Tampilkan postingan dengan label self-improvement. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label self-improvement. Tampilkan semua postingan
Kamis, 30 Agustus 2012
For Your Life To Change You Must Change!
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 says that in order for things to change, you must change. "Your income can increase, but you must grow out to where it is, or it will quickly come back to where you are."
The best way to picture this is by grabbing a rubber band. Now, stretch it out as far as you can without breaking it. What happens when you let it go? It goes right back to where it was!
Now let's take this a step further: Stretch out the rubber band and before letting it go this time, insert a glass inside the rubber band's open area. What happens now? This time is only retracts as far as the glass lets it go!
See, you can stretch out the rubber band (your income) and make it larger, but unless you insert something in there to keep it that size (your personal growth), as soon as you let go it comes right back to its original size.
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 ... and my income!
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. When I am finished with that I take my daily lesson that is delivered through our company. 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. My mentor says that "A mind once expanded can never contract." He couldn't be more on target!
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!
Selasa, 14 Agustus 2012
Enlightenment: Your 7 days program to Positive thinking
I'm sure you have a bright idea hidden somewhere in the back of your mind that you just can't wait to test out. Of course you're not the only one with the bright idea. So what motivates you to churn those creative, or even inspiring juices to its utmost flavor?
It's always best to set up a personal goal where you can accomplish the most in record time, maybe like mowing the lawn in an hour before the big game on TV. A correct and positive attitude in whatever you do will make things easier, and even enjoyable.
Here are some tips to make it through the week even if you're just sitting in your favorite couch. An idea takes time to form in your head and is always at work while you are busy sitting.
Having a bit of positive thinking can help you realize things that are never thought possible. Thinking big is indeed the American Way and that what made our country prosperous.
1. Take passionate action towards living your life by design. Talk is cheap. Action = deposits in the bank of a passionately authentic future. Without it, passion is void.
This is a perfect example where dreams are made of where you start by tinkering with your mind, then with your hands. And if the idea weakens, you can always go back to it later until you finish it.
2. Commit to yourself as well as those you love to create powerfully a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American Dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.
3. Recognize and embrace the thought that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Every time you hit on something that may appear too extreme, why not give it a shot and see if it will work. You will be surprised to see of there are other ways to get the task done in time. If you are not pleased with the outcome, decide to use that moment to learn from and make the appropriate shift.
4. Dwell completely in a place of gratitude. Learn to utilize what you have in your hands and make use of it in the most constructive way. Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift towards gratitude, away from poverty consciousness.
5. Use a Passion Formula of Recognize/Reevaluate/Restore in place of the Shoulda/Woulda/Coulda whirlwind. The former is based in increased knowledge and abundance while the latter focuses on scarcity and lack. As you face people or tasks that may seem harder than scaling the summit of the Himalayas, allow yourself to realize that the task is just as important as giving out orders to your subordinates. You would rather be richly passionate!
6. Keep humor at the forefront of thought, laughing at and with yourself when possible. You may find yourself quite entertaining when you loosen up! I am yet to see a comedian ever go hungry even though his jokes are as 'old as great-grandma'. Life has so much to offer to allow you to mope around in self pity. Humor is very attractive, very passionate: life-giving.
7. Believe that you are the architect of your destiny. No one can take your passionate future from you except for you! Create your life authentically. As long as there's still breath in your body, there is no end to how much you can accomplish in a lifetime. The concept of thinking big is all about enjoying your work, which would lead to celebrate a discovery that is born within your hands. Watch everything flow into place with perfect, passionate precision.
It's interesting how people get wallowed up by something trivial as learning to use a computer, when nowadays that top computer companies are manufacturing software that even the kids can do it. I don't mean to be condescending, but that's the idea of not having any positive thinking in your life-you'll just end up as a dim bulb in a dark corner. So instead of subjecting yourself to what you will be doomed for, make your path by taking the first step with a positive attitude.
If you are interested in learning more, probably the best self improvement and positive thinking and habits information resource online today can be found at http://www.positive.thegreat.info.
Rabu, 30 November 2011
Prepare For Opportunity - From Galley Slave To Multi-Millionaire
In the epic classic book and movie, Ben-Hur, the main character, Judah Ben-Hur, through an accident and tragic misunderstanding is arrested and sold to work in the mines by the Roman authorities. Despite going from the son of a wealthy family to slave, Ben-Hur refused to fall into despair. He exercised and built his strength up. When he was ready he inched his way up the mineshaft and made it to the top. Unfortunately, he was easily captured because he was blinded by the sunlight after spending so much time in the dark mine shaft.
His captors were so impressed with his strength that they sold him to the Roman navy as a rower for their warships. Again Ben-Hur refused to give up. He used his great strength to become the best rower on the boat. Eventually, he was given the special privilege of not being chained to the boat.
Later in a great naval battle, his boat was rammed and sunk. Because Ben-Hur was not chained, he was the only slave to escape. He was able to save the admiral who had given permission to have him unchained. The admiral was so grateful; he took him to Rome and adopted him as his son. Later when the admiral died, Ben-Hur inherited his great wealth. He eventually made his way back to Jerusalem and was reunited with his mother and sister.
What can we learn from this story? Instead of slipping into despair from the injustice done to him, Ben-Hur burned with great desire for freedom and to right the wrong done to him. He refused to give up. Despite the hopeless situation he found himself in, he spent his time preparing himself. When opportunities came he took advantage of them.
Winston Churchill
“To every man there comes . . . that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.”
Many have had to go through tough times. Many think their situations are hopeless. Many think they are in dead-end jobs going nowhere. There is an amazing miracle waiting for those who bide their time by preparing and improving themselves.
Develop your talents. Don’t waste your time spending hours watching TV or spending unproductive time on the Internet. Take classes. Successful people never stop learning. Improve the skills you already have. Improve your reading, writing, and vocabulary.
There seems to be a universal law which seems to always send opportunity to those who are moving forward. You will be amazed when that opportunity comes along that your unique collection of talents and abilities fits it perfectly.
His captors were so impressed with his strength that they sold him to the Roman navy as a rower for their warships. Again Ben-Hur refused to give up. He used his great strength to become the best rower on the boat. Eventually, he was given the special privilege of not being chained to the boat.
Later in a great naval battle, his boat was rammed and sunk. Because Ben-Hur was not chained, he was the only slave to escape. He was able to save the admiral who had given permission to have him unchained. The admiral was so grateful; he took him to Rome and adopted him as his son. Later when the admiral died, Ben-Hur inherited his great wealth. He eventually made his way back to Jerusalem and was reunited with his mother and sister.
What can we learn from this story? Instead of slipping into despair from the injustice done to him, Ben-Hur burned with great desire for freedom and to right the wrong done to him. He refused to give up. Despite the hopeless situation he found himself in, he spent his time preparing himself. When opportunities came he took advantage of them.
Winston Churchill
“To every man there comes . . . that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.”
Many have had to go through tough times. Many think their situations are hopeless. Many think they are in dead-end jobs going nowhere. There is an amazing miracle waiting for those who bide their time by preparing and improving themselves.
Develop your talents. Don’t waste your time spending hours watching TV or spending unproductive time on the Internet. Take classes. Successful people never stop learning. Improve the skills you already have. Improve your reading, writing, and vocabulary.
There seems to be a universal law which seems to always send opportunity to those who are moving forward. You will be amazed when that opportunity comes along that your unique collection of talents and abilities fits it perfectly.
Jumat, 24 Juni 2011
Renovating? Learn How To Do It Yourself!
Those who think that the internet is just a venue for high-speed socialization, e-businesses, and virtual recreation better think twice.
The internet can also aid you unfold opportunities where you can discover your prowess in undertaking things yourself. What things? Practical stuffs you may never have mustered the gut to endeavor for lack of basic ideas how to approach them.
Why do you think are there several people who invest in buying do-it-yourself books or who endure browsing over literature at the bookstore and at the library to learn snippets of things they are interested at? Or who go from one person to the next to hear their experiences about some projects or matters they have handled?
Because smart people want to learn. For with knowledge comes strength and security of success. Smart people know that if they undertake things by themselves, they will achieve fulfillment while saving time and money.
Let’s say you want to convert your dull garden into an appealing and relaxing greenery. Will you hire a gardener right away and let him do his stuff because you have no idea how to landscape and since he is the expert anyway? How can you approve or disapprove his recommendations if you do not understand what works and what does not? Do you know that you can do the landscaping yourself – from design to actual work - and perhaps commission someone only to help you with the task?
There are several things you can do on your own to improve you home. Build a patio. Build a conservatory. Hang a door. Lay a wooden floor on your new deck. Fit a carpet in your bedroom.
Or, undertake hobbies that will make most of your time, instead of wasting it trying to learn without knowing the essentials. Play the guitar and make music. Exercise the right way to keep fit. Drive the motorcycle and go places. Learn magic and amaze your friends’ faces.
