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Goal Setting for Success! Join Brian Tracy’s 30-Day Goals Challenge
Apr 24th
If you follow my work, you probably already know the success I’ve experienced by helping millions of people to set and achieve goals.
The one thing I’ve discovered in over 30 years of researching success patterns is that a person of average intelligence who has the ability set clear goals, and has the discipline to maintain a goal-achieving mindset is 90% more likely to succeed than a genius without a plan.
What most people don’t realize is that creating an effective, logical plan is absolutely crucial to achieve goals for success. There are specific, proven steps that, if followed, work everywhere, for everyone, in virtually every country, no matter what your education, experience, or background may be when you begin.
My personal mission statement has always been “To help people achieve their goals faster and easier than ever before.” That being said, I’ve just created a brand-new goal setting challenge that includes some of my best, time-tested strategies to help you achieve your goals in a fun, inspiring way. Oh, and you could be rewarded with some really great prizes, too.
My 30-Day Goals Challenge is a new opportunity to hone your goal achievement skills and stay motivated with a healthy, competitive fire that will keep you going until the end!
Here’s how the contest works:
-Join the contest and fill out a short questionnaire–so that we can create your unique challenge page.
-Set a realistic 30-day goal – one that you can reasonably expect to achieve at the end of the 30-day contest period.
-Each week, you’ll track and submit your progress. You can document and submit your progress in 3 different ways: Blog post, photo, or video – or any combination of the 3. At least one submission per week is required in order to remain eligible to win the challenge and challenge prizes.
-At the end of each week, the progress you submit will be added to your personal challenge page.
-Finally, at the end of the 30-Day Goals Challenge, 2 winners will be selected. One will be voted on by the challenge participants, and the other will be selected by my team and me.
This entirely FREE challenge is designed to show you that by following a proven goal setting system and by staying accountable, you CAN achieve goals you never thought were possible. Even more importantly, you can apply this same formula to any goal you want to achieve in life, at any time.
Once you begin to apply the principles you learn throughout the contest, you’ll:
-Become a more positive, powerful, and effective person.
-Build a higher level of self-esteem and self-confidence.
-Experience a tremendous sense of personal control and direction.
-Apply yourself with more energy and enthusiasm than ever before.
-Accomplish more in a few weeks than the average person might accomplish in several years.
…And the list goes on!
So if you’re ready to take on the challenge of a lifetime, with benefits that can last forever, then NOW is the time!
Because as I mentioned before, when you participate in this challenge, you are virtually guaranteed to succeed.
This is your chance to sign up—so don’t miss it! Join me for the 30 Day Goals Challenge and sign up HERE!
Please share this post on goal setting and encourage your friends and family to sign up for the 30 Day Goals Challenge! Remember, the sooner you try, the sooner you will triumph!
Topics included in this article include
Brian Tracy’s 30 Day Goals Challenge
Goal Setting
Achieve Goals
Stay Motivated
How to Multitask and Effectively Plan a Project
Mar 12th
All of life is a series of projects. A project is a complex task. It is often called a multitask job. This type of job requires the coordination of efforts of several people, each of whom is responsible for a part of the job, with every part of the job being necessary for successful completion. Your ability to handle these multitask jobs is a critical skill for success. All achievements of consequence are complex, and they involve the cooperation of many people.
The Key Management Skill
A study by Stanford University of the qualities that companies look for in promoting people into the position of chief executive officer concluded that the ability to put together a team to accomplish a task was the single most important identifiable quality of an executive who was destined for the fast track in his/her career. Your ability to put together teams to do multitask jobs, ability to complete complex projects, and visible qualities of leadership will determine the course of your career as much as any other factor. It will enable you to multiply yourself times the talents and efforts of others, and accomplish vastly more than you could do on your own.
A Learnable Skill
Project management is a learnable skill, like riding a bicycle. It can be divided into a series of steps, each of which you can master, one at a time. In managing any project, you begin by defining the ideal desired result of the project. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? What will the project look like if it is a complete success? Start by defining a successful completion of the project, the ideal desired result.
