If we make our goal to live a life of compassion and unconditional love, then the world will indeed become a garden where all kinds of flowers can grow.
— Elisabeth K
The Secret – Collection Of Inspirational Quotes ( Part 17 )
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Monthly Archives: October 2009
Boost Your Self-Confidence: 9 Easy Hints
Whether you are looking for a new job or going on a first date, one of the most important characteristics that will stand you in good stead is your self-confidence. Increase your self-confidence with these tactics to help you through interviews, meetings, and more.
1. Stop saying “should”
Don’t make yourself feel guilty by thinking about the things that you should have done: if something is in the past, let it pass. Fretting over it will not improve your situation. Try using the word “could” instead of “should” for everything. This way, your actions become your choices, and you are empowered to make decisions. For instance, “I should mow the lawn,” becomes “I could mow the lawn,” which is a much more positive statement. Instead of allowing your tasks to hold power over you, take power for yourself by actively choosing how to spend your time.
2. Don’t focus on yourself
If you are stressed out in a public situation, consider how the other person must feel. Go out of your way to make the other person feel comfortable, or introduce two people who haven’t met. Set yourself small tasks. Just having a task to do will make you feel better.
If you are alone and feeling anxious, take a few deep breaths. You can try various techniques, from meditation to distraction to take your mind off of you.
3. Set realistic goals
Setting goals will help boost your self-confidence. You want to set goals that are attainable. Choose something that you can measure, rather than something that is hard to measure so this way you will have a way to chart your progress. For instance, rather than saying “I will become an expert on the Victorian period,” you could set yourself the task of reading the complete works of Jane Austen, or you could sign up for a course at the local university. Chart your progress. Keeping track of how you are doing will allow you to feel positive about yourself.
4. Surround yourself with positives
If there are things or places in your life that are bringing you down, avoid them. If there are people in your life who are constantly negative, it might be time to reconsider your friendship with these people. You want to surround yourself with people who are optimistic and caring, people who respect you and value you for who you are. It is easier to be self-confident when you know you have a network of supportive people around you.
5. Stop being critical
Stop comparing yourself to others with self-criticism. You will always find something that someone else is better at. You are an individual, and unlike anyone else, so comparisons are moot. Constant self-criticism can also turn into cattiness: to make yourself feel better you might point out flaws in other people. Choosing to focus on your positive traits and on other people’s positive traits will help you gain self-confidence.
6. Take the time you need
Take some time for yourself. Perhaps painting your nails or polishing your shoes will make you feel that much more empowered. Take the time to do small things that are often overlooked. This time you spend will help you gain confidence.
It is important to learn that you are worth making time for. You will never be able to adequately care for another person until you care for yourself, so take time to unwind and relax.
7. Think positively
If you find yourself thinking negative or critical thoughts, think “cancel” or “delete.” Your mind is like a computer, and you will be able to erase those negative thought patterns with practice. Then, once you have pointedly erased that negative thought, replace it with a positive one. If you were thinking “My thighs are too fat,” say, “cancel” and then, “My thighs are growing thinner every day” or “I love my body just the way I am.” Try saying these nice things to yourself in front of a mirror.
Write down your best traits, abilities, and skills on a piece of paper. Then when you are feeling down you can come back to this piece of paper to remember how wonderful you are. You can also write down five or ten things that you are grateful for each day. Remember how fortunate we are helps boost confidence because it helps surround us with the positivity that is required for true self-confidence.
Try visualization to help you with achieving your goals, and to help you think positively towards a sense of self-confidence.
8. Reprogram yourself
You might hold some beliefs which are limiting to you. It is time to take these negative thoughts and replace them with positives, as outlined in the previous point. Here are some thoughts you might need to re-think (literally!): “I can’t do that,” “I get scared easily,” “They don’t like me.”
Remember that even confident people get bummed out sometimes. Having occasional periods of anxiety is completely natural.
9. Fake it…and Smile!
If you don’t know how to truly be self-confident, then just pretend to be self-confident! Smile, too. Just the act of smiling will release endorphins to the brain, which will eventually make you happy. Acting confident will help build your confidence for when you truly are confident.
Remember: you are going to be fine. Start building your self-confidence today so that you can begin leading the lifestyle you deserve.
Happy Miracles To You
“Miracles happen every day. Not just in remote country villages or at holy sites halfway across the globe, but here, in our own lives.”