Or, take your studies or businesses seriously so you can achieve more or invest more wisely. Revise for an exam following some proven strategies. Choose a realtor using sensible tips.
There are many things you want to know about. Don’t you think it’s great that you can learn them all from the internet just by choosing the topic you’re interested in? This means being liberated from the hassles and stresses of having to leaf through sleep-inducing texts from books. This also means not having to laboriously gather information from several sources, which usually lead to confusion from their oftentimes conflicting statements. In clear and concise explanations and presentations, you can find out what you need to learn.
If you want to challenge yourself, if you dare take that leap to cross the other side from the threshold of “what if I try this…”, if you want to empower your personality, why not do things yourself? If you do, you will discover that you can indeed do it yourself. Such discovery starts with a click on that button.
The internet can also aid you unfold opportunities where you can discover your prowess in undertaking things yourself. What things? Practical stuffs you may never have mustered the gut to endeavor for lack of basic ideas how to approach them.
Why do you think are there several people who invest in buying do-it-yourself books or who endure browsing over literature at the bookstore and at the library to learn snippets of things they are interested at? Or who go from one person to the next to hear their experiences about some projects or matters they have handled?
Because smart people want to learn. For with knowledge comes strength and security of success. Smart people know that if they undertake things by themselves, they will achieve fulfillment while saving time and money.
Let’s say you want to convert your dull garden into an appealing and relaxing greenery. Will you hire a gardener right away and let him do his stuff because you have no idea how to landscape and since he is the expert anyway? How can you approve or disapprove his recommendations if you do not understand what works and what does not? Do you know that you can do the landscaping yourself – from design to actual work - and perhaps commission someone only to help you with the task?
There are several things you can do on your own to improve you home. Build a patio. Build a conservatory. Hang a door. Lay a wooden floor on your new deck. Fit a carpet in your bedroom.
Or, undertake hobbies that will make most of your time, instead of wasting it trying to learn without knowing the essentials. Play the guitar and make music. Exercise the right way to keep fit. Drive the motorcycle and go places. Learn magic and amaze your friends’ faces.
Or, take your studies or businesses seriously so you can achieve more or invest more wisely. Revise for an exam following some proven strategies. Choose a realtor using sensible tips.
There are many things you want to know about. Don’t you think it’s great that you can learn them all from the internet just by choosing the topic you’re interested in? This means being liberated from the hassles and stresses of having to leaf through sleep-inducing texts from books. This also means not having to laboriously gather information from several sources, which usually lead to confusion from their oftentimes conflicting statements. In clear and concise explanations and presentations, you can find out what you need to learn.
If you want to challenge yourself, if you dare take that leap to cross the other side from the threshold of “what if I try this…”, if you want to empower your personality, why not do things yourself? If you do, you will discover that you can indeed do it yourself. Such discovery starts with a click on that button.
Jumat, 01 Oktober 2010
What Is the Leonardo Trait? Creativity in Action
I recently began thinking about why I'm like this. Trust me, if you know me, you'd understand what I mean, and you'd probably agree that just knowing my family isn't enough.
I have two speeds. One is stop, one is go.
I can't work on one project, I have to have five.
Of the twelve projects I have open, I'll only finish seven.
I don't know which seven it will be, so I have to work on all twelve until I figure it out.
I can't settle on one thing I want to do. Right now I'm learning to podcast, walking in charity walks, and setting up teleseminars, while writing a book.
My favorite person in history, after Amelia Earheart, is Leonardo da Vinci. Amelia Earheart is my favorite only because I was a little girl in the 1970s and female role models were rare; I'm not giving up my first idol.
I like to think that if Leonardo were alive today, people would be calling him "weird," encouraging him to "finish what you start," and--my favorite--referring to him as "jack of all trades and master of none." Then I like to think of those people suddenly realizing who they've been criticizing.
You know? Wouldn't that be fun?
Well, of course it's not going to happen, but what can happen is that you and I can recognize the Leonardo Trait in ourselves and each other and let up on ourselves. No one else is going to do it for us.
Give yourself a break, Leonardo.
I have two speeds. One is stop, one is go.
I can't work on one project, I have to have five.
Of the twelve projects I have open, I'll only finish seven.
I don't know which seven it will be, so I have to work on all twelve until I figure it out.
I can't settle on one thing I want to do. Right now I'm learning to podcast, walking in charity walks, and setting up teleseminars, while writing a book.
My favorite person in history, after Amelia Earheart, is Leonardo da Vinci. Amelia Earheart is my favorite only because I was a little girl in the 1970s and female role models were rare; I'm not giving up my first idol.
I like to think that if Leonardo were alive today, people would be calling him "weird," encouraging him to "finish what you start," and--my favorite--referring to him as "jack of all trades and master of none." Then I like to think of those people suddenly realizing who they've been criticizing.
You know? Wouldn't that be fun?
Well, of course it's not going to happen, but what can happen is that you and I can recognize the Leonardo Trait in ourselves and each other and let up on ourselves. No one else is going to do it for us.
Give yourself a break, Leonardo.
Selasa, 10 Agustus 2010
Developing Patience
Webster's defines be patient as bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint, or being steadfast despite opposition, difficulty or adversity. I believe this why patience is called a virtue. It is little practiced, but much needed. At the first sign of difficulty, many jump to an easier, smoother path, hoping to avoid the pain and suffering that is necessary on the road 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 world be different if you practiced more patience?
Patience is the ability to hang on when everyone else has given up. Patience is ability to release your need for immediate gratification and wait for the things to come in their own time frame. Patience overcomes criticism and intolerance. Patience develops committed relationships in marriage, family, church, community and career. Many a great leader have displayed patience by looking before they leaped, thinking before they acted, and considering before they decided. Patience is the mark of maturity. So now we know the virtues of patience, how do we develop more patience?
First, realize that no one is perfect, including yourself. Accept yourself and others, imperfections and all. Everyone is struggling with their own set of fears, weaknesses, obstacles and crises. We are all on the road of personal growth together and can help each other by showing more patience and kindness to each other.
Second, develop a consistent philosophy of life based upon a value system you believe in. Then when you are confronted with a situation, you can make your choice based upon the value system rather than an instant gratification response. With every choice is a consequence. Do you act now and settle? Or do you wait to get the result you truly desire?
Third, change your perspective on the past, present and the future. Stop dwelling on your mistakes and failures. They cannot be changed. Instead, focus and what you can do now to make a difference. Life is a blessing and each day should be lived as if it were your last. Start fresh everyday and remember the future comes one day at a time. What can you do today to change the results you have in the future?
Fourth, confront your fears rather than avoid them. Do the thing you fear the most and the fear will go away. "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our ability to do it has increased." By doing more, it becomes easier, and when it becomes easier it becomes fun rather than stressful.
Finally, 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 answers you may need, the tools and resources you are looking for when you need them. You must have faith and be patient and believe in your goals, realizing that they will often not be accomplished according to your original plans. Circumstances change. People change. Things change. Let go of your anxiety, disbelief and doubt about achieving your goal. Know that The Universe is constantly supporting you and will always help you achieve the things you desire. Just be patient!
Patience is the ability to hang on when everyone else has given up. Patience is ability to release your need for immediate gratification and wait for the things to come in their own time frame. Patience overcomes criticism and intolerance. Patience develops committed relationships in marriage, family, church, community and career. Many a great leader have displayed patience by looking before they leaped, thinking before they acted, and considering before they decided. Patience is the mark of maturity. So now we know the virtues of patience, how do we develop more patience?
First, realize that no one is perfect, including yourself. Accept yourself and others, imperfections and all. Everyone is struggling with their own set of fears, weaknesses, obstacles and crises. We are all on the road of personal growth together and can help each other by showing more patience and kindness to each other.
Second, develop a consistent philosophy of life based upon a value system you believe in. Then when you are confronted with a situation, you can make your choice based upon the value system rather than an instant gratification response. With every choice is a consequence. Do you act now and settle? Or do you wait to get the result you truly desire?
Third, change your perspective on the past, present and the future. Stop dwelling on your mistakes and failures. They cannot be changed. Instead, focus and what you can do now to make a difference. Life is a blessing and each day should be lived as if it were your last. Start fresh everyday and remember the future comes one day at a time. What can you do today to change the results you have in the future?
Fourth, confront your fears rather than avoid them. Do the thing you fear the most and the fear will go away. "That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our ability to do it has increased." By doing more, it becomes easier, and when it becomes easier it becomes fun rather than stressful.
Finally, 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 answers you may need, the tools and resources you are looking for when you need them. You must have faith and be patient and believe in your goals, realizing that they will often not be accomplished according to your original plans. Circumstances change. People change. Things change. Let go of your anxiety, disbelief and doubt about achieving your goal. Know that The Universe is constantly supporting you and will always help you achieve the things you desire. Just be patient!