Start at the Beginning
Once you are clear about your desired result, you then start from the beginning. Determine what you are going to have to do to get from where you are to the completion of this project, on schedule and on budget. Determine a specific deadline or target to aim at. Make sure that it is realistic and achievable.
Assemble the Team
Bring together all the people whose contributions will be necessary for the success of this project. Sometimes you need to assemble a team before you can even decide upon the ideal result and the schedule. Remember that people are everything. Take ample time to think carefully about the people who are going to be the team members.
Share the Ownership
Instill ownership of the project in the team members by sharing the job with them. There is a direct relationship between how much a person feels a sense of ownership for the job and how committed he is to making the project a success. One of the key jobs of management and leadership is to instill this feeling of ownership in each member of the team, so that each person feels personally responsible for the accomplishment of the overall project. You accomplish this by discussing every detail of the project with the people who are expected to carry it out.
Develop a Shared Vision
A shared vision is an ideal future picture of success that everyone buys into. How do you develop a shared vision? You sit down and work with the team to answer the question, “What are we trying to accomplish?” You encourage everyone to contribute, visualize, and to imagine the ideal outcome or desired result of the project. Once this vision is clear and shared by everyone, you move on to the development of “shared plans” to achieve the vision.
Set Schedules and Deadlines
Once you have a shared vision and shared plans, and everyone knows exactly what is to be done and what the ideal results will look like, the next step is for you to set a deadline for project completion based on the consensus of your team.
Create a List
Create a to-do list and write down every task, function, and activity that must be completed, right down to the smallest job. Make it easier for yourself-get the project finished on time and break the project down into individual jobs and tasks as much as you can.
Organize the Project
Organize the different parts of the project in two ways: sequential tasks and parallel tasks. You organize by sequence when you determine which jobs must be done before other jobs can be done, with each task in order. Sequential organization is necessary where a particular task requires that another task be completed before it can be started. In almost every case, before you do anything, you have to do something else first. Organize the tasks sequentially with a logical process of activities from beginning through to the end of the project.
The second way to organize the tasks is through parallel activities. Parallel activities exist when more than one task can be done at the same time. Two or more people can be working on two or three different tasks independently of each other.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment and share with your friends!
Finding Work: 4 Ways to Get a Job
Mar 6th
To earn what you are really worth, you have to be in the right job in the first place. Sometimes you could earn more just by walking across the street and getting a new job if your special talents and skills could be used to get more valuable results for a different employer.
This is a challenging time in human history to be out in the job market and working to survive and thrive. However, in spite of problems in the economy, there are countless opportunities and possibilities for talented people to find or create great jobs and earn more than they ever have before.
Do Your Homework
When you are looking for the job you want, you engage in the same activities that a sales professional would. The three activities essential to sales success are prospecting, presenting, and following up.
Your job is to prospect thoroughly and develop the greatest number of leads that you possibly can. Then, you meet with and make presentations to as many prospective employers as possible. Third, you follow up with the very best opportunities until you get the job you want.
One of the most important keys to success in selling today is what is called pre-call research. Do your homework. Find out everything that you possibly can about the individual, the organization, and the industry, before you call on anyone the first time.
Fortunately, with the Internet you can do more and better research in a few minutes than has ever before been possible in human history. And you cannot imagine how impressive it is when a job candidate calls on a person with a file full of information on that individual and his or her organization and industry. It gives you a critical edge in the final decision. This critical edge can open a door for you that can change the entire direction of your life.
Internet Job Search
Getting a job on the Internet is not easy. It is a skill that you must learn through practice. You start by visiting the main Internet job sites that you see advertised all around you. If you don’t know where to start, go to a search engine such as Craigslist, Aol, or Bing and go to the employment section. Examine the various job categories and then read the job description for positions that are being offered.
Get as much information as you possibly can about the various job sites. Some Internet job sites specialize in one kind of employee, and some specialize in another. Some are local, and some are national. When you list on an Internet job site, your resume and your information become instantly available to potential employers nationwide.
