Do you have faith, hope, and confidence that you will reach your goals? In this month’s episode of the Weekday Wisdom, I share some thoughts on Helen Keller’s quote about these characteristics.

An audio-only version is available below.

NOTE: The Weekday Wisdom will be going on hiatus until the Fall. “See” you then!

Run Time: 6 minutes 52 seconds

Helen Keller once said:

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”

In this episode, I share why I think that faith, hope, and confidence are important for cultivating optimism, as well as some tips to help you bolster those qualities in yourself.

Links Mentioned

• Vanquishing Imposter Syndrome
• Tips for Developing Your Daily Optimism
• 6 Ways to Cultivate Optimism Each Day
• Finding Hope in Uncertain Times
• Quiz: What Is Your Confidence Quotient?

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Learn more about the Weekday Wisdom on it’s home page. Access all the episodes via this category.

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Audio Version

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A lot of people talk about success. I think what Pablo Picasso, the renowned artist, had to say on the topic summed it up nicely. And that is what I talk about in this month’s episode.

An audio-only version is available below.

Run Time: 3 minutes 55 seconds

Would you like to be a success? Renowned artist Pablo Picasso once said something that really boils down the essential steps for achieving goals.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

In this episode of the podcast, I break it down and give some tips on how to follow each of the three steps outlined in this quote.

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Do You Want More Success and Happiness?

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Audio Version

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January is a great month to figure out your goals for the year. Have you set any goals for your spiritual growth? This first episode of the new season — and New Year — features a chat with author Donald Lee about spiritual goals — what they are and how to set and plan for them.

An audio-only version is available below.

Run Time: 25 minutes 50 seconds

About the Guest

Donald Lee is an author, speaker, musician, teacher, band director, and economist. He holds degrees in economics and education, has performed professionally as a musician, was a finalist in the 1995 World Championship of Public Speaking, was a member of the 2013 Canadian Triathlon Team, and has taught band in several Alberta communities as well as in international schools in Kuwait and Pakistan.

Donald recently retired from teaching to work full-time on his new career as a writer and speaker. His first book has recently been published: The Band Director’s Lessons About Life: Volume 1 – Parables on Life’s Performance Cycle. It is a book of modern-day parables, with stories inspired by his teaching experience.

Summary of the Spiritual Goals Episode

There are eight facets of life for which we might set goals. One of them — the spiritual facet — often gets left out of the goal-setting process. In this episode, Donald and I talk about spiritual goals. During the conversation, we get clear on what a spiritual goal is and the various ways that you can use to achieve them. Unlike other types of goals, spiritual goals are a lot less concrete and a bit more challenging to make S.M.A.R.T. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t worthy of pursuing.

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Audio Version

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Are you making a living? Or are you making a life? Watch this episode of the Weekday Wisdom to find out what Winston Churchill had to say on the topic.

Run Time: 2 minutes 56 seconds

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Summary of Topics

• What “living” means
• What “life” means
• What “getting” means
• What “giving” means
• How all the above relate to being an entrepreneur

Audio Version

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With Thanksgiving coming up this Thursday, I thought it would be a good time to talk about gratitude. In this episode, I share Albert Schweitzer’s quote about being grateful for those who ignite a fire in us and share some tips on how you can thank those who believe in you.

Time: 4 minutes 12 seconds

Quote Discussed:

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

Audio Version

The post Who Are You Grateful For? – Podcast appeared first on Carma Spence.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before: Find someone who has or is doing what you want to do and model what they do. When you see successful people who use vision boards, you can see how they attracted a new partner or won an award or accomplished something noteworthy.

You can do the same thing by following their path to success. Here are seven successful people who created the life they desired using vision boards.

1. Steve Harvey

Steve loves life. You can tell by watching his television programs and hosting gigs. He is one of the most powerful believers in not only vision boards but taking action and making sure the universe knows what he wants. Steve has multiple vision boards for every purpose. He knows how to think and takes massive action on giving back while receiving his blessings from the universe. One way that Steve stays on top of the hosting game, is making sure that the number of views he needs, is at the forefront of his mind. Steve has stated that he gets his tailor to embroider the number 3.5 on the cuffs of his shirts, suit jacket, and pants. The number represents the rating he needs from the television network to be at the top. He is constantly thinking of ways to attract what he desires for him and his family.

2. Katy Perry

Katy is an award-winning singer. She got a very early start with vision boards. In grade four, her teacher explained to the class what a vision board was and how to make your dreams come true using one. Katy searched for images of Selena, who was her favorite singer and who had won a Grammy for her efforts. In the center of her vision board, Katy pasted a picture of Selena holding her Grammy. Katy knew at an early age that she wanted to follow in Selena’s footsteps and took the actions to make that happen. What wonderful success from the mind of a child in grade four! It is a testimonial for anyone who has children and wants to incorporate family vision boards into their daily lives.

3. Lucinda Cross

Lucinda was a typical college student…until she made a costly mistake. This mistake landed her in prison. She determined at that time, that prison would not define her as a person and made it a mission to change her life and create what she wanted. She discovered vision boards and now has many talents listed to her name. She is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, and leader. Her purpose in life is to teach women how to use vision boards to create a positive, healthy lifestyle and she has stated that health is number one in her vision board because, without good health, nothing else matters.