Jumat, 30 Juli 2010
Creating a Life Worth Living, Part 3
Copyright 2006 Melissa Galt
Getting Launched and Letting Go
In the meantime, I was launching my own design practice six months earlier than planned. I had to put some pieces inherited from Mother up for auction to gain some working capital and pay down debt. I like to think of it as she was there to help, but it was tough because they were pieces I had grown up with.
I had never worked with an independent designer, so I was truly winging it. I made a lot of blunders, yet knowing I was pursuing my passion made it all possible. It was scary without a client for three months, so I stayed in catering for a year and a half. My classes were popular and soon I was seeing business growing. Referrals didn’t really kick in until the eighteenth month mark, not unusual, but it seemed forever. In the meantime, I focused on abundance, on prosperity, and fought back any doubts.
The Lesson: It is our doubts that betray us, and since what we think about expands, it is critical to focus exclusively (though not blindly) on positive results and achievements and let go the what ifs.
Time to Think
In 1999 I took five weeks off for a trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was during this trip that I reached some true milestones. I had unknowingly battled long-term depression since my early twenties, unknowingly since it was undiagnosed, and I just assumed that the emotional rollercoaster I was on was part of who I was. It was tough, the high highs, the rock-bottom, black lows and never predictable.
No, I didn’t qualify as bipolar; that would have been too easy. And besides, it was the age when depression was “cool.” Pop a pill everyone said. I wasn’t into medication aside from the occasional aspirin and vitamin C to ward off a hangover (I unsquared after college).
I thought that maybe this disorder ran in the family, knowing that my mother had been a big proponent of counseling and remembering the saying about great-grandfather, that genius is always next to madness. But the Australia trip was solo, and for the first time in my life I felt at home when I stepped off the plane in Sydney. I can only guess it was some unique imprinting from when I was a one-year-old and taken there to live for a year on my parents’ ranch, an indelible impression.
The Lesson: When you find your roots and a real sense of home, you experience a sense of security that is previously unknown. Perhaps you are lucky enough never to have lost it, but if you have, it is still to be found.
Fearless Results
Anyway, it seemed a big adventure and I wanted to do it all. From climbing the Sydney harbor bridge to bungee jumping and tandem hang-gliding in Queenstown, New Zealand. I suddenly realized I had no fear. I wasn’t careless or carefree, but I had been to such dark places emotionally and mentally, that I realized that each and every day is a choice for each of us.
Few like to admit that, and most immediately assume I am talking life or death. Well, I could be, but consider that so many people go through this life only partially alive; I had, and I finally realized it and made the decision to live fully going forward. And since that was the case, I was going to seize it, live it, and experience it to its fullest. Having always been very unathletic and convinced that I couldn’t do anything of that nature, this was a huge step.
Now, whenever I feel even slightly stuck, or my life seems to have stalled, I will do something new whether it is parasailing, sky diving, or attending an event where I know no one (that can be truly frightening, if you let it).
The Lesson: Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
Success
I returned with new vision, new ideas, and new energy. And by 2000, after six years in my own practice, I had a full assistant on board and two other part-timers. The company was slated to break $1 million in sales and I was opening a retail venture the following year.
But, yikes, I had forgotten one of my previous lessons learned. I hated retail! I hated staying in one place all day long, relying on others to come to me for business rather than going to them. I loved setting up the storefront, the renovation, the design, buying goods for sale, inventorying and all. It was much like the best parts of my first career. But the old day-to-day operations were the same -- mundane, tedious, and not for me. Of course, opening the month of September 2001 definitely put a damper on things as well. I stuck it out for two years, but found it just wasn’t working.
I was the first kid on the block of a restored strip center in what should have been a great location but without like-minded vendors nearby and traffic really stopping, sales were weak at best. I pioneered and that can get very expensive! The good part is that I have acquired two very valuable and wonderful clients from that experience.
The Lesson: Each new experience allows us a new learning opportunity. There is no such thing as failure, just unrealized success or lessons not yet learned and therefore repeated. I learned a lot!
Regrouping
I opted to store my unsold inventory, placing it as projects arose, and return to focus solely on design services and teaching. I had even created a private certification program for decorators at my shop and moved that back to my office location.
It was a move that ultimately saved my business. I had to cut staff to bare bones and return to a revolving door of free interns every ninety days. Frustrating, but affordable. And while it has taken the last four years, we are back solidly and I am now reinventing myself again.
Once I made the decision in Australia that fear is a choice, I simply don’t choose it. Rejecting fear opened up unlimited potential and achievement for me. Most of us lose our dreams because we lose the possibility of them. I will never lose that again, because I have learned that I can redirect, refocus, and reinvent as much and as often as I need to.
I know that I have all the skills and talent needed to make my dreams a reality; I just have to persist and persevere. I want to give back, and give forward, and give today, and know that the giving I have already done is coming back to me in great abundance.
The Lesson: It is by giving of ourselves that we truly realize our worth and create a legacy for ourselves and for others.
Giving Back
I am now on a mission to share my experiences and my vision with others: to help them realize their dreams, and achieve their goals, and overcome the obstacles along the way. Too many we know stay stuck, complaining and waiting for some outside force to change what has to happen from within. It is truly disheartening to imagine how many achieve so little and wish for so much. Without purpose and passion, life is merely an existence and time filler.
The Lesson: We have this journey but once; make it count and make it yours.
Getting Launched and Letting Go
In the meantime, I was launching my own design practice six months earlier than planned. I had to put some pieces inherited from Mother up for auction to gain some working capital and pay down debt. I like to think of it as she was there to help, but it was tough because they were pieces I had grown up with.
I had never worked with an independent designer, so I was truly winging it. I made a lot of blunders, yet knowing I was pursuing my passion made it all possible. It was scary without a client for three months, so I stayed in catering for a year and a half. My classes were popular and soon I was seeing business growing. Referrals didn’t really kick in until the eighteenth month mark, not unusual, but it seemed forever. In the meantime, I focused on abundance, on prosperity, and fought back any doubts.
The Lesson: It is our doubts that betray us, and since what we think about expands, it is critical to focus exclusively (though not blindly) on positive results and achievements and let go the what ifs.
Time to Think
In 1999 I took five weeks off for a trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was during this trip that I reached some true milestones. I had unknowingly battled long-term depression since my early twenties, unknowingly since it was undiagnosed, and I just assumed that the emotional rollercoaster I was on was part of who I was. It was tough, the high highs, the rock-bottom, black lows and never predictable.
No, I didn’t qualify as bipolar; that would have been too easy. And besides, it was the age when depression was “cool.” Pop a pill everyone said. I wasn’t into medication aside from the occasional aspirin and vitamin C to ward off a hangover (I unsquared after college).
I thought that maybe this disorder ran in the family, knowing that my mother had been a big proponent of counseling and remembering the saying about great-grandfather, that genius is always next to madness. But the Australia trip was solo, and for the first time in my life I felt at home when I stepped off the plane in Sydney. I can only guess it was some unique imprinting from when I was a one-year-old and taken there to live for a year on my parents’ ranch, an indelible impression.
The Lesson: When you find your roots and a real sense of home, you experience a sense of security that is previously unknown. Perhaps you are lucky enough never to have lost it, but if you have, it is still to be found.
Fearless Results
Anyway, it seemed a big adventure and I wanted to do it all. From climbing the Sydney harbor bridge to bungee jumping and tandem hang-gliding in Queenstown, New Zealand. I suddenly realized I had no fear. I wasn’t careless or carefree, but I had been to such dark places emotionally and mentally, that I realized that each and every day is a choice for each of us.
Few like to admit that, and most immediately assume I am talking life or death. Well, I could be, but consider that so many people go through this life only partially alive; I had, and I finally realized it and made the decision to live fully going forward. And since that was the case, I was going to seize it, live it, and experience it to its fullest. Having always been very unathletic and convinced that I couldn’t do anything of that nature, this was a huge step.
Now, whenever I feel even slightly stuck, or my life seems to have stalled, I will do something new whether it is parasailing, sky diving, or attending an event where I know no one (that can be truly frightening, if you let it).
The Lesson: Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
Success
I returned with new vision, new ideas, and new energy. And by 2000, after six years in my own practice, I had a full assistant on board and two other part-timers. The company was slated to break $1 million in sales and I was opening a retail venture the following year.
But, yikes, I had forgotten one of my previous lessons learned. I hated retail! I hated staying in one place all day long, relying on others to come to me for business rather than going to them. I loved setting up the storefront, the renovation, the design, buying goods for sale, inventorying and all. It was much like the best parts of my first career. But the old day-to-day operations were the same -- mundane, tedious, and not for me. Of course, opening the month of September 2001 definitely put a damper on things as well. I stuck it out for two years, but found it just wasn’t working.
I was the first kid on the block of a restored strip center in what should have been a great location but without like-minded vendors nearby and traffic really stopping, sales were weak at best. I pioneered and that can get very expensive! The good part is that I have acquired two very valuable and wonderful clients from that experience.