There are many opportunities for you to post a brief description of your abilities and the job you are looking for at no charge. Some sites will charge you a placement fee, but these are usually worth it because they are much more aggressive in tracking potential employers to the site. Remember, you always get what you pay for in life.
There are also job career fairs held in every community every year. These are advertised in the newspaper and on the radio. You should visit these job fairs and talk to the various employers exhibiting there. Find out what they are looking for today and what they will be looking for in the future. Even if you are currently employed, keep sowing seeds everywhere you go so that you can create a rich harvest of employment in the future.
The more seeds you sow, the more likely you are to get the job you really want.
Look for the Names of Decision-Makers
Look for the names of key people in various companies and departments of companies. Especially look for the names of those who have been recently promoted. People who have been recently promoted often make immediate staff changes and create job opportunities for people who call.
Look for active, growing organizations that are announcing a new expansion or increased profitability. These companies are always looking for more good people. They offer lots of opportunities and they pay well.
Look for new product releases and the introductions of new services. Wherever a company is expanding its products or services, there are job opportunities to sell the product, distribute the product, service the product, install the product, and handle the administration and details associated with the product.
Whenever you see a company that is expanding and an executive who has been promoted, phone the company immediately, and tell the person you talk to that you are looking for a job in that industry and that this company is of interest to you. Ask the receptionist for the name of the person you should speak to. Arrange to go in and see the person and interview for a job. It is absolutely amazing how many great job opportunities you can uncover by simply taking action on the news and information all around you about the business and industry that you want to work in.
Sell Yourself Professionally
The job interview is really a sales call. You are in sales when you are looking for a job. You are going out to sell yourself to someone else. The type of job you get and the type of salary you command will be a measure of how well you have sold yourself at this critical point in your career.
Many people don’t like the idea of selling. They don’t like to see themselves as salespeople. Unfortunately, this is the type of attitude that leads to underachievement in life. The fact is that everyone who wants to sell his or her ideas or services to others is a salesperson. The only question is whether or not you are any good at it.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment and share with your friends!
Go With Your Gut: 3 Myths to Happiness
Feb 13th
Just as the natural physical state is health and vitality, the natural emotional state is peace and happiness. Whenever you experience a deviation from peace of mind and happiness, it’s an indication that there is something amiss. Something is wrong with what you are thinking, doing or saying. You’re an incredibly complex organism and your feelings of ease and dis-ease, happiness and unhappiness, can be triggered by a myriad of factors. But the bottom line is that your feeling of inner happiness is the very best indicator you could ever have to tell you what you should be doing more of and what you should be doing less of.
Unhappiness is to your life as pain is to your body. It’s sent as a messenger to tell you that what you’re doing is wrong for you. And it’s also sent to tell you that you’re on the right track.
There are many reasons why people don’t listen more closely to their feelings and especially, why many people are reluctant to use their own happiness as the standard by which to judge the events in their lives. I’ve studied this subject for many years and I think that there are three major myths about happiness that each of us has to some degree.
The 3 Myths About Happiness
The first myth about happiness is that it’s not legitimate or correct for you to put your happiness ahead of everyone else. Throughout my life, I’ve met people who’ve been very adamant about stating that happiness is something that you may or may not get from life, but it’s not a goal or objective by itself. These people say that it’s more important to make other people happy than to make yourself happy.
Of course, this is nonsense. Human beings are happiness-tropic organisms. Everything we do in life is oriented toward maintaining and increasing our level of happiness. We are psychologically constructed so that it’s impossible for us to be any other way without making ourselves mentally and emotionally ill. The fact is that you cannot give away to anyone else what you don’t have for yourself. Just as you cannot give money to the poor if you don’t have any, you can’t make someone else happy if you are yourself miserable. The very best way to assure the happiness of others is to be happy yourself and then to share it with them.