– Deepak Chopra
Miracles are amazing and wonderful occurrences. Expect miracles and we just might be happily surprised. We should always expect great things and stop expecting the worst in every situation. And to expect miracles, we must believe in ourselves and maintain our positive outlook. As staying positive is a habit, just apply positive thinking daily and you will attract all good and happiness to yourself.
Do not wait for happiness to come your way. Create happiness. It is easy to be happy, just decide to be happy. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Meaning, most people for most of the time can decide how happy or troubled, how bright or boring they want to be.
There are many ways by which you can choose to be happy. However, the best way to is to show gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for. Show gratitude to the people in your life who have touched you, inspired you and taught you the important lessons in life. Say thank you. Remember birthdays or send flowers to those we are grateful to. Most importantly, tell your friends and family how important they are to you.
Promote happiness by performing a daily gratitude exercise by listing a few things that make you grateful. This will increase the positive flow and will in turn influence others to be grateful too.
There will be difficult days that are full of obstacles, trauma and challenges. During these times, think of those who have taught you how to enjoy life. Expect miracles. Learn to count your blessings. Listing your blessings will magnify your positive attitude and emotions.
When anyone starts expecting a miracle they become so conditioned that they begin actually making miracles happen. They get on the miracle wavelength. Abilities become positively focused rather than negatively.
Just apply what you’ve learned about a positive attitude and avoid negativity by all means. Be your own positive, creative self and have fun. Your attitude will draw other people to you like a moth to a flame. The law of attraction is activated positively and any positive thinker with clear goals for good will activate the world around him positively.
By spending your days expecting miraculous things to happen, thinking in your mind that miracles will start to occur, you actually bring them into your life. Our thoughts generate our actions, and our actions eventually become the reality that we live out. You’re focusing on the positive rather than the negative. It’s similar to abundance – you begin to draw it towards you, instead of chasing it away. You have more emotional strength available to you than you ever dreamed possible.
Set your goals and take positive actions to get you where you want to go. Each time you accomplish a step towards a goal, pat yourself on the back. Congratulate yourself. Your self-esteem will improve and you’ll strive even harder towards your dreams.
Keep your dreams alive in your mind. Give yourself time and space to grow and learn. Believe in your own capabilities and be happy. Always see yourself succeeding at whatever that dream happens to be. There will be struggles, but always picture a successful outcome. Happy Miracles To You.
Leadership Is Action… Not Position
People respond to good leadership! Period! It is in all aspects of our lives, not just business. A mother is a leader in her home; a son may be leader of a team sport or a daughter the leader of the debate team. A group relies on the person in charge to actually lead them to success. A true leader is highly ethical, honest and respected.
In our society we have leaders and followers. Are we born to one or the other? No! Can you hone your leadership skills? Absolutely!
The leaders that I admire seem to have all of these in place:
a) They think BIG! They don’t put a ceiling in place. Instead, no limit is set as to how big or how much better something can be.
b) The goals are firmly set in place and the eye does not come off of it.
c) They make known to all involved the final product that they are all going for, example, if you sell widgets, it takes x number of widgets to be affluent, or you want to win that football game and ultimately the title. Know what you’re going for.
d) They can get compliance to orders.
e) When goals are met they set new goals or raise the bar.
People will follow your lead willingly if you are honest, ethical, if you are consistent and treat them with respect. Rewarding someone when a job is well done is always appreciated. A good leader will also off load someone who consistently hinders the group who is just not a team player.
You can improve your own self- respect and become an inspiration to others. How great is that!
What’s Slipping Under Your Radar?
Ben, a high-level leader in a multi-national firm, recently confessed that he felt like a bad father. That weekend he had messed up his Saturday daddy duties. When he took his son to soccer practice, Ben stayed for a while to support him. In the process, though, he forgot to take his daughter to her piano lesson. By the time they got to the piano teacher’s house, the next student was already playing. This extremely successful businessman felt like a failure.
At work, one of Ben’s greatest strengths is keeping his focus no matter what. As a strategic visionary, he keeps his eyes on the ongoing strategy, the high-profile projects and the high-level commitments of his group. Even on weekends Ben spends time on email, reading and writing so he can attend the many meetings in his busy work schedule. Since he is so good at multi-processing in his work environment, he assumed he could do that at home too.
But when we talked, Ben was surprised to realize that he is missing a crucial skill: keeping people on his radar. Ben is great at holding tasks and strategies in the forefront of his mind, but he has trouble thinking of people and their priorities in the same way. To succeed at home, Ben needs to keep track of his family members’ needs in the same way he tracks key business commitments. He also needs to consider what’s on their radar screens.
