Personal Development Archives

June 24, 2011July 9, 2011

Playing in Traffic: Speed Demons

Anyone who has driven a vehicle has encountered a driver who has a touch of road rage or is just highly impatient. These are the people who change lanes repeatedly and for no apparent reason. They try to blow through every yellow light they can. They follow dangerously close, hoping you’ll move out of their way. They seem to have no earthly idea that there are actual legal speed limits posted along the side of the road.

You, on the other hand, cruise along patiently (unless you are the speed demon). You may exceed the speed limit, but only by a bit and you don’t swerve in and out of traffic like a maniac. You know your destination isn’t going anywhere. So, in all that dodging, speeding, switching, changing, and endangering that these speed demons are doing, what always happens? When you pull up to the next red light, or the one after that, guess who is sitting right next to you?

You don’t have to always be doing something to get what you want out of life. You don’t have to always be rushing around like a chicken with your head cut off tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, developing, marketing, vlogging, parenting, downloading, uploading, meeting, greeting, and checking in so that you can reach your goals. Notice, I’m not saying you never have to do things, but most of us are just doing too much to actually be productive.

Your creative mind, that magic piece of genius where the good ideas come from, cannot operate if you are never idle. John Cleese, Brian Eno, and others agree that being idle is essential. Most people might be paying the bills and probably feel like they are getting the job done, but they are merely running in place. While you are actively doing things, your genius is on hold.

So, go sit your ass down somewhere and chill out. Let your mind be at ease. While you relax, that spark of genius grows, new ideas form, the things you really want move closer to you. Stop speeding, kick back, and enjoy the scenery.

I leave you with a quote from The Matrix:

Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I’m trying to tell you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.

March 20, 2011

Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule. #amazing and Powerfully Simple

Benjamin Franklin’s Daily Schedule. #amazing – Mona’s Posterous.

March 19, 2011March 3, 2018

Leads are Unproductive and a Waste of Time

Business folks put a lot of focus on leads and sales. Sales are important, that’s how you make money, but leads are usually pointless. Think about all the methods you’ve used to generate leads. They probably worked great for creating a list of random names and contact info, but how many sales did they lead you to?

Leads don’t mean sales. What you need are fans. Fans will buy whatever you put out just because it’s you. They think you are the best artist, writer, brand, blogger, leader, and software developer on the planet. Fans mean sales. When you need venture capital on your developing company, click this site for more information.

Instead of following the mantra that sales and marketing is a numbers game, try becoming valuable and visible. Instead of Always Be Closing, how about always be informative? Always be helpful? Always be real and keep it 100? (that’s “one hunnit”, for the uninitiated)

When you work to make yourself an asset instead of just an ass, people will seek you out. Instead of you asking for the sale, you may find them asking to be sold.

March 7, 2011May 26, 2011

I’ve been a super hero all my life

I’ve been a super hero all my life. It’s surprisingly easy. Super heroes in the comics and cartoons can take a bullet to the chest, crawl on the ceiling, fly. In reality, it’s not that hard. All you have to be able to do is something most others can’t. When we were young, my brother and I spent hours learning gymnastics from library books. A few years later, we could re-enact scenes from Power Rangers. We took out bumps and bruises. I think I almost broke my neck once trying a double-tuck, but everyone around us thought we were special because we could do things they had probably never seen their peers do.

Growing up, I got labelled the tech guy. If there was a problem involving technology, I’m the one who was called on to solve it. I should have thought to start charging early in life, I’d be rich by now. It’s not that I have some special tech training, I just know how to read a manual. Most people just don’t take the time. Of course, my interest in technology helps, but it doesn’t make me special. Of course, to many people, the fact that I can instantly solve their tech problems makes me a super hero.

A few years ago, I decided I was going to start working out. One of my primary goals was to be able to lift my oldest son above my head and put him on the top bunk. I quickly surpassed that goal and really got into the whole strength training and bodybuilding thing. Since then, I’ve moved twice and amazed my family with what I could move alone. My son is 8 and I could probably throw him across the room if I felt like it. The other day, I lifted the kids’ beds up with one hand so they could clean up underneath. They were absolutely amazed. I take every opportunity to show my kids something awesome to make sure they don’t forget their dad is a super hero.