The Lesson: Each new experience allows us a new learning opportunity. There is no such thing as failure, just unrealized success or lessons not yet learned and therefore repeated. I learned a lot!
Regrouping
I opted to store my unsold inventory, placing it as projects arose, and return to focus solely on design services and teaching. I had even created a private certification program for decorators at my shop and moved that back to my office location.
It was a move that ultimately saved my business. I had to cut staff to bare bones and return to a revolving door of free interns every ninety days. Frustrating, but affordable. And while it has taken the last four years, we are back solidly and I am now reinventing myself again.
Once I made the decision in Australia that fear is a choice, I simply don’t choose it. Rejecting fear opened up unlimited potential and achievement for me. Most of us lose our dreams because we lose the possibility of them. I will never lose that again, because I have learned that I can redirect, refocus, and reinvent as much and as often as I need to.
I know that I have all the skills and talent needed to make my dreams a reality; I just have to persist and persevere. I want to give back, and give forward, and give today, and know that the giving I have already done is coming back to me in great abundance.
The Lesson: It is by giving of ourselves that we truly realize our worth and create a legacy for ourselves and for others.
Giving Back
I am now on a mission to share my experiences and my vision with others: to help them realize their dreams, and achieve their goals, and overcome the obstacles along the way. Too many we know stay stuck, complaining and waiting for some outside force to change what has to happen from within. It is truly disheartening to imagine how many achieve so little and wish for so much. Without purpose and passion, life is merely an existence and time filler.
The Lesson: We have this journey but once; make it count and make it yours.
Kamis, 29 Juli 2010
Creating a Life Worth Living, Part 2
Copyright 2006 Melissa Galt
The Real World
This vision was short lived. I moved home and after two weeks of working a retail, full-time job, I came home and declared I wanted to go to college. I found I wasn’t quite ready for the realities of a real job! Of course, I was paying rent, as the deal Mother made was that, if we moved home after college, it was no free ride. And college was a partial gift of my grandparents; the rest was banquet waitressing. I finished out the year and a half working but did apply to colleges. My heart was set on returning to the West Coast, where I was born and raised.
While I was in boarding school, Mother had remarried and moved to Connecticut. I applied and got into a string of schools from UC Santa Barbara to UC Denver. She suggested Cornell University but I knew I wouldn’t get in. I had only a 3.3 average and didn’t figure that was Ivy League material. She urged and I acquiesced. Then, lo and behold, I got in. Guess I didn’t know it all after all! They thought I was “well adjusted” (I guess a year in the real world had some benefits). That presented a problem; I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t want to let Mother down.
I knew it was a great educational opportunity, so I followed her dream (she had not been to college) and back-burnered my own. Sometimes it is necessary to examine the big picture and what the benefits will be when the choice doesn’t seem ideal.
The Lesson: Life is about choices, and each of us is the reflection of the choices we have made to date. We can remain as we have chosen or make new choices and change our direction and our reality.
Not the Good Old Days
I can safely say that it was a fairly miserable four years. I wanted to transfer so many times, I lost count. But I stuck it out since neither of my sisters was particularly scholastically inclined, and I didn’t want to disappoint. I wanted to live up to expectation, even if it wasn’t my own expectation. I did get a great education and always get a kick when someone looks at me wide-eyed with genuine surprise to think that I went to an Ivy League school.
I guess I am supposed to be arrogant or grand or some other something that I am clearly not. More often, I am described as down-to-earth and accessible, and willing to tell all.
The Lesson: Where we are from does not determine who we are, or where we are going. That is up to us.
As Expected
Having made it through the four years, I embarked, predictably, into a career in hospitality purchasing. Essentially, if you ate it, drank it, wrote with it, or slept on it, I bought it. For six years, I moved every eight months to a new company, a new property, a new city, and a new state. With little time for socializing, I made few friends, and fewer connections. But in each place I designed my home as if I’d be there forever.
It was my roots and my foundation. It ensured that I had a haven at the end of the day and a place to escape the daily grind. The most creative I was able to get at work was designing the storerooms and freezers. My staff would all groan when I would don a puffy thermal freezer suit and announce it was time to organize! I loved the first three months of every position, cleaning up the place, establishing systems and controls, and then I got bored. Yeah, probably attention deficit disorder. I was a big-picture thinker and found the day-to-day details tedious and boring.
The Lesson: Pay attention to the parts you enjoy and those you don’t. Consider how you can make the parts you enjoy the greater share of what you do. Reinvent yourself as needed.
Finding the Passion
I finally hit a wall, about five years after my mother passed away. She had left a huge hole in my life, dying suddenly when I was 24. I realized at age 30 that while I was making good money and one of the few women in my career path, I was miserable every day. I dreaded going in to work and couldn’t leave fast enough.
It was time for a change. I knew that my mother and great-grandfather and even my godmother had all lived their passions, and that life was too short not to go in the direction of my dreams. So I quit. I’d never quit a job before, and it was an amazing relief. I took three months off to think about my next step, and I decided to return to school for interior design in Birmingham, Alabama where I had worked previously. I already had a four-year degree and wanted the shortest, most direct route to my new career. I knew Birmingham had a low cost of living that would enable me to focus on school for six months before needing to combine that with a full-time job. I did it, and it worked!
The Lesson: Life is about risk, both known (calculated) and unknown. If we knew it all, we would have no opportunities for growth and surprise. Change your definition of risk to opportunity.
Finding the Place
So after cramming a three-year program into two years, I discovered that with all the travel Mother had shared with us and the museums we had been dragged to (kicking and screaming), I was light-years ahead of most of my peers and even a few instructors.
Being different was finally paying off. And I was ahead in that I had managed to secure a plum position with a local architecture and design firm that launched me in design. I followed that with a stint managing a local textile warehouse and then was ready for a change in scenery. I wanted to pursue life in the Windy City; I wanted to get out of the South and experience architectural history and mastery, the Art Institute, and much more.
While I landed two opportunities on a commission basis, I lacked the essential confidence to take either, and the position I most desired never materialized. So I reset my sights closer to home and explored Atlanta.
The Lesson: Be flexible in the details; the big picture is never set in stone.
The Wild Blue Yonder, Without a Net
Atlanta proved to be a fortuitous decision in 1992. I started off working with a major furniture retailer in its design department. Eighteen months later I found myself going head-to-head with my manager over vacation pay. She said I didn’t have it coming, and I claimed I did. I walked. The check showed up two weeks later. I was right, but I was also unemployed without a client in the world. I had managed to rack up some $70K in credit card debt since my mother had passed, foolishly trying to fill the gaping hole I felt with her absence. I had rent and a car payment to boot.
Panic seemed a good option, but there was just no time. I immediately started work with a catering company, supervising their kitchen event operations on weekends. Often it meant running the hot and steamy dish machine, but it was money. I also pitched Evening at Emory and Oglethorpe University about creating and teaching classes on interior decorating for their adult education program. They both picked me up and I taught as many as five different classes during a decade. Easy it wasn’t, but it was worth it.
The Lesson: Do what you have to do, to get to doing what you want to do.
The Real World
This vision was short lived. I moved home and after two weeks of working a retail, full-time job, I came home and declared I wanted to go to college. I found I wasn’t quite ready for the realities of a real job! Of course, I was paying rent, as the deal Mother made was that, if we moved home after college, it was no free ride. And college was a partial gift of my grandparents; the rest was banquet waitressing. I finished out the year and a half working but did apply to colleges. My heart was set on returning to the West Coast, where I was born and raised.
While I was in boarding school, Mother had remarried and moved to Connecticut. I applied and got into a string of schools from UC Santa Barbara to UC Denver. She suggested Cornell University but I knew I wouldn’t get in. I had only a 3.3 average and didn’t figure that was Ivy League material. She urged and I acquiesced. Then, lo and behold, I got in. Guess I didn’t know it all after all! They thought I was “well adjusted” (I guess a year in the real world had some benefits). That presented a problem; I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t want to let Mother down.
I knew it was a great educational opportunity, so I followed her dream (she had not been to college) and back-burnered my own. Sometimes it is necessary to examine the big picture and what the benefits will be when the choice doesn’t seem ideal.
The Lesson: Life is about choices, and each of us is the reflection of the choices we have made to date. We can remain as we have chosen or make new choices and change our direction and our reality.
Not the Good Old Days
I can safely say that it was a fairly miserable four years. I wanted to transfer so many times, I lost count. But I stuck it out since neither of my sisters was particularly scholastically inclined, and I didn’t want to disappoint. I wanted to live up to expectation, even if it wasn’t my own expectation. I did get a great education and always get a kick when someone looks at me wide-eyed with genuine surprise to think that I went to an Ivy League school.
I guess I am supposed to be arrogant or grand or some other something that I am clearly not. More often, I am described as down-to-earth and accessible, and willing to tell all.
The Lesson: Where we are from does not determine who we are, or where we are going. That is up to us.