In my field of executive coaching, I keep every client on my radar screen by holding them in my thinking on a daily and weekly basis. That way, I can ask the right questions and remind them of what matters in their work lives. No matter what your field is, though, keeping people on your radar is essential.
Consider Roger, who led a team of gung-ho sales people. His guys and gals loved working with him because his gut instincts were superb. He could look at most situations and immediately know how to make them work. His gut was great, almost a sixth sense.
But when Sidney, one of his team of sales managers, wanted to move quickly to hire a new salesperson, Roger was busy. He was managing a new sales campaign and wrangling with marketing and headquarters bigwigs on how to position the company’s consumer products. Those projects were the only things on his radar screen. He didn’t realize that Sidney was counting on hiring someone fast.
Roger reviewed the paperwork for the new hire. It was apparent to Roger that the prospective recruit didn’t have the right background for the role. He was too green in his experience with the senior people he’d be exposed to in the job. Roger saw that there would be political hassles down the road which would stymie someone without enough political savvy or experience with other parts of the organization. He wanted an insider or a seasoned outside hire with great political skills.
To get the issue off his radar screen quickly, Roger told Human Resources to give the potential recruit a rejection letter. In his haste, he didn’t consult with Sidney first. It seemed obvious from the resume that this was the wrong person. Roger rushed off to deal with the top tasks on his radar screen. In the process, Sidney was hurt and became angry. Roger was taken by surprise since he thought he had done the right thing, but he could have seen this coming.
By focusing only on the tasks at hand and not on the people around him, Roger was reigning in one of his greatest talents he wasn’t letting his gut work for him where people were concerned. If Roger’s direct reports had been on his radar screen, his gut would have told him that Sidney needed more than just a yes-or-no decision right now; he needed help making a good hire quickly.
An important question for Roger, and for many leaders, is “How can I make sure key people are on my radar screen as well as the to-do’s of my job?” It’s not just the VIPs who should matter to you. You need to keep your team, their pressures and their projects, on your radar screen. They need to know you’re leading and supporting them and not just riding roughshod over them to get things done.
Both Ben and Roger are capable and successful executives who keep their to-do’s and their commercial goals on their radar screen all the time. Yet they both find it hard to think of people in the same way.
Here are some approaches that helped them get people onto their radar screens without bumping off the other big things in their work lives.
Take inventory. Who is slipping under your radar? Whether the people you need to keep track of are family members, direct reports or others, simply taking a head count can help you keep them on your screen.
Write it down. For each person you need to track, make a brief list of what you think is on his or her radar. Even if you don’t remember everything you wrote, just writing it out will help you keep those people and their priorities in mind. It will also tip you off if there is someone in particular who needs extra attention right now.
Say it. Before meetings and before making decisions, say out loud what you’d like your impact to be on other people. This approach puts your intentions toward people on your radar screen.
Ask others to remind you. At work, your assistants can help you keep track of what’s happening with key people. Let them know you want people — not just tasks — to be on your radar. That will empower your assistants to remind you, in a low-key way, when some of your priorities have slipped off the screen. At home, try asking family members to leave you notes in writing when they need to get something on your radar. That will help you remember and will also help your family members articulate their needs and what’s important to them.
Take just a little time each day, consistently, to put key people on your radar screen. It’s worth a five-ten minute personal update to determine what’s on their radar screens so you don’t miss out or mess up. The effort will be well worth it.
See more about Dr. Karen Otazo at www.otazo.com Executive Coaching
I Dare You to Challenge God for a Miracle in Your Life!
I was pretty much raised in church, since the age of 7. When I was 25, I backslid from church, for many reasons. I was hurt by members of the church. The more I tried to understand God and why things were happening in the church, the more doubts and unanswered questions I had. This caused me to drift further and further from God.
Many times, during the next 16 years, I tried to go back to church, but it seemed like every time we attempted, things would happen to remind me why I left in the first place. I don’t want to dwell here on the particular reasons why I left my old church, but I do want to say that because of everything that happened, I developed major doubts about the even the existence of God. I started to think that maybe what I experienced was a lie. I mean, how could a loving God, who says that we have a choice to love Him or not, torment those who choose not to love Him? If someone were to do this in our society, we would put them in jail for this crime. Is it really a choice if we choose not to love Him and He tortures us when we choose not to love Him, by sending us to the Lake of Fire for eternity?
