mom and dad to buy you a thing. In most towns or cities, there is a community service coordinating group that will have dozens and dozens of ways you can plug in and do something for someone else. Some of the great ways you can pitch in and help out might include…

*Helping stock food that will go out to famine victims or hurricane survivors.

*Serving meals at the homeless shelter to families who really need the help. In fact, after the meal is over, those homeless kids would like nothing more than to spend a few hours with some new friends enjoying a simple game or just learning about each other.

*Help the Special Olympics put on one of their athletic outings. If you or your kids love sports, what better way to put that skill to work helping others than letting someone who isn’t as lucky as you know that great feeling of winning a race or sinking a basket.

*Reading to a shut in or to the blind. You think its great hearing a story? You haven’t had a thrill until you read it to someone else who has never heard it and you see their face as they enjoy every new twist and turn of the plot.

Community service gives young hands a chance to really make a difference to others in the community. But maybe the most important thing it does is it opens kid’s eyes to how great it is to stop worrying about themselves and help someone else out for a little while. It is the kind of addiction your mom and dad will be glad you got into. And chances are you will never again complain, “What can I do? I’m bored!”

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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Doing What you Love

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:59:00 +0000

What do you want to be when you grow up? I’m sure you were asked this question at least once when you were a youngster. When asked the question, did you have an answer at the ready, or did you need a few minutes to think about it? We all had dreams of becoming something great, like a fireman, a teacher, or a rock star, just to name a few. Well, how did you do? Maybe you never aspired to be what you set out to be or said that you would become. But then again, things change. The older we get, our tastes change, our view of the world changes, even our goals change.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during my career path is to do something you love to do. Why is this important? I feel that if you enjoy what you make a living at, you end up being happy in more ways than one. Life itself becomes much more interesting and fun. You find yourself speaking passionately to others about your work. The experiences you have along the way become much more rewarding, and enrich your life in many ways. You meet fascinating people. I know people who have turned favorite hobbies into small businesses, and have succeeded. Sure, they may have had to sacrifice a steady paycheck for their happiness, but not one of them either turned back or gave up. Their passion carried them through to success.

While no job or business is perfect, the important thing is to enjoy it, even learn from it. If you are unhappy in your current situation, why not take steps now to change it? Somewhere out there is a job or business that is perfect for you. If you are already there, I applaud you. If not, realize that it may take some time to figure out what you really want to do, and even more time to actually get there. That’s all right! I can tell you from experience that finding and doing what you love is absolutely worth it, every step of the way. All of the research, training, and hands-on experience has made me a stronger, happier person. Feeling in charge of my own destiny…well, there just is no greater feeling.

Do what you love, and love what you do, whatever that may be. You’ll be happier for it, trust me. I promise you will never look back.

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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10 Tips to Boost Your Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:53:00 +0000

Confidence is a life skill; useful in all aspects of our life. However, the reactions and behaviors we display now are the result of years of fine tuning. Being confident doesn’t happen overnight, but the more practice you get, the more skilled you become. So here are the top ten tips for improving your confident behavior:

1. Believe in yourself more - always think positively and feed yourself with positive inner dialogue. Stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye, and tell yourself how wonderful you are!

2. Recognize that you can never change other people. You can only change what you do; and that a change in your behavior will afford others the opportunity to behave differently towards you.

3. Learn to respond, not react. Start choosing how to behave, based on admitting and accepting the consequences. Accept that you – and only you – have made that choice: nobody has forced you into it.

4. Stop beating yourself up for your decisions and behaviors. Instead, turn every situation into a positive learning opportunity for future behavior change.

5. Watch your body language. Make sure it matches your words: people tend to believe what they see rather than what they hear.

6. Stop Look Listen - then think about how you want to respond. This will ensure you stay in control of you and the situation, and afford others the opportunity to do so as well.

7. Aim for situation resolution, not self defense. Concentrate on the situation rather than your own feelings, and recognize that the other person is most probably angry about the situation - not with you.

8. Consider and choose your words. Lose the words that signal “I’m a pushover” such as “I’m terribly sorry”, or “I’m afraid”, or “Could you possibly…?” or “Can I just …?”. Substitute big “I” statements followed by factual descriptions instead of judgments or exaggerations. This will encourage the other person to do the same.