As Expected
Having made it through the four years, I embarked, predictably, into a career in hospitality purchasing. Essentially, if you ate it, drank it, wrote with it, or slept on it, I bought it. For six years, I moved every eight months to a new company, a new property, a new city, and a new state. With little time for socializing, I made few friends, and fewer connections. But in each place I designed my home as if I’d be there forever.
It was my roots and my foundation. It ensured that I had a haven at the end of the day and a place to escape the daily grind. The most creative I was able to get at work was designing the storerooms and freezers. My staff would all groan when I would don a puffy thermal freezer suit and announce it was time to organize! I loved the first three months of every position, cleaning up the place, establishing systems and controls, and then I got bored. Yeah, probably attention deficit disorder. I was a big-picture thinker and found the day-to-day details tedious and boring.
The Lesson: Pay attention to the parts you enjoy and those you don’t. Consider how you can make the parts you enjoy the greater share of what you do. Reinvent yourself as needed.
Finding the Passion
I finally hit a wall, about five years after my mother passed away. She had left a huge hole in my life, dying suddenly when I was 24. I realized at age 30 that while I was making good money and one of the few women in my career path, I was miserable every day. I dreaded going in to work and couldn’t leave fast enough.
It was time for a change. I knew that my mother and great-grandfather and even my godmother had all lived their passions, and that life was too short not to go in the direction of my dreams. So I quit. I’d never quit a job before, and it was an amazing relief. I took three months off to think about my next step, and I decided to return to school for interior design in Birmingham, Alabama where I had worked previously. I already had a four-year degree and wanted the shortest, most direct route to my new career. I knew Birmingham had a low cost of living that would enable me to focus on school for six months before needing to combine that with a full-time job. I did it, and it worked!
The Lesson: Life is about risk, both known (calculated) and unknown. If we knew it all, we would have no opportunities for growth and surprise. Change your definition of risk to opportunity.
Finding the Place
So after cramming a three-year program into two years, I discovered that with all the travel Mother had shared with us and the museums we had been dragged to (kicking and screaming), I was light-years ahead of most of my peers and even a few instructors.
Being different was finally paying off. And I was ahead in that I had managed to secure a plum position with a local architecture and design firm that launched me in design. I followed that with a stint managing a local textile warehouse and then was ready for a change in scenery. I wanted to pursue life in the Windy City; I wanted to get out of the South and experience architectural history and mastery, the Art Institute, and much more.
While I landed two opportunities on a commission basis, I lacked the essential confidence to take either, and the position I most desired never materialized. So I reset my sights closer to home and explored Atlanta.
The Lesson: Be flexible in the details; the big picture is never set in stone.
The Wild Blue Yonder, Without a Net
Atlanta proved to be a fortuitous decision in 1992. I started off working with a major furniture retailer in its design department. Eighteen months later I found myself going head-to-head with my manager over vacation pay. She said I didn’t have it coming, and I claimed I did. I walked. The check showed up two weeks later. I was right, but I was also unemployed without a client in the world. I had managed to rack up some $70K in credit card debt since my mother had passed, foolishly trying to fill the gaping hole I felt with her absence. I had rent and a car payment to boot.
Panic seemed a good option, but there was just no time. I immediately started work with a catering company, supervising their kitchen event operations on weekends. Often it meant running the hot and steamy dish machine, but it was money. I also pitched Evening at Emory and Oglethorpe University about creating and teaching classes on interior decorating for their adult education program. They both picked me up and I taught as many as five different classes during a decade. Easy it wasn’t, but it was worth it.
The Lesson: Do what you have to do, to get to doing what you want to do.
Rabu, 28 Juli 2010
Creating a Life Worth Living, Part 1
Copyright 2006 Melissa Galt
It should have been easy. Shoulda, woulda, coulda -- those words had been the essence of my life and so many other people’s lives, too. Now I’ve learned that life really isn’t about those words at all, and it isn’t about easy. Instead, each of our lives is about will and won’t and do and don’t, and the rewards that come from taking charge of our lives.
Our lives are up to us, as individuals. We are the ones in charge, whether we take that responsibility or not. So the question is, are we going to live a life by accident, a life by default, or will we have a plan, a path, a purpose? Will we end up where we want to be by intent or nowhere by accident? Will we blame others and external forces for the place we are in, or will we take charge and define by choice who we are, where we are going, and what we are doing? The choice belongs to each of us.
While my life interiors have often been a mishmash of uncoordinated elements, I have finally found my style and created a life of comfort and achievement. So let me tell you how it all began and how you can find your own passion and purpose.
The Lesson: If you aren’t living your dreams, then you are impersonating someone else’s!
Getting There
Overall, it wasn’t a bad upbringing. I’m not complaining. It had tough moments, Mom was gone a lot, and Dad wasn’t around much at all. They divorced when I was about six years old. But we didn’t lack for caregivers. I acquired an early sense of independence and eagerly took on responsibility.
My sister and I, as is typical of many close siblings, fought often. In fact, Mother nicknamed us Poke and Pinch, particularly for those long car rides when she was up front and we were in back acting up. But what I didn’t know and what I didn’t understand was that most of what I was becoming was up to me. I assumed, as so many of us do, that it was up to my parents, or up to my teachers, or up to someone, anyone else. I didn’t realize how much of it was actually in my control.
Therefore, for a long time I thought my life was about external forces and didn’t realize it was instead about my internal dynamics. I was at the “life’s not fair” stage and so nothing was my fault, I wasn’t in charge. What a bunch of baloney!
The Lesson: Life is about going confidently in the direction of your dreams, not anyone else’s. This is not a vicarious experience, but a visceral one.
The Legacy
What is funny about that belief is that all the while I knew that my mother had made her career decision early on. At age seven, if you believe her telling of the story, she had already made up her mind on a career, and then at age eleven she asked her parents to allow her to go to acting school. They agreed as long as she kept her grades up. Her grades soared because she was suddenly on purpose, on fire, and following her passion. Few of us know that early what we want or what will set us on fire.
She was a terrific actress, no less an achiever than my great-grandfather on the same side of the family who was a world-renowned architect. He also knew at a very early age that he would pursue architecture. It was about following their dream, their vision, their talents and their creativity.
The Lesson: It was about giving of themselves to the world and sharing their unique vision.
Temporary Detours
They both endured many obstacles, challenges, and crises but persevered and few knew of those setbacks. They quietly took them in stride. They didn’t complain or moan or lose sight of their goals; they just considered the setbacks temporary detours, another chance for a new experience, as it were. How many of us would weather the storms of life and career crisis better if we reframed them as temporary detours? I remember after I got into college, my mother sharing with me that she had been on welfare at one point and we never knew it. She had been without work for over a year and unemployment had run out, and welfare was next. We never knew it. She was doing everything in her power to find work; she was busy. She never let on, and we were in public school at the time and walked to school, so beyond belt-tightening on meals and no summer camp our lives were protected.
The Lesson: It is in our perception and our processing what our reality is. When we change these, we change our world.
Culture Shock Without Leaving the Country
Being a very academic adolescent, bent on making straight A’s and not in the “in” crowd, college seemed a time-wasting choice to me. I looked at it as four years of partying, and I wasn’t a partier. I was a super square. So it made sense to me to pursue the best high school education I could get, and that choice meant boarding school. Being away from home didn’t concern me at all; I was largely independent anyway. What I didn’t bank on was the cultural shock of going from the West Coast to the East Coast. You would have thought I was in a foreign country. I didn’t wear the same clothes, speak the same language, or even understand the teen lifestyle West to East. I didn’t fit in; I didn’t come close.
Needless to say, it was a very painful experience, made more so by being labeled “someone’s daughter” instead of being allowed to be myself. I got through it, even made it with honors, and, ironically, was the only one in the class not interested in college (this was a college prep school). I had my sites set on working immediately and getting my life off the ground.
The Lesson: Timing is everything, and when we are ready opportunities will appear, sometimes we have to allow the time to be ready.
It should have been easy. Shoulda, woulda, coulda -- those words had been the essence of my life and so many other people’s lives, too. Now I’ve learned that life really isn’t about those words at all, and it isn’t about easy. Instead, each of our lives is about will and won’t and do and don’t, and the rewards that come from taking charge of our lives.
Our lives are up to us, as individuals. We are the ones in charge, whether we take that responsibility or not. So the question is, are we going to live a life by accident, a life by default, or will we have a plan, a path, a purpose? Will we end up where we want to be by intent or nowhere by accident? Will we blame others and external forces for the place we are in, or will we take charge and define by choice who we are, where we are going, and what we are doing? The choice belongs to each of us.
While my life interiors have often been a mishmash of uncoordinated elements, I have finally found my style and created a life of comfort and achievement. So let me tell you how it all began and how you can find your own passion and purpose.
The Lesson: If you aren’t living your dreams, then you are impersonating someone else’s!