During my backslidden years, I spoke to several ministers and friends in the church about my unanswered questions about the “choice” that God has given us, but none could answer to my satisfaction. Nothing ever made sense to me, so I continued turning away from God. Through these years, my family was doing well. My wife and I had really good jobs, making nearly $100,000 a year. We had a nice, big house on a hill, new cars, motorcycle, and some money in our pockets.
Suddenly, in 2002, it all came crashing down! My wife and I both lost our jobs the same year, within 3 months of each other! We hung on for as long as we could, but went through all of our savings and eventually lost the house, cars, motorcycle and everything! My wife is a pharmacy technician with about 15 years of experience, working for Blue Care Network and even U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor, but she couldn’t even get an interview for a possible pharmacy technician position, let alone a job. I am a graphic designer/network administrator with about 15 years of experience, as well, and worked for EDS, GM, Delco, Delphi, and other companies, but couldn’t get an interview, either.
Finally, when we got to the bottom, and the only direction we could go was up, we turned to God. We asked Him to help us and I was able to get a job. It didn’t pay as much as my last job, but was within a few dollars an hour. So I took the job. At least it was a job. It took my wife another year before she got a job. It wasn’t in her field, and it was half the pay, but it was a job. Now, with our financial situation at least afloat, we didn’t need God and stopped talking to Him. Slowly, things started getting bad. My boss was unbearable to work for. I also started getting sick on a regular basis, causing me to miss work, which caused my boss to make it even more difficult to work for. This is the type of person who doesn’t trust anyone and tells you that he doesn’t trust you. He even dug through my trash, while sitting next to me, to see what I had written down and thrown away! He would always come around the corner real fast and look at my monitor to see what I was doing. I was never treated like a grown-up, but a child. So I decided to start my own computer business and leave this job. Since my wife was working, and I already had some customers, I decided to take the plunge. At first, things were going well, but then things got bad, and then worse. For nearly 3 months, I got hardly any computer jobs. I design websites and work on computers and networks, but the work just seemed to disappear. Eventually, we were pretty much living on my wife’s income, which just barely paid the rent, let alone any food, gas, utilities, etc. Things were looking hopeless.
Finally, we got back to the place where there was nowhere else to turn, but God. So, with my tail between my legs, I turned to God and told Him that we are at the bottom again. I told Him that it seems like every time things fall apart, and there is nowhere else to turn, that I come crawling back to Him. I told Him that we have no food, we can’t pay the rent, we have no gas to get to work or get the kids to school (school is a half hour away from our house). The heat was about to be turned off, my business phone was about to be disconnected, without which I couldn’t make any money. My landlord was upset that the rent was again 3 weeks behind, and we had nearly two weeks to go before my wife got paid. I didn’t know what to do, so I told God that if he got us out of this mess that I would serve Him. I told Him that I had to pay the rent within the next few days, and that I needed to feed my family and had no food. I told Him that if he fixed my immediate need and helped with the long-term need that I would know that He really existed and that he cared about me and my family. I also told Him that if he did this for me that I would be a witness for Him, that God does exactly what He says he will do and that all we have to do is ask and He will provide, even to a sinner/backslider like me, who has turned his back on God and gone back on his word so many times. God still loves us and cares about us. I told Him that I would tell everyone about what He did here, if He would get us out of this crisis. In fact, I challenged God to show me his glory and to impress me with a miracle so that my family and I could see that it HAD to be God who did this, that it could in no way be a coincidence that things just got better.
That night, I got a call from a friend of mine who told me that his girlfriend is a manager of a CPA firm and is having problems with her server and all of her computers and wants my help to fix them. He said that it will probably be a really big job, so I could make a good amount of money from them. He asked if I was interested, of which I said, YES! Within a day, I was asked to come out and help them with a problem that their proprietary accounting software company couldn’t help them with, after working with them for days on the problem. I told them that I would give it a shot and that I could probably help them (not even knowing this software or the specific problems that they were having).
On the way to the CPA job, I received a call on my cell phone from another friend of mine, who asked if I was still doing graphic design. I told him that I was mainly doing web design now, but could still do graphic design. He wanted to know if I could do some jobs for him and I gladly told him, yes. He said that it will probably be a few jobs and may turn into regular work, and was I still interested. I said, YES! Since he lost his regular designer, he is going to start sending me the work to do, which I will be able to do from home, and not drive one to two hours away to work at their office. Wow! I was really starting to get impressed with what God was doing and I actually laughed out loud in my car!