4. Jack Canfield

Jack is a successful author and speaker. He is also a master of vision boards. Jack stated that he first began visualizing by making a check for $100K and placing it above his bed so that he could see it upon waking. At the time he started this, he was making $8,000 a year. When he realized success from that, his wife wondered if it would work for any amount of money. Jack believed in the law of attraction, so he created a check for $1 million dollars. Now it is highly likely you have heard of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Yes, Jack’s first million-dollar check received was a royalty check for that very first book in his impressive series. Jack has gone on to teach people how to create vision boards and even has vision boards that you can download from one of his sites. His personal vision board hangs on the back of his bedroom door, where he sees it multiple times, plus a folding vision board he takes with him on his many business travel dates.

5. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah comes from very humble beginnings. She worked hard and got into television before starting her own very successful television show. The idea of a vision board didn’t come to her until she had a meeting with Michele Obama and a few other powerful women. Michele asked for her friends to visualize her husband, Barack becoming President of the United States. Oprah’s first board was fairly simple and included a picture of the dress she would wear when Barack Obama was elected president. Since then Oprah continues to use vision boards and taught a master class on how to create a powerful vision board.

6. John Assaraf

John is known as a very successful entrepreneur and having been featured in the documentary, The Secret. His vision board story is simply amazing. John had built a vision board and, in the center, he placed a photograph of a house that he really desired. He continued to work hard and achieve many things. A few years later, John and his family went house hunting and found one that they loved. It wasn’t until they were moving in and John happened to pull his vision board from a box to show his son that he realized the house he bought was the exact one he visualized. The picture that John had placed on the vision board, was a view of the back end of the house. When he and his family first looked at purchasing the house, they had driven up seeing the front of the house.

7. Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen is a well-known comedian and television host. However, even as successful as she is, there are things she desires to bring about into her life and she uses vision boards to make them happen.
Ellen is a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey and loved her magazine, O. Oprah used the magazine to promote herself and did not put other people on the cover. That didn’t stop Ellen. She started doing mock-ups of herself in various clothing and putting herself on her mock cover of O. This not only put out her dream to the universe, but it also attracted Oprah to understand how much Ellen desired to be on the cover. Oprah made Ellen’s dream come true and Ellen got her O cover as she desired.

I hope you found these examples inspiring. Now go and make your dreams come true with vision boards!

The post Seven Successful People Who Use Vision Boards appeared first on Carma Spence.

With the holidays fast approaching, it might be time to talk about happiness. In this episode of the Weekday Wisdom, I’ll share a quote about happiness and share some tips and pointers on how to be happier.

Time: 6 minutes, 28 seconds

Points Discussed

The quote for this episode comes from Denis Waitley, an American motivational speaker, writer, and consultant:

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”

In discussing this quote, I share how to bring more

• love
• grace
• and gratitude

into your life.

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How Well Do You Maintain Balance?

Audio Version

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Are you waiting for the right time? That may not be a good idea.

In this episode of the Weekday Wisdom, I talk about the Lemony Snicket quote:

“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.”

Time: 2 minutes, 31 seconds

Points Discussed

• Why waiting for the right time keeps you stuck
• What you should do instead

Audio Version

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Are you doing anything remarkable in your life or business? What does it mean to be remarkable?

In this episode of the Weekday Wisdom, I talk about author John Green’s quote:

“What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?”

Time: 2 minutes, 52 seconds

Points Discussed

• What does it mean to be remarkable?
• What can you do to be remarkable?

Audio Version

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What does leaving a legacy mean to you? This is something a lot of people think about. In today’s episode of the podcast, I chat with Aaron Gendle, author of Conquest: 10 Simple Steps to Conquer Life and Leave a Lasting Legacy, about what leaving a legacy means to him.

Relevant Links

• Conquest: 10 Simple Steps to Conquer Life and Leave a Lasting Legacy on Amazon
• WriteABookUniversity.com
• WriteABookUniversity.com/free
• DailyAuthors.com

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If you’d like to explore how I can help you write a book and leave a lasting legacy, take a look at my Private Book Coaching information page and schedule a free Curious Conversation with Carma.

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Audio Version

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Do people think you’re crazy? Maybe you’re doing something right!

Albert Einstein once said:

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”

What did he mean by that? In today’s Weekday Wisdom podcast I share my thoughts on how sometimes you need to do something seemingly crazy in order to get to your next level of success.

Audio Version

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Which do you choose? Safety or growth?

In this episode of the Weekday Wisdom, I discuss the implications of Abraham Maslow’s quote:

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”

Video Version

It is hard to step out of your safety zone, but it is required for growth. And it seems that Maslow is advocating for continuous, non-stop growth here.

But is he? Is it not OK to sometimes take a break and sit in your safety zone to catch a breath?

Watch any horror film. Are any of them non-stop, unrelenting terror? Of course not, the audience needs some downtime to recover from the last scare.

And so, sometimes not choosing growth is not necessarily letting fear have the upper hand.

However, you do need to be vigilant to fear’s power over your life. Ask yourself:

Are you taking a breather? Or are you letting fear get the better of you?

Sometimes that’s not an easy question to answer, but it is worth pondering.

I think that there is a middle road hidden within Maslow’s quote. Let’s hear it again:

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”

Ah! Did you hear it? The key phrase here is “back toward safety.”

When you successfully push your envelope of fear, there is no need to go *back* toward safety. You’ve just created a new safe space!

So, when you’re taking a breather, you’re hanging out in that new safe space. You’re resting and recouping from that last push through fear. And that’s OK.

The question now becomes, are you going to stay where you are indefinitely? Or will you again choose growth, choose to push your envelope of fear and create a new, larger safety zone?

Audio Version

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