The moral of the story is that it doesn’t take much for people to think you’re a super hero. It doesn’t take much for people to look to you as a leader or authority. You only need to know how to do one thing someone else can’t do. You only need to know one thing someone else doesn’t know. That automatically makes you an asset. Your personal development is key and you should enrich yourself on a daily basis, but don’t think that you need to know or be able to do everything before you can help others.

So, what are your super powers? What powers are you developing?

February 8, 2010March 19, 2018

Thinking Bigger: Living in Your New House

Image via Wikipedia

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.

Many people have developed a culture of thinking small. We lament about stuff we can’t afford. We talk about how broke we are. We make jokes about how messed up our credit is and we would never be able to do something like buy the car of our dreams or purchase a house. Thinking in this way is a downward spiral, a race to the bottom. Even when you’re joking, thinking negative brings you negativity.

One example of thinking bigger can be found in the concept of buying a home. It seems like such a huge and difficult thing to do, especially if you’re not confident in your credit history or feel like you don’t make enough money. Just as with anything else in life, though, you won’t know unless you try.

“Not bothering to try is the same as failing, except that you don’t learn anything from it.”

With the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits, this is even more incentive to step out and try something you didn’t think was possible. This federal income tax credit has been extended and expanded to include homeowners who wish to “move on” after 5 years of living in their current property, as well as first-time homebuyers. If you have one of these properties, make sure you get covered by property and casualty insurance so they can cover you just in case of any disasters or damages caused by other people. If you end up finding a broker, make sure they use this p&c software.

“Live in your new house mentally until it takes form around you physically” –Wallace D. Wattles

If you make less than $125,000 as an individual or $225,000 as a family or have lived in your current home consecutively for 5 of the last 8 years, you are eligible to receive a tax credit ranging from $6,500 to $8,000. To say it a different way, the federal government wants to pay you thousands of dollars for getting a new house and stimulating the economy. You have to act now as there may not be another extension. You need a written, binding contract by April 30, 2010 (close by June 30, 2010.)

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” –Les Brown

Start thinking bigger and stop sabotaging your own success before you ever get started.

January 28, 2010March 15, 2018

How to Reverse Your Polarity

Whatever things you hold onto in your thoughts will be the things you get out of life. I’m talking about your real thoughts, the ones in your subconscious, not the ones in your head as you look at your reflection and chant “I am somebody.”

Following from that, there is a serious problem with the way most of us think. Instead of thinking about what’s positive in our lives, we focus on everything that’s negative. Thinking about these negative things will, eventually, bring them into your life. Of course, this isn’t true of all of your thoughts, just the ones you focus on the most.

I’m sure this is some kind of survival mechanism, always looking out for danger and thinking about how to avoid it but, this is completely unnecessary in the world we live in now. For some people, it borders on paranoia.

For instance, some people spend a lot of time thinking about sickness. Some of them have even been diagnosed with stuff, helping to keep the thought of SICK at the forefront of their minds. Every time they don’t feel 100%, the thought of some ailment or another is amplified in their mind, bringing about the very thing they dread.

Do you know parents who are over-protective of their kids?

The children can’t play without a close watchful eye, they can’t leave the yard, they’re constantly admonished about this or that. Get down from there! Be careful! Slow down! You’ll put your eye out! A constant barrage of verbal warnings fueled by a mind riddled with doubt about their child’s safety.

We have it backwards, folks. If we keep focusing on what we don’t want, it’s exactly what we’ll get. The trick is to reverse your polarity. Any time you find yourself focusing on the negative, flip it to the positive:

Nobody wants to see their kids hurt. The next time you find yourself stressing about it, focus instead on how well they’re developing. How fearless they are. How fast they can move. How agile they are.
We have an extensive list of https://tranquilme.com/apply/, from Swedish massage and trigger point release to lymph drainage, all designed to address concerns from acute yet straightforward issues to complex and chronic conditions,

The next time you’re feeling slightly off, realize that it’s probably no big deal. Your reality is health, as that is the way we spend most of our lives. I’m not saying you shouldn’t get certain things checked out by a professional, but you shouldn’t feel that every little thing is the beginning of the end.