While driving to the CPA office, I asked God to help me on this job, since I didn’t know the software. They were also using an older network protocol that I was only vaguely familiar with, and didn’t know if I could help them or not, but since God gave me this job, I knew He would help me figure it out. When I got there, I took a look at what the problem was and had it figured out in 15 minutes. The company who sold them the software had eventually given up on them and told them flat out that they weren’t going to be able to fix the problem. God helped me fix it within minutes! In fact, it scared me that I had it fixed too quickly. Now that they were operational, there was no need to keep me there. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be making very much money on this job. So I spoke to my friend’s girlfriend and told her that I heard that their computers were running pretty slowly and asked if she wanted me to give them tune-ups. She said, yes, and didn’t even ask me how much. It took me 2 days to complete the tune-ups. I also quoted converting their network to a newer network protocol and installing a new server, which was approved by the boss within a day (even though she told me that money was tight and it would probably have to wait a couple of months). Within a few days, I made about $1500 from this company, because of the Lord!
While I was at this CPA firm, I overheard one of the workers there say that she was having trouble with her home computers and her Internet. I asked her if she needed help and she said that she would love some help, but it would probably be a nightmare to work on her problems. I told her that it would be no problem and that I could give her a hand. At lunch time that day, I followed her to her home and looked over her computer problems, after which I came back with a network job and a check for $250!
When I got home, I had a message on my business answering machine that someone else needed help with their computer, and I made another $99 fixing his computer.
The next day, I got a similar call about another computer problem, but this one is turning into a regular client. It is a retired rich person who needs ongoing help with their computer and is looking for a local person to keep their computer running and help with computer training.
Within these couple of days after my prayer to God, I also received a call from a guy who is starting a high-speed wireless Internet service for the Columbiaville, MI area (where I live). A month prior, I agreed to be a reseller for this service, since I too live in Columbiaville, and this would be a great service to offer to our community because there is no high-speed Internet access available. Previously, we had met and had hit if off right away. He also has a small computer company, and by all rights, we should be enemies, since we are competitors. However, that wasn’t the case. We decided to make it work, so that it benefited both of our small companies. Well, one of the services that his company provides is a specialized service that requires him to travel across the U.S., installing and configuring POS systems in various businesses. While on his way back from Wisconsin, recently, his very large, top-heavy van hit some black ice, which caused him to spin out of control. He was on a small, winding road in the hills, where there was no guard railing and there was a steep drop-off. He told me later that it was only by the grace of God that he didn’t roll the van off the embankment, where he would have surely died! If it would have been inches in either direction, the van would have caught in such a way that it would have flipped and went over the cliff! This got him thinking that if he would ever die, that his wife wouldn’t be cared for, since there would be no one to continue working the technical end of the business. So he called me (still within a day or so of my prayer to God about providing for my family) and asked me if I would be willing to be his partner and to take over, should he ever die. He wanted to make it legal and to put it in his will, as well as have a legal agreement with me, explaining what my responsibilities would be, and what percentage of the company I would receive while he is alive, and also after his death. He said that he got a certain vibe from me and he trusts me. He wanted to slowly work me into the business full time and would eventually make me a full partner, making a percentage of the businesses’ profit, plus a regular salary (without buying into his business). This is NEVER done! You don’t just get handed a partnership, where the other partner puts up all of the money. It could only have been the Lord!
One of my promises to God (in return for doing this for me) was that I would tell everyone what He has done. I first told my son. I explained everything that I just told you. Then, I called one of my brothers. I told him that I always wanted to come back to God, but I wanted to do it when things were going well. It seemed like every time things were going badly, I always came crying back to God and he would make things a little better, and then I would drift away. I didn’t want Him to think that I only came to Him because I needed something from Him. I wanted to come back to God because I loved Him and wanted to serve Him, not because I messed up again and needed His help out of another jam (well, it made sense to me). After telling my brother about what God had done for me, I told him that I still had a problem with the “choice” thing. I understand that God is real, since there was a dramatic response to my plea for help, but I still had a problem with being forced to love someone who says you have a choice to love Him, but will torture you if you don’t. Then I heard a little chuckle over the phone line. My brother said that this might be his fault and my father’s. I said that I didn’t understand. He proceeded to tell me that since my family and I had left church, he and my father always prayed for us. They used to pray that the Lord would lead us back to church and that He would bless us and help us. And He did. During this time we were blessed with the good jobs, nice cars, and extra money. Then, he said that he and my Dad noticed that things were going so well for us that it seemed like we thought we didn’t need God any more. Why ask for help if you don’t need it? So, they decided to pray for me in a different way. They started praying for God to do whatever it takes for us to get back into church. After that is when we started losing everything, which caused us to turn back to God and ask for help. It worked, for a short period of time. This was when I got the job after a year of being laid off. And you know the rest.