Getting There
Overall, it wasn’t a bad upbringing. I’m not complaining. It had tough moments, Mom was gone a lot, and Dad wasn’t around much at all. They divorced when I was about six years old. But we didn’t lack for caregivers. I acquired an early sense of independence and eagerly took on responsibility.
My sister and I, as is typical of many close siblings, fought often. In fact, Mother nicknamed us Poke and Pinch, particularly for those long car rides when she was up front and we were in back acting up. But what I didn’t know and what I didn’t understand was that most of what I was becoming was up to me. I assumed, as so many of us do, that it was up to my parents, or up to my teachers, or up to someone, anyone else. I didn’t realize how much of it was actually in my control.
Therefore, for a long time I thought my life was about external forces and didn’t realize it was instead about my internal dynamics. I was at the “life’s not fair” stage and so nothing was my fault, I wasn’t in charge. What a bunch of baloney!
The Lesson: Life is about going confidently in the direction of your dreams, not anyone else’s. This is not a vicarious experience, but a visceral one.
The Legacy
What is funny about that belief is that all the while I knew that my mother had made her career decision early on. At age seven, if you believe her telling of the story, she had already made up her mind on a career, and then at age eleven she asked her parents to allow her to go to acting school. They agreed as long as she kept her grades up. Her grades soared because she was suddenly on purpose, on fire, and following her passion. Few of us know that early what we want or what will set us on fire.
She was a terrific actress, no less an achiever than my great-grandfather on the same side of the family who was a world-renowned architect. He also knew at a very early age that he would pursue architecture. It was about following their dream, their vision, their talents and their creativity.
The Lesson: It was about giving of themselves to the world and sharing their unique vision.
Temporary Detours
They both endured many obstacles, challenges, and crises but persevered and few knew of those setbacks. They quietly took them in stride. They didn’t complain or moan or lose sight of their goals; they just considered the setbacks temporary detours, another chance for a new experience, as it were. How many of us would weather the storms of life and career crisis better if we reframed them as temporary detours? I remember after I got into college, my mother sharing with me that she had been on welfare at one point and we never knew it. She had been without work for over a year and unemployment had run out, and welfare was next. We never knew it. She was doing everything in her power to find work; she was busy. She never let on, and we were in public school at the time and walked to school, so beyond belt-tightening on meals and no summer camp our lives were protected.
The Lesson: It is in our perception and our processing what our reality is. When we change these, we change our world.
Culture Shock Without Leaving the Country
Being a very academic adolescent, bent on making straight A’s and not in the “in” crowd, college seemed a time-wasting choice to me. I looked at it as four years of partying, and I wasn’t a partier. I was a super square. So it made sense to me to pursue the best high school education I could get, and that choice meant boarding school. Being away from home didn’t concern me at all; I was largely independent anyway. What I didn’t bank on was the cultural shock of going from the West Coast to the East Coast. You would have thought I was in a foreign country. I didn’t wear the same clothes, speak the same language, or even understand the teen lifestyle West to East. I didn’t fit in; I didn’t come close.
Needless to say, it was a very painful experience, made more so by being labeled “someone’s daughter” instead of being allowed to be myself. I got through it, even made it with honors, and, ironically, was the only one in the class not interested in college (this was a college prep school). I had my sites set on working immediately and getting my life off the ground.
The Lesson: Timing is everything, and when we are ready opportunities will appear, sometimes we have to allow the time to be ready.
Minggu, 11 April 2010
Are you effective or ineffective in your life?
Copyright 2006 Robin Harris, DesignerLife
Multi-tasking and saying “yes” to too many things can dilute your effectiveness. People who are generalists, by design, can manage the broad sweeping details of several related or unrelated projects. But those who are more inclined to be specialists are naturally designed to go deep not wide.
The generalist will go stir crazy trying to play the role of the specialist and the specialist will lose access to their own competencies and strengths when trying to play the role of the generalist.
We live in a society that tends to make rules and create models for preferred behavioral traits without understanding how they correspond to innate abilities. Everyone is not meant to multi-task and everyone is not meant to specialize. Get it wrong and you have someone who can fall into the spectrum ranging from slightly frustrated and discontent all the way to grossly incompetent and angry.
To cultivate a career that has any hope of yielding its full potential, it needs to build on natural talents, abilities, and gifts (TAG). Talent and ability are the minimum requirements, gifts that find their way into our work life is a bonus. When all three are properly placed in a suitable role and environment, that is where people will rise to the tops of their fields, have the greatest impact, and contribute the most. Not only will their career shine but it makes a perfect segue for a totally satisfying life.
Work that undervalues or under-utilizes our natural abilities dilutes the over all quality of life. It leads to that elusive feeling that something is missing no matter how grand everything else appears to be. It doesn’t matter if you command a 7-figure income; money cannot replace the human desire for purposeful and satisfying work.
It is fair to say that most businesses are still operating under an old assumption that talent and abilities are the same as learned skills and knowledge. When it comes to the subject of gifts, this rarely finds it’s way into a professional development program. Talents only shine when they are built on a foundation of natural ability or unnatural determination. Abilities are not learned they are innate and raw qualities they make it possible to excel in certain tasks and environments while making it difficult to excel in others.
If you are waiting for a corporate career development path that leverages your TAG, you will likely be disappointed unless you are on the executive development path. Many corporations are much more intentional when it comes to identifying and cultivating a match for executive talent than for the rank-and-file. Well, talented executives without a highly talented and committed team aren’t very effective, now are they? Still, it is up to the individual to take ownership of these personal treasures and find ways to integrate them into well-suited careers and work environments.
As the path of evolution closes off once viable options, we approach a daunting crossroad. We have to decide if we are going to be pruned from the vine, wither slowly, or thrive by making new and wiser choices that will force us out of our comfort zone. If we cannot cross over into the new emerging paradigm of work and we are still in our working years, the consequences will separate us from the life of comfort we have grown accustomed to. Companies and whole industries will continue to disappear from the economic playing field and many will attempt to survive change by downsizing and leveraging a global workforce. This strategy may be wise but often leaves the root cause of the problem unresolved and so the problem continues to sprout new symptoms that downsizing and global workforces cannot relieve. Meanwhile, the individual player stands hoping someone will rescue them and just like a deer frozen in the headlights, this reaction to personal threat of survival is often problematic. What are you preparing yourself to do to mitigate such risks? Do you have a financial cushion? Have you invested in keeping yourself marketable even in changing economies? Do you have multiple streams of income? Or is waiting for the storm to pass and hoping it will your only plan of action?
Your natural talents, abilities, and gifts are God-given and they extend beyond industries, local, national, global economies, and emerging technologies that make workers in certain fields obsolete. They are timeless and it is by becoming a good steward of your TAG that you will be guided to take the action that will allow you to begin to play a bigger game with far better outcomes. Winning on the economic playing field is important but winning at a soul-level is all-inclusive because that means you get the privileged experiences that money can and cannot buy.
Multi-tasking and saying “yes” to too many things can dilute your effectiveness. People who are generalists, by design, can manage the broad sweeping details of several related or unrelated projects. But those who are more inclined to be specialists are naturally designed to go deep not wide.
The generalist will go stir crazy trying to play the role of the specialist and the specialist will lose access to their own competencies and strengths when trying to play the role of the generalist.
We live in a society that tends to make rules and create models for preferred behavioral traits without understanding how they correspond to innate abilities. Everyone is not meant to multi-task and everyone is not meant to specialize. Get it wrong and you have someone who can fall into the spectrum ranging from slightly frustrated and discontent all the way to grossly incompetent and angry.
To cultivate a career that has any hope of yielding its full potential, it needs to build on natural talents, abilities, and gifts (TAG). Talent and ability are the minimum requirements, gifts that find their way into our work life is a bonus. When all three are properly placed in a suitable role and environment, that is where people will rise to the tops of their fields, have the greatest impact, and contribute the most. Not only will their career shine but it makes a perfect segue for a totally satisfying life.
Work that undervalues or under-utilizes our natural abilities dilutes the over all quality of life. It leads to that elusive feeling that something is missing no matter how grand everything else appears to be. It doesn’t matter if you command a 7-figure income; money cannot replace the human desire for purposeful and satisfying work.
It is fair to say that most businesses are still operating under an old assumption that talent and abilities are the same as learned skills and knowledge. When it comes to the subject of gifts, this rarely finds it’s way into a professional development program. Talents only shine when they are built on a foundation of natural ability or unnatural determination. Abilities are not learned they are innate and raw qualities they make it possible to excel in certain tasks and environments while making it difficult to excel in others.
If you are waiting for a corporate career development path that leverages your TAG, you will likely be disappointed unless you are on the executive development path. Many corporations are much more intentional when it comes to identifying and cultivating a match for executive talent than for the rank-and-file. Well, talented executives without a highly talented and committed team aren’t very effective, now are they? Still, it is up to the individual to take ownership of these personal treasures and find ways to integrate them into well-suited careers and work environments.