The second myth, closely tied to the first myth that happiness is not a legitimate aim, is the admonition that we’re here to serve others rather than ourselves. There are many poems and essays that repeat this main theme. They say that we’ve justified our life on this earth and we’ve made some other person happy on the way through. This is partially true and partially false. It’s partially true in that one of the most important things in life we do is to serve other people in some way. It’s through service to others that we achieve a sense of meaning and purpose in life. It’s only when we loose ourselves in doing something that we feel benefits someone more than ourselves that we experience transcendence, that we feel ourselves rising above the tedium of day-to-day activity. To paraphrase Robert Louis Stevenson, “Everybody makes their living by serving someone.” However, the key is to serve with joy and happiness. The answer to this myth is that, yes, we’re here to serve others, but we’re also here to achieve our own joy, satisfaction and fulfillment as a result. One of the requirements of high self esteem and confidence is the feeling we are making a contribution to the world that we are living in, that we are putting in more than we are taking out. So we serve others in order to be happier than we would be if we were not.
The third myth about happiness is that someone else’s definition of happiness is valid for you. Often, we feel a little uneasy if we’re not happy doing something that someone else thinks we should be happy at. Many people allow their parents to influence their choices of career and find themselves miserable as a result. They want to please their parents, they want to make them happy, but they’re unable to experience any joy doing what they’re doing.
The fact is that life, happiness, is very much like a smorgasbord. If 100 people went to a smorgasbord and each put food on their plates in the quantity and mix that each felt would be most pleasing to himself or herself, every single plate would be different. Even a husband and wife would go up to a smorgasbord and come back with plates that look completely different. Happiness is the same thing. It is composed of a great variety of ingredients, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Each person requires a particular combination of these ingredients in order to feel the very best about himself, or herself and life.
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you found you enjoyed it and found it helpful. Please share with your family and friends or leave a comment.
Motivational Leadership: Inspiring Greatness
Feb 9th
In life, it doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. Where are you going and how are you going to get there? Aside from what you want to accomplish, what kind of a person do you want to become as the result of all your work and effort? Men and women who achieve great things in life are invariably those who give a lot of thought to their own evolution and growth. They become exceptional people by design, not by accident. They are like master craftsmen, continually shaping and polishing their characters and personalities so that they evolve and grow into someone important and worthwhile. And so should you.
The highest goal you can have for yourself is to become a leader, to become an outstanding man or woman who is looked up to, admired and respected by the people around you.
Motivational leadership is the ability to uplift and inspire people to perform at their best. Personal leadership on the other hand, is the ability to motivate yourself to do the things, and be the kind of person, that make you into a motivational leader. Both are necessary for maximum performance. They are flip sides of the same coin.
Becoming a Role Model
The starting point of personal leadership, motivational leadership, is to begin seeing yourself as a role model, seeing yourself as an example to others. See yourself as a person who sets the standards that others follow. A key leadership characteristic is to set high standards of accountability for themselves and for their behaviors. They assume that others are watching them and then setting their own standards by what they do. They, in fact, lead by example, just exactly as though someone were following them around, secretly taking notes and photographs of their daily actions for others to see and act on.
Motivational leadership is based on the law of indirect effort. According to this law, most things in human life are achieved more easily by indirect means rather than by direct means. You more easily become a leader to others by demonstrating that you have the qualities of leadership, than you do by ordering others to follow your directions.
Leadership and Power
Instead of trying to get people to emulate you, you instead concentrate on living a life that is so admirable that others want to be like you without your saying a word. In business, for example, there are several kinds of power. Two of these are ascribed power and position power. Position power is the power that comes with a job title or a position in any organization. If you become a manager in a company, you automatically have certain powers and privileges that go along with your rank. You can order people about, and make certain decisions. You can be a leader whether anyone likes you or not.
Ascribed power is the power you attract to yourself by the kind of person you are. In every organization, there are people who are inordinately influential and looked up to by others, even though their positions may not be high up on the organizational chart. These are the men and women who are great leaders because of the quality of the people they have become, because of their characters and their personalities.
Perhaps the most powerful of motivational leaders is the person who practices what’s called, “servant leadership.” Confucius said, “He who would be master must be servant of all.” The person who sees himself or herself as a servant, and who does everything possible to help others to perform at their best is practicing the highest form of “servant leadership.”