So, after hearing my brother tell me all of this, it became clear as a bell, and I said, “So YOU are the one! You are the one who is the cause of all of this mess!” And he started laughing. He said that he hoped I wasn’t upset, since he and my Dad may have caused the “Job” effect on my family, but it was to get my attention. Actually, it did get my attention. It took a few years, but I turned back to God. But most of all, I now see exactly what is going on and I also understand the “choice” thing. After fighting with the choice vs. torment conundrum, I finally see. I was looking at it all wrong before. What I thought was happening was that since I wouldn’t love God, He was causing all of these bad things to happen in my life… loss of jobs, house, cars, motorcycle, money, sanity, etc. But that wasn’t the case. It was because I had friends and family praying to God, asking Him to do whatever it takes to get my attention, so that I would turn back to Him. So in reality, it wasn’t even God doing it to me, taking away my choice to not serve him, it was the prayers of God-loving people that caused my financial downfall, which in turn, caused me to turn back to God for help. God wasn’t taking away my choice, and twisting my arm so that I would love Him. He was answering prayers of people whom He had given a choice, and chose God.
When I realized what was happening, I broke down and cried on the phone, while talking with my brother. I told him that it was the first time in 16 years that I finally understood the “choice” thing, and that we truly did have a choice. And I finally understood that when we don’t choose God, he doesn’t twist our arm until we choose Him. He twists our arm when people, who chose to love Him, ask Him to do so. He is just answering prayer. So, once I understood this, I told my brother to ask God to let me up now! I told him to tell God that He doesn’t have to twist my arm any more, I understand, and am coming back for good. I told him to now start praying that things get better for us, and he did, and they have!
This same brother has also been going through some tough times, financially. His health is pretty bad and he is disabled. His wife has had a hard time finding work, after being laid off from her job last year. I decided to return the favor and ask God to help his family, financially, and to help relieve some of the financial burden that they have. This was during the few days that I was working for the CPA. One of the 3 days that I was at the CPA firm, I overheard them talking about hiring a new girl for a receptionist job and that they needed to find someone right away. I asked the manager what type of person they needed and she told me. I told them that I knew someone looking for a job. They told me to get them her resume right away and they would interview her. So I told my brother, who got his wife’s resume over to their office, and she was hired the same day of the interview, making really good money! So not only did God work it out so that this CPA job helped my family, but also turned it into a win-win situation where my brother’s family benefited from it as well!
Because of the incredible quickness of the Lord’s response, I was able to pay the rent, buy some food, and pay a couple of bills within just a couple of days of my initial prayer for immediate help. I continued to pray and live right every day after that, and it only got better! But remember when I asked for immediate help and long term help? The immediate help couldn’t have been much more immediate and everything worked out perfectly. The long term help came from the wireless reseller. Not only is he making me a permanent partner within a couple of months, but while he was at another out-of-state job in Louisiana, he met an investor that was looking for a wireless Internet company to setup an infrastructure in Shreveport, LA, one that could service 60,000 users, including a military base. While talking with my partner, the investor asked if he had a business plan for his wireless business that he was starting here in Michigan. He, in fact, had it in his back pocket at the time, and was able to show it to him. It included cost breakdowns, phases of development and expansion, and so on. He was impressed and told him that he could have the money within a day of whenever he would be ready to get started in LA. So, within 6 to 8 months from now, I am going to be a big part of a very long term project and very large wireless Internet business with a guaranteed client base of 60,000 people, not to mention a multi-city, high speed wireless business here in Michigan! Something like this just doesn’t get handed to people. There is NO way that it could be anything else but God intervening in my situation and doing exactly what I asked him to do: provide immediate financial help for my family, as well as meet our long term financial need, and do it in such as way that it would be a miracle that only He could do. Remember when I challenged God to impress me with a miracle? Well, He did EXACTLY that! I get chills just thinking about how he connected all of the dots for me and intertwined each of the miracles together so that everything happened for a reason, and not only benefited me, but when I asked for help for my brother’s situation, he combined my miracle with one for my brother!