As the path of evolution closes off once viable options, we approach a daunting crossroad. We have to decide if we are going to be pruned from the vine, wither slowly, or thrive by making new and wiser choices that will force us out of our comfort zone. If we cannot cross over into the new emerging paradigm of work and we are still in our working years, the consequences will separate us from the life of comfort we have grown accustomed to. Companies and whole industries will continue to disappear from the economic playing field and many will attempt to survive change by downsizing and leveraging a global workforce. This strategy may be wise but often leaves the root cause of the problem unresolved and so the problem continues to sprout new symptoms that downsizing and global workforces cannot relieve. Meanwhile, the individual player stands hoping someone will rescue them and just like a deer frozen in the headlights, this reaction to personal threat of survival is often problematic. What are you preparing yourself to do to mitigate such risks? Do you have a financial cushion? Have you invested in keeping yourself marketable even in changing economies? Do you have multiple streams of income? Or is waiting for the storm to pass and hoping it will your only plan of action?
Your natural talents, abilities, and gifts are God-given and they extend beyond industries, local, national, global economies, and emerging technologies that make workers in certain fields obsolete. They are timeless and it is by becoming a good steward of your TAG that you will be guided to take the action that will allow you to begin to play a bigger game with far better outcomes. Winning on the economic playing field is important but winning at a soul-level is all-inclusive because that means you get the privileged experiences that money can and cannot buy.
Sabtu, 27 Maret 2010
An Old Message For A New Age
Do you consider yourself a seeker? I have a feeling if you’re reading this article, you do.
If so, how exactly do you define it? What does it mean to you to be a “seeker?”
For me, the definition is constantly in process of clarifying itself, shifting in and out of focus as I ask, “What is it that I’m seeking?” There have been times – days, weeks, months, dare I say years – that it felt like wandering, lost and lonely, in search of a nameless, faceless something that seemed forever before me, but like a mirage, moving farther away the closer I drew. I could not grasp it, but I knew that when found it would make all the pieces of my life click together. Instant happiness and abundance, perfect peace and love. Most of all, everything would finally make sense. I’d know my purpose; I’d be brave enough to live it; I’d have no question that I couldn’t readily answer.
I can tell you, after so much time in the desert, I have found no such “something.” But that doesn’t mean the journey has not been fruitful.
In its finest moments the search has been a pilgrimage. One with the hue of holiness. And in those rare instances I know clearly what it is I seek. I’d like to share a story.
Several years ago my husband’s company sponsored a celebrity golf tournament. We attended, and I surprised myself at how star-struck I was! Especially since the stars were sports figures with whom I was barely familiar. Of all of them, the kindest was David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. Walking next to him, my head came only to his elbow, but I found him to be a gentle giant. Late in the day I, along with many others, asked for his autograph. When he gave me back the piece of paper it had on it his name and the letters and numbers “Matthew 6:33.” I overheard someone explain that he always places a verse from the Bible on his autographs – a different one for each person.
Well, I am someone who does not take things in vain – I believe that everything that happens is a perfect set-up for our growth and learning. So, I went home and looked up the verse. Upon reading it I had one of those “pilgrim” moments.
Matthew 6:33Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you as well.
The perfect message for a true seeker. But, of course, the question follows…what does it mean? I know that some will have a very clear-cut answer, but for me it has taken years of touching upon, moving away from, and coming back to the message…to find for myself the meaning. The day I received the verse I typed it up and put it in my meditation space, where I have looked upon it every day since. But lately it has begun to call for my attention more fervently, demanding from me a clearer understanding.
Ultimately, I have come to realize this one sentence as the most basic ingredient for living, and the word that has always stood out to me is “first.” Here, the order of things. In our society we are driven by the desire to obtain - material possessions, personal achievement, physical perfection…we strive first and we strive hard. But in this verse we are asked not to “do” first, but to seek. We are told where to begin.
I would like to go slowly, go back and explore this simple message, piece by piece…
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…
Is this the answer to the interminable question, “What do I seek?”? If so, then I ask, “What exactly is this ‘Kingdom of God’ that I am after?” My mind immediately travels to another verse – Luke 17:21, which says, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
And so, it is not something beyond my grasp that constantly beckons me. It is not a place, or thing, a job or person, a philosophy, idea or fragment of knowledge. It is not to be found in books or buildings. That which is sought is the Divine reflection within my own being, that same reflection alive within yours and in everything else. The dwelling place of the holy lives no farther than the beat of our own hearts.
For those of us who have been on this quest for a while, this idea is nothing new. I realize that. We read books about getting to know and love and be ourselves. We take classes and workshops in the hopes of prying open the door to that illusive hallowed ground we’re after. At the end of every yoga class we say, “Namaste,” the Hindu recognition of the Divine spark within us all. I, like you, know where I’m supposed to look; I can think and speak about it; but it is the experience that I am after – that which cannot be spoken of or written about in whole. That which absolutely cannot be taught or bought. That which is secret and private and can only be known in the silent places of one’s own soul.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…Seek first the Divine within…Seek first, your own truth.
And then we read on…
…and His Righteousness…
Now, here is a phrase for contemplation. For some it is instantly understood and revered; for others, it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It is a loaded word; one that can scare with its asking.
If it is the knowing of our highest selves, a re-union with our own Divinity and, I suspect, with the greater Divinity of all life that we seek, and if we hold faith that the source of Divinity is indwelling, then how do we define this righteousness? I believe that the answer will lie in your own definition, image and knowing of God.
If so, how exactly do you define it? What does it mean to you to be a “seeker?”
For me, the definition is constantly in process of clarifying itself, shifting in and out of focus as I ask, “What is it that I’m seeking?” There have been times – days, weeks, months, dare I say years – that it felt like wandering, lost and lonely, in search of a nameless, faceless something that seemed forever before me, but like a mirage, moving farther away the closer I drew. I could not grasp it, but I knew that when found it would make all the pieces of my life click together. Instant happiness and abundance, perfect peace and love. Most of all, everything would finally make sense. I’d know my purpose; I’d be brave enough to live it; I’d have no question that I couldn’t readily answer.
I can tell you, after so much time in the desert, I have found no such “something.” But that doesn’t mean the journey has not been fruitful.
In its finest moments the search has been a pilgrimage. One with the hue of holiness. And in those rare instances I know clearly what it is I seek. I’d like to share a story.
Several years ago my husband’s company sponsored a celebrity golf tournament. We attended, and I surprised myself at how star-struck I was! Especially since the stars were sports figures with whom I was barely familiar. Of all of them, the kindest was David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. Walking next to him, my head came only to his elbow, but I found him to be a gentle giant. Late in the day I, along with many others, asked for his autograph. When he gave me back the piece of paper it had on it his name and the letters and numbers “Matthew 6:33.” I overheard someone explain that he always places a verse from the Bible on his autographs – a different one for each person.
Well, I am someone who does not take things in vain – I believe that everything that happens is a perfect set-up for our growth and learning. So, I went home and looked up the verse. Upon reading it I had one of those “pilgrim” moments.
Matthew 6:33Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you as well.
The perfect message for a true seeker. But, of course, the question follows…what does it mean? I know that some will have a very clear-cut answer, but for me it has taken years of touching upon, moving away from, and coming back to the message…to find for myself the meaning. The day I received the verse I typed it up and put it in my meditation space, where I have looked upon it every day since. But lately it has begun to call for my attention more fervently, demanding from me a clearer understanding.
Ultimately, I have come to realize this one sentence as the most basic ingredient for living, and the word that has always stood out to me is “first.” Here, the order of things. In our society we are driven by the desire to obtain - material possessions, personal achievement, physical perfection…we strive first and we strive hard. But in this verse we are asked not to “do” first, but to seek. We are told where to begin.
I would like to go slowly, go back and explore this simple message, piece by piece…
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…
Is this the answer to the interminable question, “What do I seek?”? If so, then I ask, “What exactly is this ‘Kingdom of God’ that I am after?” My mind immediately travels to another verse – Luke 17:21, which says, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”
And so, it is not something beyond my grasp that constantly beckons me. It is not a place, or thing, a job or person, a philosophy, idea or fragment of knowledge. It is not to be found in books or buildings. That which is sought is the Divine reflection within my own being, that same reflection alive within yours and in everything else. The dwelling place of the holy lives no farther than the beat of our own hearts.
For those of us who have been on this quest for a while, this idea is nothing new. I realize that. We read books about getting to know and love and be ourselves. We take classes and workshops in the hopes of prying open the door to that illusive hallowed ground we’re after. At the end of every yoga class we say, “Namaste,” the Hindu recognition of the Divine spark within us all. I, like you, know where I’m supposed to look; I can think and speak about it; but it is the experience that I am after – that which cannot be spoken of or written about in whole. That which absolutely cannot be taught or bought. That which is secret and private and can only be known in the silent places of one’s own soul.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God…Seek first the Divine within…Seek first, your own truth.