Lead the Action
We have been led to believe, over the years, that leaders are those who stride boldly, exude power and confidence, give orders and make decisions for others to carry out. However, that’s old school. The leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans diligently and then builds consensus among all those necessary for achieving the goals. A leader does not try to do it by himself or herself. A leader is a person who gets things done by helping others to help themselves.
The mark of true leaders is that they lead the action. They are willing to go first. They set the example and act as the role model. They do what they expect others to do.
You become a motivational leader by motivating yourself. And you motivate yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming everything that you are capable of becoming. You motivate yourself by throwing your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion. You motivate others by continually looking for ways to help them to improve their lives and achieve their goals. You become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person that others want to get behind and support in every way. Your main job is to take complete control of your own personal evolution and become a leader in every area of your life. You could ask for nothing more, and you should settle for nothing less.
Team Development: 6 Steps to Effective Delegation
Feb 2nd
To achieve everything you are capable of achieving, and to be able to concentrate on those few tasks that can make the greatest contribution to your life and work, you must become excellent at delegation. Whether you are a boss or an employee, it is a universal key to success. You must be continually seeking ways to outsource, delegate and get other people to do things that pay you a lower hourly rate than you desire to earn.
There are several ways that you can become more effective at delegating and outsourcing, or hiring other people to do parts of your work so that you can do the parts of your job that pay the most.
When to Delegate
1. Instead of You?
Ask the question, “Who can do this job instead of you?” Remember, you have to delegate everything possible in order to have enough time to do those few things that are most important.
2. Better than You?
You should ask, “Who can do this job better than me?” One of the characteristics of effective managers and successful leaders is that they have the ability to find people who are superior to them in specific tasks. You should continually be looking for people who can do certain parts of your work better than you.
3. At a Lower Cost?
Evaluate the job and ask, “Who can do this job at a lower cost than me?” Many companies and individuals are finding that they can outsource major parts of their operations to companies who specialize in that area. Companies that specialize in a particular function can usually do the job cheaper and faster than a company that does that work as part of its other activities.
4. Can It Be Eliminated?
Ask yourself and others, “Can this activity be eliminated altogether?” What would happen if the job were not done at all? Many of the routinized tasks and activities in a company or business could be quite easily eliminated with no loss of productivity and great increases of ineffectiveness.
It is amazing how many activities go on in business and private life that could be quite easily discontinued completely, with no loss or inconvenience to anyone. Rooting out these opportunities for increased efficiency can dramatically increase sales and profitability for an organization or department.
Six Steps to Effective Delegation
To delegate effectively in your work with others, there are six steps that you can take. If you neglect any one of these steps, you run the risk of miscommunication, misunderstandings, demoralization and poor performance.
1. Match the Person to the Job
Match the person to the job. One of the great time wasters in the world of work is delegating the task to the wrong person. Often the task is delegated to a person who is not capable of doing it properly or getting it done on schedule.
The only accurate predictor of future performance is past performance. The rule is that you never delegate an important task to a person who has not performed that task satisfactorily in the past. It is unfair to expect a person who has not done a job before to perform at a sufficient level of quality when they are given the job for the first time.
2. Agree on what is to be Done
Once you have selected the right person for the job, take the time discuss the job with that person and agree upon what must be done. The more time you take to discuss and agree upon the end result or objective, and achieve absolute clarity, the faster the job will be done once the person starts on it.
3. Explain How the Job Should Be Done
Explain to the person your preferred approach or method of working. Explain how you would like to see the job done, and how you or someone else has done it successfully in the past.
4. Have Him Feed It Back
Ask the person to feed your instructions back to you in his or her own words. Have him or her explain to you what you have just explained and agreed upon. This is the only way that you can be sure that the other person actually understands the job or assignment that they have been delegated to accomplish.
5. Set a Deadline
Set a deadline and a schedule for completion of the task. At the same time, arrange for regular reporting and for periodic inspection. Invite feedback and questions if there are any delays or problems.
6. Manage By Exception
Manage by exception whenever possible. Managing by exception is a powerful time management tool that you can use to work more efficiently with other people.