Oh, I almost forgot… through all of this, I also asked God to heal my Dad of his sickness. He has been ill a very long time, where he has a low oxygen level and gets tired very quickly. For a long time he hasn’t been able to do very much of anything for any length of time. Today, he told me that he finally feels human and came out the other side! This is huge! I am thanking God for this miracle and accepting it as a miracle of healing for my Dad. He has been to all kinds of doctors and specialists, both here and out of state, but no one can find the cause or fix the problem. I am claiming this as an answer to prayer and a miracle of healing for my Dad.
Now that I have seen what I have seen, I feel like Doubting Thomas. I needed to see the nail-scared hands and touch His wounds to believe, but at least I believe. Even though it took a little more for Thomas to be convinced that Jesus did what He said He would do, at least he finally believed and was saved. He went on to be a great Apostle for Jesus. I pray that I can be at least a fraction of that for Him.
I hope my testimony has helped you in some way to see that we do have a choice, and that God will do what we ask of Him (if it is in His will), and if we trust in Him and turn to Him. He can and will perform miracles in our lives! God loves us and wants to have a loving relationship with each of us. If God will grant ME a miracle (knowing the state that I was in), then I know He will do the same for YOU! You just have to trust in Him, have faith, and just ask!
7 Goal Setting Steps
The three keys to living without limits have always been the same. They are clarity, competence, and concentration. Goal setting will help you live without limits. Learning how to set goals is an art. Learn why setting goals is a necessity. Here are 7 Must-have conditions to set goals.
1. State your goal in positive terms.
People often set a goal in terms of what they don’t want! “I don’t want to smoke, to be angry…” It’s “what I want to do or want to be” See the difference? Hear the nuance? Are you ready to state positively every goal you want to achieve?
2. Make sure the goal can be self-initiated and maintained The goal doesn’t depend on the attitude of your neighbor, on the behavior of your wife or family. The success of your goal must depend on you, and you alone.
3. Your goal must be sensory specific
Here comes the importance of clarity. The clearer the picture, the more compelling and the more attractive it is, the greater the drive to reach your final destination. Act as if the goal is already achieved. Make a very clear image, in rich details, and you will be so enthusiastic that you will automatically attract the solution.
4. State the context of the goal.
“Where and when will my goal be achieved?” The answer can be obvious for some goals but not at all for others. Try to be as specific as possible.
5. Run a Quality Control check on the goal to ensure balance in all areas of your home/work life.
Above all, you don’t want to lose your balance. When you run this ‘Quality Control Check”, you play a win-win strategy. Everything is one system and the whole system must win. You will find peace of mind in knowing that you are in harmony with the system. Step back and look at all areas of your life. Is your goal worth it?
6. State the resources needed to achieve the goal: what is the price to pay?
There is always a price to pay, for everything. There is always some kind of sacrifice to make when you set a worthy goal. In this step, you will define all that you will need, in terms of time, money and energy.
7. State the value and the consistency of the goal.
Why do I want to reach this goal? Why is it important to me? Is this goal in harmony with my vision, beliefs and values? Answer these questions. If you don’t seem to be satisfied with the answers, maybe you should change your goal. Set a new goal until you feel it is in harmony with your passion, vision or mission.
When you properly set a goal with this model, two important things occur. First, you are in total harmony with your vision, belief and value systems because your entire “You” agrees and offers no resistance. Second, you are programmed to succeed. Indeed, your very (whole) neurology and physiology are both instructed to drive you towards obtaining your desired goal. You’re totally focused.
Again, The three keys to living without limits have always been the same. They are clarity, competence, and concentration. When you set crystal clear goals, and you respect the 7 must-have conditions, you can literally live without limits, can’t you?
Who Wants to Work?
I feel a loss when pragmatism wins over the mystical. There is a greater magic at work when you engage with Source. I believe that strength and optimism combined with hard work will keep marketing principles and other learned strategies working well for success. I have a much different story to tell.
I’ve spent many years in the corporate world and in the service and sales industry. Letting those learned and hard-work principles go to engage in a relationship with the divine has been one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever faced. So why face it? Why not stick with the old ways?
Simply put, the mystical, the divine, the source energy, or God if you like, wouldn’t let me go. No matter how hard I worked, I simply did not see the results I desired. There was a transformation already underway and I would be embracing a new way of living. You cannot deny who you truly are. As I moved away from working hard and focused more and more on my gifts, passion & purpose, magical things began happening.
In spite of all my marketing and business focused activities, none of my prospects had become a client and none of my projects came to life. Strangely, people from across North America were finding me, and rarely through my website. As long as I engaged in a relationship with the source and exercised faith, clients began showing up. Clients that were looking for the gifts that I had to offer and the connection I had to share.