And then we read on…
…and His Righteousness…
Now, here is a phrase for contemplation. For some it is instantly understood and revered; for others, it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It is a loaded word; one that can scare with its asking.
If it is the knowing of our highest selves, a re-union with our own Divinity and, I suspect, with the greater Divinity of all life that we seek, and if we hold faith that the source of Divinity is indwelling, then how do we define this righteousness? I believe that the answer will lie in your own definition, image and knowing of God.
Kamis, 04 Maret 2010
Access the Rest of Yourself
Copyright 2006 Cole's Poetic License
Because I have used audio discs for self-hypnosis, I have successfully upgraded the programming in my subconscious mind in several areas. I want to spread the word.
Brian Walsh, author of "Unleash your Brilliance" writes, "Some of us spend money and time on maintaining, or even upgrading, our external appearances. Some of us spend money and time on altering our internal attributes. Both are important, aren't they?
"There is this story about a man walking down a street. He was approached by a panhandler. "Any spare change sir?" - The man replied, "Change comes from within." Yes, change does come from within. It begins by fine-tuning the core beliefs. To use a computer analogy, it is a disk clean, then a defrag.
"In my book, I devote a whole chapter to hypnosis. In this article, I'd like to discuss self-hypnosis. Of all the workshops that I conduct, training people how to do self-hypnosis has got to be my favorite. I love to empower folks to set a goal, and then take that goal into their trance. The feedback I receive is very satisfying.
"I want to share some of the points that we cover in this workshop. I want to convince you that you have the power within. Change is simply bringing back your true essence by stripping away the baggage that has been attached through negative imprinting, and reinforced by subsequent limited thinking.
"Our core beliefs are not all conscious. Day in and day out, we make decisions based, not only on facts, but on our perceptions and biases. Most of these subconscious filters were set before we were seven years old. Why would they still be there? Probably because the subconscious has never been given alternative instructions. That's where hypnosis comes in. Hypnosis is simply the technique to bypass the critical faculty that blocks access to the subconscious mind.
"When I first began to practice hypnotherapy, I realized that, aside from smoking and weight challenges, most people came to me for stress, career, relationship, and sleep difficulties. In order to help people beyond my local practice, I produced four self-hypnosis audio CDs.
"If you would like to experience a complimentary sample, and if you use MS-Internet Explorer, then grab your headphones. http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?D1zt0q2FB0iFZIh7YHs_BQ"
~~~
Because I have read his book and knew how powerful it is, I clicked on that link and listened. Do it. It's wonderful. I'm buying his tapes for Christmas and birthday presents for my friends and family.
Before I heard Brian's tape I had been "going to Alpha level" every day with the Silva Ultramind ESP System from Learning Strategies.com. Now, I'm a level headed Yankee from Boston who never even heard of ESP. I'm not looking for that. But relaxing to the point where my brain functions on alpha waves is very healthy. You can do that with any kind of self-hypnosis.
Our conscious brains operate mainly on Beta waves when we are awake. Dr. Robert Anthony writes, "To look at a situation and evaluate the information based on the conscious mind alone is to look at the effect instead of the cause. This makes us value judge both ourselves and others. And evaluate what we see, hear and feel as if it were, indeed, he truth."
Read that again. Do you understand it? I sure struggled with it in Beta mind. From Alpha I believe he means that the laws of physics are the cause, such as the law of gravity and the law of attraction. We cannot see, hear or feel these laws.
Here's a poem that came out of all this alpha-izing:
Brain Waves by Evelyn Cole
Open the book of Alpha where your mind breathes through the pages at the speed of light
that feels slower than the pace of wait.
Go where your feet float and your cells dance to an old song from your DNA, one you barely remember.
Then, when you return to Beta, everything seems so easy.
Audio discs make self-hypnosis easy. I have used Centerpointe's to great advantage. Like Brian's, two voices come at you, one in each ear at different frequencies. Silva's discs have a marvelous tapping sound.
When you combine writing to discover your subconscious mind, as in Brainsweep, with hypnotic suggestion to reprogram it, there's nothing in this world you can't change if you want to.
Because I have used audio discs for self-hypnosis, I have successfully upgraded the programming in my subconscious mind in several areas. I want to spread the word.
Brian Walsh, author of "Unleash your Brilliance" writes, "Some of us spend money and time on maintaining, or even upgrading, our external appearances. Some of us spend money and time on altering our internal attributes. Both are important, aren't they?
"There is this story about a man walking down a street. He was approached by a panhandler. "Any spare change sir?" - The man replied, "Change comes from within." Yes, change does come from within. It begins by fine-tuning the core beliefs. To use a computer analogy, it is a disk clean, then a defrag.
"In my book, I devote a whole chapter to hypnosis. In this article, I'd like to discuss self-hypnosis. Of all the workshops that I conduct, training people how to do self-hypnosis has got to be my favorite. I love to empower folks to set a goal, and then take that goal into their trance. The feedback I receive is very satisfying.
"I want to share some of the points that we cover in this workshop. I want to convince you that you have the power within. Change is simply bringing back your true essence by stripping away the baggage that has been attached through negative imprinting, and reinforced by subsequent limited thinking.
"Our core beliefs are not all conscious. Day in and day out, we make decisions based, not only on facts, but on our perceptions and biases. Most of these subconscious filters were set before we were seven years old. Why would they still be there? Probably because the subconscious has never been given alternative instructions. That's where hypnosis comes in. Hypnosis is simply the technique to bypass the critical faculty that blocks access to the subconscious mind.
"When I first began to practice hypnotherapy, I realized that, aside from smoking and weight challenges, most people came to me for stress, career, relationship, and sleep difficulties. In order to help people beyond my local practice, I produced four self-hypnosis audio CDs.
"If you would like to experience a complimentary sample, and if you use MS-Internet Explorer, then grab your headphones. http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?D1zt0q2FB0iFZIh7YHs_BQ"
~~~
Because I have read his book and knew how powerful it is, I clicked on that link and listened. Do it. It's wonderful. I'm buying his tapes for Christmas and birthday presents for my friends and family.
Before I heard Brian's tape I had been "going to Alpha level" every day with the Silva Ultramind ESP System from Learning Strategies.com. Now, I'm a level headed Yankee from Boston who never even heard of ESP. I'm not looking for that. But relaxing to the point where my brain functions on alpha waves is very healthy. You can do that with any kind of self-hypnosis.
Our conscious brains operate mainly on Beta waves when we are awake. Dr. Robert Anthony writes, "To look at a situation and evaluate the information based on the conscious mind alone is to look at the effect instead of the cause. This makes us value judge both ourselves and others. And evaluate what we see, hear and feel as if it were, indeed, he truth."
Read that again. Do you understand it? I sure struggled with it in Beta mind. From Alpha I believe he means that the laws of physics are the cause, such as the law of gravity and the law of attraction. We cannot see, hear or feel these laws.
Here's a poem that came out of all this alpha-izing:
Brain Waves by Evelyn Cole
Open the book of Alpha where your mind breathes through the pages at the speed of light
that feels slower than the pace of wait.
Go where your feet float and your cells dance to an old song from your DNA, one you barely remember.
Then, when you return to Beta, everything seems so easy.
Audio discs make self-hypnosis easy. I have used Centerpointe's to great advantage. Like Brian's, two voices come at you, one in each ear at different frequencies. Silva's discs have a marvelous tapping sound.
When you combine writing to discover your subconscious mind, as in Brainsweep, with hypnotic suggestion to reprogram it, there's nothing in this world you can't change if you want to.
Minggu, 14 Februari 2010
A Better You: Your 7 days program to self-improvement
"A Better You" Your 7 days program to self-improvement
I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. I suppose we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.
There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self.
So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week.
1. Know your purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction - hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time.
This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.
2. Know your values
What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2005 - check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn't align with any of your top five values - you may want to reconsider it or revise it.
The number shouldn't discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dreamed of.
3. Know your needs
Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it's too late!
4. Know your passions
You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who has inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.
5. Live from the inside out
Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it's hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. In my case I often just sit in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There's sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.
6. Honor your strengths
What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three - if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.
7. Serve others
When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit - your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.
Find more self-improvement related info and similar program at http://www.selfimprovement.thegreat.info
Self-improvement is indeed one type of work that is worth it. It shouldn't always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.
I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. I suppose we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.
There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self.
So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week.
1. Know your purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction - hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time.
This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.
2. Know your values
What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2005 - check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn't align with any of your top five values - you may want to reconsider it or revise it.
The number shouldn't discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dreamed of.
3. Know your needs
Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it's too late!
4. Know your passions
You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who has inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.
5. Live from the inside out
Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it's hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. In my case I often just sit in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There's sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.
6. Honor your strengths
What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three - if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.
7. Serve others
When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit - your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.
Find more self-improvement related info and similar program at http://www.selfimprovement.thegreat.info
Self-improvement is indeed one type of work that is worth it. It shouldn't always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.
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