If the job is on track, and on schedule, managing by exception means that the person does not have to report back to you. If you don’t hear from him, you can assume that everything is going well. The individual only has to report back to you when an exception occurs and there is a problem with getting the job done on time, to the agreed upon level of quality.
Thanks for reading this post. Please share and leave a comment if you enjoyed it and found it helpful!
Thoughts on Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)?
Jan 18th
I want to hear your thoughts about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Please leave your opinions in the comment box beneath this post.
Almost everyone is talking about it, making SOPA one of the top trending topics and creating an online rippling effect. I have come across a multitude of articles covering the internet censorship bill and think it’s an interesting subject to converse about. Please feel free to leave a comment with your feelings on the topic.
Big name companies and brands such as Nike, Sony, Walt Disney Company, and the NBA are in support of the act. Rupert Murdock, CEO of News Corp. has been using Twitter to show both his support for the bill and his opinion of some companies, such as Google, who oppose it.
On the opposition, some of the biggest websites and companies, such as Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit are protesting the bill with creative campaigns and participating in the SOPA blackout.
Here are some protest and SOPA blackout examples I found:
Google put a censor over its logo.
Wikipedia isn’t inaccessible. The message on the homepage reads:
“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.”
Reddit shut down entirely.
I want to know what you think.
Do you agree with and support SOPA? Do you disagree and oppose SOPA? What do you think about all the buzz around it?
Please leave your comments and opinions in the comment box below.
How to Let Go: 4 People You MUST Forgive
Jan 17th
There are four people you need to forgive if you are serious about changing your life and learning how to live in the now.
The first are your parents, living or dead. You must absolutely forgive them for every mistake they ever made in bringing you up. At the very least, you should be grateful to them for giving you life. They got you here. If you are happy to be alive, you can forgive them for everything else. Never complain about them again.
Many of my seminar participants have phoned or visited their parents and told them that they forgive them for everything. Often this simple act of courage and character has had a profound effect on their relationship with their mother or father. From that day onward, they have become good friends, which lasted the rest of their lives together.
On the other hand, by not forgiving your parents, you remain forever a child. You block your own chance to grow up and become a fully functioning adult. You continue to see yourself as a victim. Even worse, you keep your negative feelings of inferiority and anger alive. If your parents die without your having forgiven them, it can bother you for the rest of your life.
Close Personal Relationships
The second person or persons you must forgive are the people from your marriages or relationships that didn’t work out. These intimate relationships can be so intense, and so threatening to your feelings of self-esteem and self-worth, that you can be angry and unforgiving toward those people for years.
But you were at least partially responsible. Have the personal strength and integrity to say, “I am responsible,” and then forgive the other person and let him or her go. Say the words, “I forgive him/her for everything and I wish him/her well.” Each time you repeat this, the negative emotion attached to the memory will diminish. Soon it will be gone forever.
The Letter
Many of my graduates have found that “the letter” is the key to putting a bad relationship behind them forever. This is a powerful technique that can free you from feelings of anger and resentment almost instantly.
Here is how it works: You to sit down and write the other person a letter of forgiveness. It consists of three parts.
First you say, “I forgive you for everything you ever did that hurt me.”
Second, you write out a description or list of every single thing that you are still mad about. Some people write several pages in this part.
Third, you end the letter with the words, “I wish you well.”
You then take the letter to the mailbox and drop it in. At that moment, you will feel a huge sense of relief, and you will be free at last.
By the way, don’t worry about how the other person might react. That is not your concern. Your goal is to free yourself, to regain your peace of mind, and to get on with the wonderful life that lies ahead of you.
Clear Your Slate
The third person you must forgive is everyone else in your life who has ever hurt you in any way. Let them go. Forgive every boss, business partner, friend, crook or betrayer who has ever caused you grief of any kind. Clean the slate and forgive to forget. Wipe each of their names and images off by saying, “I forgive him/her for everything, and I wish him/her well.” Repeat this statement each time you think of the person or situation until the negative feelings are gone.