This has pushed me deeper into a relationship with the mystical, the metaphysical, the spiritual – so many words to describe the same thing – and practicing a new way of being in this world. It is much simpler, much more organic, much more peaceful, and in many respects, very easy. Well, easy when I get out of my way.
There have been times when I’ve been in a complete and utter panic over what was not materializing. I’d come close to reverting to an old pattern and headaches would show up and more resistance in mind, body, and spirit. Within 24-48 hours, I’d back off from my worries, unable to give-in and give up the dream. I’d trust and just as suddenly, abundance again made itself known.
I see this pattern, these ups & downs, as part of the training I am receiving. To deepen my relationship with the divine. To trust source. To trust my true calling, passion and purpose. To express more fully who I am and thereby be a much better guide and teacher to those who wish to engage in the same relationship with the source of creation.
Magic lives everywhere. Being pragmatic can work, but who wants to work?
What In The Heck Can A Personal Coach Do?
I just wanted to spread the word about Life Coaching and what it can do to help just about anyone. No, not every coach is suited for every client but the right coach/client combination is such powerful tool.
I hear different variations of the following questions and statements a lot: “What can a coach do for me?”, “I can’t afford to pay a coach!”, “What does SHE know that I don’t know?”, “I don’t need a stinkin’ Coach!” Ok, well I tossed the word “stinkin'” in there (smile) but I do know there are many people who could benefit from the power of coaching but feel they don’t need it.
Well hopefully the following can open some eyes to the magic of this wonderful tool!
Coaching is an effective process used to support individuals in creating something new for themselves. I work side by side with my clients coaching them by providing perspective and support for self-knowledge as they accomplish their business and personal goals.
I personal help women achieve balance and cultivate the tools necessary for them to evolve into a life filled with happiness and serenity. I believe all women have the tools they need inside to lead a more fulfilling life. I simply guide them along an empowering path that will awaken these tools, focus on their passion and ultimately lead them to a more fulfilled self. If you are ready to find your way to a more balanced you, I will be your guide.
Life coaches are great and act as your personal cheerleader. There are many benefits to having a Personal Life Coach and here are just a few. Coaching is a valuable process for people looking to:
* design life intentions that include both your business and personal goals.
* make meaningful personal changes that reduce stress and simplify your life.
* free up energy and other resources to attract what you want for your life now.
* enhance the quality of your communication and relationships
* work through a career or life transition
* achieve better work/life balance
* gain clarity, focus and direction
Coaching is also for those that are successful and growing entrepreneurs, where everything is going really well, and you would just appreciate a neutral sounding board who will give you straight-up honest feedback and on-going support.
There really is nothing like coaching. The best way to learn about it is to experience it for yourself! Most coaches will offer a free consultation or a free session to see if coaching is for you.
You have nothing to lose and the world to gain!
The Perfect Antidote To Procrastination
The battle to annihilate procrastination is one that should be taken to the nook and crannies of the world. This is because procrastination has destroyed so many lives and is still destroying so much more. It makes people live below their potentials thereby maiming their destinies.
People blame so many things for not achieving their dreams but often overlook the impact of procrastination. This is because it is never noticed by anyone but the end result is always devastating.
To eradicate procrastination, the antidote must be embraced by all and sundry. The perfect antidote ever known to mankind for eradication procrastination is ACTION This is the act of doing what you have to do NOW it is not later, it is not tomorrow, it is not next week or next year, it is doing it NOW!
If you are ever going to overcome procrastination, you must become a person of action. To achieve anything meaningful in life, the role of action can NEVER be relegated to the background. You must be able to do whatever you have to do when it is required of you to do them.
Hundreds of men go to their graves in obscurity because they lacked the pluck to make a first effort, they procrastinated when they should have acted. These are those who could have resolved to act and would have gone to astonish the world by their achievements and successes.
I wonder if we would have been able to celebrate the heroes and heroins of this world if they had not acted on their dreams. Obscurity would have become the lot of the likes of Edison, Ford, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner and so many others if they had procrastinated on the idea that catapulted them to stardom.
To attain success in any area of your live, you must be a man/woman of ACTION. There is no other way. When your goal is made, you must ACT NOW! To do otherwise would be drifting upon waters.
Let me leave you with this golden advice I saw in a book I read some years back. Heeding to it will do you a lot of good:
“Tomorrow-men accomplish NOTHING in the world.”
This is to your success as you become a person of ABSOLUTE action.
Adebola Oni