In a more general sense, you have to catch yourself when you see that you’re dwelling on potential failure of any kind. Refocus on your goals, the things you actually want your life to be, and don’t be afraid to take those actions that will bring those things to you.

Can you reverse your polarity?

October 17, 2009

Do You Act Different When the Boss is Around?

ChimpSimp

I have had many different types of jobs in many different fields, but there is one thing that remained consistent from job to job. The manager always acted all brand new when his boss showed up.

Suddenly, procedures we had been following at the managers request were “wrong” and the manager admonished us for doing things that way. Suddenly, the manager was deeply concerned about the fine details of the business. Suddenly, we weren’t moving fast enough, nothing was clean enough, we weren’t smiling hard enough or greeting customers enthusiastically enough.

Every time I see this, it makes me nauseous. A manager is supposed to be a leader. A leader who does things half-assed until the Boss comes around is no leader at all. They should be setting an example for their team to follow at all times. So much so, that their team follows their exemplary lead even when they aren’t around.

So, I ask you, do you act different when the boss is around, or do you uphold the same high standards and encourage your co-workers to do so even when the boss is away?

October 15, 2009October 15, 2009

15 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Stop Climate Change

Stopping global climate change when it comes to the individual simply boils down to going green. Any actions you can take that help prevent greenhouse gas emissions, physical waste, and wasted energy will help. Going green is really not as annoying as you might think and you don’t have to take things overboard to make a difference. Here are 15 things you can do immediately to go a little green and help fight climate change:

1. Shave some points of your thermostat.

Set your thermostat a few degrees colder in winter and a few degrees warmer in summer. You probably won’t notice the difference, but you’ll save money and reduce energy consumption.

2. Unplug your appliances when not in use.

These days, off doesn’t really mean off. Standby mode wastes energy.

3. Switch your laptop from using Standby mode to just Hibernate.

Again, standby mode still wastes energy. Hibernate might take a few extra seconds to recover from, but it’s worth it.

4. Get a new monitor.

If you’re still using big hot and heavy CRT monitors, step into the new millennium and get yourself an LCD. How often do you get to buy new stuff and save mother earth at the same time?

5. Work from home.

Not only do people who work from home get more work done on average, but you’ll be saving energy and avoiding the stress of a commute. Plus, you’ll avoid needless interruptions from your co-workers.

6. Kill paper bills and junk mail.

There are very few instances where you can’t get your bill in electronic format and save paper. No, you don’t actually need a paper copy. They’re just taking up space and killing trees.

7. Stop drinking bottled water.

This is a pet peeve of mine. The entire bottled water industry is a scam in plain site. Get yourself a water filter for your home and buy a reusable aluminum bottle to carry around with you.

8. Maintain your computer.

If you keep your computer maintained, up-to-date, and purring like a kitten, it will last longer. The longer you can hold onto the same computer, the more you can help the environment.

9. Borrow stuff instead of buying it.

I know many that read this blog are book hoarders, but are you really going to ever read that new Stephen King again? Even if you are, why not just borrow it from your local library when the mood strikes? It’s great to own stuff, but it saves the environment if you just borrow stuff instead.

10. Turn off the coffee maker.

Nobody is going to drink that last sip of coffee left in the pot, so keeping the warmer on is just wasting energy. Not only that, but you could end up ruining a perfectly good carafe.

11. Turn off those lights.

Instead of relying on lamps and bulbs, open your blinds and curtains. Take advantage of natural lighting. It saves energy, reduces waste, and makes you a happier person (true story).

12. Park the car.

Avoid the drive-thru like the plague. The EPA estimates that if one million drivers turned off their cars, rather than idled unnecessarily, for just two minutes per week for an entire year, pollutants would be reduced by more than 750 tons.