Set Yourself Free
The fourth and final person you have to forgive is yourself. You must absolutely forgive yourself for every silly, senseless, wicked, brainless, thoughtless or cruel thing you have ever done or said. Stop carrying these past mistakes around with you. That was then and this is now.
Think of it this way. When you did those things in the past that you still feel badly about, you were not the person you are today. At that time, you were a different person, younger and less experienced. You were not your true self. You were an immature version of the person you have become with experience. Stop beating yourself up for something that occurred in the past that you cannot change.
Just say, “I forgive myself for every mistake I ever made. I am a thoroughly good person and I am going to have a wonderful future.” Whenever you think of that event or situation, just repeat, “I forgive myself completely.” And then get on with your life. Focus on the future rather than the past and don’t look back. Look at where you are going rather than where you have been.
Finally, if you did something that hurt someone, and you still feel badly about it, you can go to that person, or write, and apologize. Tell the person you are sorry for what you did or said. Whatever his or her reaction, positive or negative, it doesn’t matter. The very act of repentance, of expressing regret, will set you free.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Please leave a comment or share with your friends below!
3 Easy Habits to a Healthy Lifestyle
Jan 9th
There has never been a time in human history where you can live longer and live better than you can today. Incredible advances in pharmaceuticals, medicine and healthcare enable people to overcome disease and illness and continue to thrive well into their 70s and 80s. Perhaps the largest growing demographic group in America today is people who are 90 and 100 years old, or more. Your job is to join this group and to be fit and healthy all the days of your life.
For almost the entire history of the human race, longevity was a matter of accident or coincidence. Today longevity is a matter of design and choice. You can actually decide today to enjoy superb levels of physical health, and by developing specific health habits, you can assure that you live longer and better than has been possible for any other generation in human history.
Choose to Be Healthy and Fit
The first habit for you to develop is the habit of achieving and maintaining your proper weight. More than 60% of Americans today are officially classified as “obese.” This means that they are more than 20% above their ideal weight, based on height and weight charts. Even worse, there are many millions who are officially classified as “morbidly obese.” This means that they are 40% and 50% above their ideal weights. They are in danger of dying from being so overweight.
Everything you are, and ever will be, is the result of your choices and decisions. If you want to change some aspect of your life, you have to make new choices and new decisions, and then you must discipline yourself to follow-through on your decisions.
Being overweight is very much a matter of choice. No one can eat for you but yourself. No one can put the food into your mouth for you. You only eat as the result of your own decisions and your own actions. Anyone who is overweight is in that condition because they have been unable to restrain themselves in the presence of food for a very long time.
The only way to achieve your proper weight is to develop the habit of eating less and exercising more each day and each week. But just as it takes you months and years to become overweight, it takes you many months to get rid of the weight once you make that decision.
It is not easy to lose weight. This is because you develop automatic habits of eating that are hard to break. You get into a rhythm of eating certain foods – morning, noon and night. You become accustomed to eating snacks between meals, and to overeating in the evening. It is not easy to break these habits, but it is definitely possible. This is your goal.
Eat the Right Foods
The second habit you need to develop for long life full of health and fitness is the habit of eating a proper diet. You have to develop the habit of eating the right foods, in the right proportions, at the right times.
Everyone knows that they should eat a more balanced diet, containing more fruits, vegetables and whole grain products. In addition to this basic principle, there are several things that you can do to modify your diet, and develop the habits of good nutrition, which will lead to a combination of weight loss and higher levels of energy and fitness.
In addition to eating a peak performance diet to achieve rapid weight loss and improved functioning, you should develop the habit of eliminating the “three white poisons” from your die, which are salt, sugar, and flour. This change in your diet is so simple and yet so powerful that every one of my students who tries it is absolutely amazed at how quickly they get noticeable results.
Get Lots of Exercise & Rest
The third habit you need to develop is the habit of effective exercise. Many people stop exercising in their late teens and early twenties, even people who were active in sports when they were growing up. However, the human body, made up of 610 muscles, is meant to be exercised regularly throughout your life.