9. Say “no” when you want to. Don’t forget to afford yourself all of the rights you allow everyone else to have. And if it helps, remember that you are not refusing them personally, you are refusing their request.

10. Take a “can do” attitude. Believe that things don’t just happen to you – but that you can make them happen.

Practice these ten tips and watch your confidence soar.

Have a positive and confident day,

JD

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For Your Life To Change You Must Change!

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:03:00 +0000

We've all heard it so many times, whether it's coming from us or somebody we associate with; "I need a change in my life." But then nobody ever does anything about it, they just continue to complain!

Let me ask you this: What has your complaining gotten you so far; probably not much if anything. So instead of continuing to complain, why not start taking some positive action towards changing your situation?

It's a safe bet that if you continue to do the same things, you will continue to receive the same results. Some call this the definition of insanity; performing the same tasks over and over and expecting different results! It just doesn't happen that way!

Jim Rohn said (1930-2009) that in order for things to change, you must change.

So how do you grow personally? You must grow personally through the consistent use of personal development tools and resources. Every single day you should be setting time aside first thing in the morning to work on yourself. Whatever it is that you do first thing in the morning is going to set your course for the rest of your day.

Personal Development and growth is not something that is going to occur overnight, so don't expect that. Actually, others will notice changes in you before you even know that they have occurred. They will notice changes in your attitude, how you handle different situations, etc. And you will notice that you are feeling different somehow ... maybe ... successful, or that you really CAN do the things you want and that they ARE actually possible?

I noticed this change all of a sudden. It didn't creep up on me; it was just there one day. But before I noticed it, I had other people telling me that my attitude had changed and that I was different somehow. I didn't pay attention to the comments at first but then, once I was able to see it, I started taking notice to a whole lot of change in myself.

I do personal development every single day. First thing in the morning I read for at least 30 minutes, and then I go thorough training emails from newsletters I receive. The entire process takes me about 60 minutes for everything.

It is the most eye-opening, fascinating 60 minutes of my work day! And my attitude, posture, and income are all showing the signs that I take the time to expand my personal knowledge each day. "A mind once expanded can never contract."

So take the time to develop your mind and grow yourself. Read, listen to audio CDs, and watch Personal Development video sessions. Do a couple of these or do them all, but do them every single day without fail! The changes in yourself, your income, and in your life will be phenomenal!

Have a confident and positive day,

JD

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Do you know your lifes purpose?

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 08:28:00 +0000

I was going to take the weekend off and wait until the first of the week to post another article. Well that changed when I was stumbling around some of my new favorite sites and found a posting that made me stop and think.

The post is simply titled 50 Questions to Help You Find Your Life's Purpose. The twist is the poster/author put out a challenge to print out the questions and to actually answer them.

As I was reading the post and questions, I decided that I needed to accept that challenge and to answer the questions myself.

Now I challenge you to go over and print these questions out and answer them yourself. What an eye opener it is and will definitely make you want to set new goals and make some changes in your life.

After you do this, stop back by and let me know what you think.

http://www.cognitive-endeavor.com/2010/06/50-questions-to-help-you-find-your.html

Have a confident and positive weekend and see you again soon,

JD

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10 Confidence Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Author) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 04:58:00 +0000

I thought I would kick off the weekend by sharing with you some of my favorite confidence quotes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

1.Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.
Vince Lombardi

2. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller

3. Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie

4. We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.
Eleanor Roosevelt

5. Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
Lao Tzu

6. Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.
Brian Tracy

7. Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.
Norman Vincent Peale

8. Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
Norman Vincent Peale

9. Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

10. No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.
Ansel Adams

Have a confident and positive weekend,

JD
P.S. For a limited time you can review and study Kent Sayres book "Unstoppable Confidence" for $4.97 for 14 days. Check out his offer here!

To get this offer, click on the link above. Once there, you need to exit from his site. A pop up will occur telling you to hit the cancel button on the next window. Hit OK on the first pop up then when the second pop up occurs hit cancel. You will then be on the special offer page. Sounds long and complicated but it's not and it is well worth it.

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