13. Be a vegetarian.

Not all the time, but even having one meal per week where you don’t include any meat can have a positive effect. Meat consumption is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. While this will not effect my love for steak, it might be nice to dig into some veggies every once in a while.

14. Shorten your shower.

Either that or take a cold one. Using hot water wastes a lot of energy, so take the opportunity to save it whenever you can. It doesn’t really take that long to wash yourself, does it?

15. Wash your clothes in cold water.

Not only will this prevent your colors from running, but it also helps save hot water and there are even detergents that work better specifically in cold water.

February 20, 2009March 23, 2018

What Does My Workout Have To Do With Your Future?

A complete weight training workout can be perf... — Image via Wikipedia

I started lifting weights at the end of 2007. Since I was about a buck thirty-five soaking wet, I started off doing basic strength training programs using the best rowing machine. The idea is that you have to build a foundation before you start fine-tuning your physique. To be more specific, you can’t work on defining your chest and abs if you have no chest and abs.

Continue reading “What Does My Workout Have To Do With Your Future?”

January 15, 2009May 15, 2018

Is Your Pride Sabotaging Your Success?

: Image via Wikipedia

Sometime last year, I was accidentally listening to the radio. They were talking about a huge job fair here in GA somewhere. Businesses from the airport were featured and the station was interviewing a few people about how things were going. One female complained that there were only fast food jobs there. The conversation went something like this:

Continue reading “Is Your Pride Sabotaging Your Success?”

August 17, 2008February 26, 2011

There is No Road to Success

Do you believe that there is a road to success?

Some hidden pathway that will take you directly to your lifetime goals?

I have heard this term used all the time. I believe I have even used it on this very blog. But, now that I think about it, it just can’t be true. A simple road implies that:

Someone has already paved or at least cleared it
It has been traveled before
There are probably no obstacles

Now, I don’t know about you, but life is not simple and easy. Life requires hard work if you plan to get anything you desire. I have never known of anyone who found this road to success. So what gives?

You have to go through some stuff, to get to some stuff

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Did you go through High School to get to College?
Maybe through Med school to become a Doctor
Went through a few bad relationships before you found someone who actually treated you right?
Did you suffer through years of turmoil before you could actually escape your parents?
Maybe you even went through countless jobs before figuring out your true calling

Didn’t you click a link or go through an RSS reader to get to this post?

The point is, you have to pave your own way. No one else can do it for you because no one else is you and no one else shares the same destination as you. Your individuality means that, not only is your destination different, but your path diverges as well.

So how can your road to success already exist?

The struggles you are going through now are like the vines and overgrowth of the jungle. Keep pressing on, cutting through and clearing your path. Huge unseen beasts growl in the distance and sometimes you feel like you just want to sit down and close your eyes. Maybe it will all just go away.

Many people stop and even turn back. You probably know some of them. They are getting nowhere fast and are quite unhappy about it. They are lost.

Smash through any obstacles you meet and eviscerate any low beast that comes near. Be persistent and don’t lose your determination. You have been given everything you need to succeed and, eventually, you break through into the Sunlight.

July 6, 2008February 26, 2011

A Leader Doesn’t Care What You Think

Leaders of the pack Do you find yourself worrying about how others perceive you? Are you often embarrassed or anxious about others judging you? If so, you definitely have some work to do. Your success in life is contingent on your ability to ignore others and focus on “doing you.”

In her post, What People Think of Me is None of My Business, Samsara offers details on why some people tend to worry so much about the opinions of others. She also offers various methods you can apply to avoid this type of thinking.

What does this really have to do with being successful? If you are focused on what others think about you, that small voice of intuition that nudges you toward your goals may be ignored. You will take actions based on what others expect of you rather than what you feel is right. You have just become a follower. Congratulations! I’ll be taking your leadership badge now. Get back in line, please.

A leader leads. They move on, unerringly, toward their goal. They don’t look back to see if anyone is coming with them or to conduct a poll on what to do next. A leader is too busy achieving things and covering new ground to worry about what people think of them.

Do you care what others think?

June 26, 2008February 26, 2011

Stop Trying To Hit Me and HIT ME!