Develop the habit of articulating and moving every joint in your body, every single day. This keeps your muscles and joints agile and flexible. Regular exercise assures that you have greater balance and mobility. It helps to diminish the likelihood of muscle or joint pain or problems.
Develop the habit of exercising 200 minutes each week. If all you did were to go for a walk, 30 minutes per day, seven days per week, you would be one of the fittest people in our society. If you disciplined yourself to ride an exercise bicycle, work out on a treadmill, swim, jog or engage in any aerobic exercises that get your lungs and heart pumping, you will dramatically improve your levels of health and energy in a short period of time.
The next habit that you need for superb all around health is the habit of proper rest. You need seven to eight hours of sleep each night for optimal performance. If you get less than six to seven hours of sleep per night, and you continue to work as hard as you normally do at your job, you will eventually develop a “sleep deficiency.”
You can change the way you feel about yourself, and your performance in your work and personal life, by developing the habit of going to bed early, by 10:00 pm each night and getting a good night’s sleep every night of the week.
The Year in Review & Moving Forward Into 2012
Dec 29th
Hello, my Friends,
This has been a busy, exciting and challenging year, especially after my cancer and treatment in 2010, accompanied by a dramatic decline in the business market for speaking and training services.
Fortunately, I try to practice what I preach by bouncing back from temporary difficulties and launching new programs and services. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
The biggest concern facing most people this year, and for years to come, is money- how to get more of it, get out of debt, and build financial independence, both for individuals and businesses.
We therefore developed 7 new 12 hour CD programs to help our clients to produce, sell, market, manage, and make more money. It is called the “Made Simple” series. They are:
Business Success Made Simple
Business Start-Up Success Made Simple
Sales Success Made Simple
Management Success Made Simple
Time Management Made Simple
Personal Success Made Simple
Wealth Building Made Simple
Each program includes access to our online video training programs, plus PDF versions of the notes, plus application exercises.
We launched our “Total Business Mastery – The 3-Day MBA Program” in 2011 and presented it to several hundred business owners and entrepreneurs. It is so powerful that participants start to transform their business within a few days.
I just returned from presenting this program in Shanghai in November for 380 participants @ $3000 per person. They want me to come back and give it 10 more times in China, all over the country. My clients are already booking me to present it in Europe in 2012 as well.
This year, I set a goal to visit my 100th country, which I achieved in December when I spoke in Vietnam. I was all over South Vietnam during the war, but this was my first time back since then. What a difference! Ho Chi Minh City is modern, booming and full of life and energy.
In both the Spring and the Fall, I spoke all over Europe several times, including four days in Russia. I am already booked all over the world again for 2012.
We also relaunched our “Power of Personal Achievement – The Phoenix Seminar” in 2011, where participants learn how to unlock their full potentials for success and achievement.
We also began our 3-day intensive “Brian Tracy’s Speaking Academy,” where we teach people how to speak in front of any audience, and get standing ovations.
My family is in great health and doing well in each area of life. My daughter Christina has opened her own practice as a Family and Personal Psychologist, is having her third child in February, and we have co-written our first book together, “Kiss That Frog – Turning Negatives Into Positives.” Her husband Damon is busy and successful, as are their children, Julia and Will.
My son Michael is the chief marketing and sales executive for a high-tech company in San Diego, and doing very well. His two years in direct selling have made him a real selling professional. His lovely wife Tasha is expecting their first child in February, as well. I will be a grandfather twice more!
My son David and his wife Sara both graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas this year, David in June and Sara in December. I flew straight from Bangkok via LAX to be there. David is now a specialist in Personality Assessment and Individual Motivation.
My daughter Catherine is in her third year at the University of Miami. She served an internship at the Heritage Foundation in Washington this summer. She is doing well and is also with us in Hawaii.
My lovely wife Barbara and I have been married 32 years, and it just keeps getting better and better. We took an Alaska cruise in July to celebrate our anniversary.
As always, we resolve to make this New Year, 2012, the best year of our lives, and you should as well. Remember, the future is only limited by your imagination. And since your imagination can have no limits, your future can be unlimited as well.
Best wishes to you!
Brian