The battle rages. Each exchange of fists and kicks more vicious than the last. They attack and defend and defend and attack. Relentlessly searching for an opening or weakness. Suddenly, one pauses and screams, “Stop trying to hit me and HIT ME!” He is not so much the Master as he is the Motivator. He wants his pupil to give all that he has and hold nothing back. To realize that he can accomplish much more than he thinks he can.

Most of you will recognize this as a scene from The Matrix. Morpheus and Neo fight in a training simulator and Morpheus tries to push Neo to another level, believing that Neo is “The One.” This is not simply a scene from a movie, though. It is a battle that we all fight within ourselves. Read these questions carefully:

Do you find yourself getting in your own way?
Do you allow your fear to stop you before you start?
Do you doubt your abilities?

Well? Do you? The easiest way to fail is to never try. It’s even acceptable in our society to some extent. But, we all have the power to become “The One.” We all have the ability to take control of our thoughts, turn them to the positive side, and ignore fear and doubt. It’s a simple mental exercise of will. You simply have to realize truth…there is no spoon.

Nike probably has one of the most successful ad slogans: “Just Do It.”
One of the reasons it works so well is because it tugs at something
deep inside of all of us. That action-driven, fearless and confident
part of us that yearns to come out and push us inevitably to success. Just do it! Take action!

You haven’t fallen short of your goals because you are a failure. You have fallen short because you quit before you were ahead. You have the talent and the skills. You have all the knowledge you need. Stop stalling and making excuses. There is nothing stopping you but you.

From this day forward, you have to seize opportunity and run with it until you feel like your lungs are filled with molten lava and the back of your throat tastes like you’ve been sucking on pennies. Learn to take action and never let another opportunity pass you by.

I can recall several occasions where I could have taken a relatively simple action and changed the course of my life ever-so-slightly. Maybe it was someone I should have called back, or some project I chose not to be a part of. All because I was afraid of what might happen. I stood bathed in the glow of the oncoming headlights of FAIL and I froze.

The worst thing you can ever do is not try. If you try and you fail, it’s a learning experience. You can look back fondly on failures once they have taken you to your success. If you fail and you never tried, it will haunt you forever.

May 20, 2008February 26, 2011

So Much For Leadership From My Upline

Last night I decide to jump on a conference call and get some leadership and direction from those higher up in one of my companies. It’s very important to stay connected with those who are successful because, well, it actually does tend to rub off.

I’m expecting to gain some knowledge from this call. Maybe a nugget of wisdom to help me to press on with my business. Something inspirational that I can pass down to my team.

The guest speaker was some motivational-speaker-guy that became a millionaire at age 26. He wasn’t very eloquent, isn’t a rep in my company, and didn’t really say anything important. He just kinda spouted a bunch of things you would expect to hear from your average motivational speaker, nothing exciting or ground-breaking. I was a little disappointed.

So, the call is almost completed and the guy is starting to wrap it up when he says that he wants to do something “special” for the people that are on the call. My ears prick up because I thought I had simply wasted 30-minutes of my life that could have been spent watching the Season Finale of House.

He says that he is going to give us his CD set at a huge discount. A set that usually sells for around $250 and he is going to give it to us for…get this: Sixty-Seven Dollars!

Imagine my excitement! I can buy this guy’s entire CD set for just $67?! That’s obviously something I gotta act on right now! Of course, that’s what I would be thinking if I was a network-marketing NOOB.

This is not the first time that my upline has tried to sell me and I really don’t appreciate it. Why bring some guy in that is not even in my company to motivate me? Why have this guy that’s not in my company and not even a good speaker try to sell me his crap? Why do this to me on a regular basis? Why do I feel like the financial leaders in the company are trying to gang-bang me?

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t trust anyone in this business. Like I said, it’s necessary to network with others in order to succeed, but that doesn’t mean you have to trust and believe everything they say. Watch their actions over time. It’s normal for your upline to recommend resources for you to learn from, but if it starts to seem like they are just milking you for all your worth….you are probably right.

Category: Personal Development