Everyone has something, whether it be a habit, or aspect of their personality, that they wish that they didn’t have. For me, that something is fear. I am constantly afraid of just about anything you could name…car crashes, meeting new people, tornados, driving in the dark, sleeping with the closet open, public speaking…you name it, I’m probably afraid of it! This is a negative habit, and certainly one I would like to change.
Most people can name at least one similar habit or personality trait off the top of their head. Think about it for a moment. What part of yourself would you truly like to be rid of? Now take that part of you, and imagine it disappearing forever. If you want, you can even make it more physical and real by writing that trait down on a piece of paper, then burying it or destroying it.

It IS possible to change our lives for the better. The hard part is knowing how to do it. If you are aware of that part of you that you want to let go, it makes it much easier to not let that part of you develop or take over in your life. Also the support of friends can help immensely as well - whether they be in real life or on the internet!

This is the season of changes, and you need to BELIEVE that you can change your life for the better. Be aware of your negative aspects, and actively try to stop them from developing. Focus on the positive, and realize that as the seasons change, so do we, as we mature and grow into the people we wish to be.

Stephanie is the webmaster of StephanieDavies.com and provides live telephone advice of all kinds to people from all over the world. She gives advice on depression, mental health, spirituality, sexuality, relationships, and many other topics. For more information please visit her website at http://www.stephaniedavies.com or subscribe to her newsletter by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/liveadvice

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 9:59 AM CDT

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How many times have you started a diet or health plan only to
quit after a few weeks? Maybe more often that you’d like to
admit! How can you set yourself up for success and limit the
temptation to quit? Plan well!

Once you have decided on your goals or what it is you’re trying
to achieve there are some tips that can help you succeed.

Work on one goal at a time. Don’t cause yourself stress trying
to make too many changes at the same time. Possibly some of the
things you are trying to change are die-hard habits that need to
be tackled slowly and consistently for the desired changes to
become the new habit.

Break down your goals into smaller pieces. For example, focus on
the half a kilo you want to lose this week compared to the 20
kilos all up.

Tackle only one piece at a time. Have you ever heard the saying,
“How do you eat an elephant?” (One piece at a time!!) Biting off
more than you can chew will only set you up to quit. To succeed,
work on one small piece of your goal and only move on to the
next step when the first step is complete.

Prepare and plan for obstacles. What will you do WHEN (not if)
you get offered a slice of chocolate cake while on your diet?
What will you do when it’s raining outside and you were planning
to go for a walk? By planning ahead you won’t be put off or
tempted to quit when obstacles arise.

Don’t give up if you slip up. So you don’t lose your half a kilo
this week, don’t quit, just start from where you left off and
learn from the slip up. Why did this happen? What will you do to
prevent it happening again?

Celebrate every success. Every step towards your goal is a
success. Reminding yourself of that and celebrating every
success will help you stay in action and leave you feeling proud
of what you’ve achieved. Reward yourself with every weekly step
you accomplish. Go to the Day Spa, visit a friend, buy a small
treat, whatever will reward you for your accomplishment.

Get support. You’ve heard it said that two heads are better than
one so share your goals with others. Being accountable to others
curbs the temptation to quit. Who can support you? Friends, can
you find a diet buddy? Join a support group (diet group/health
club etc). Or get the help of a professional such as a
Dietician, Counsellor or Life Coach.

This week set up a plan of success. Work out what obstacles will
get in your way of succeeding and how you will combat these.
Above all set yourself up for success and limit the temptation
to quit!

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 11:44 PM CDT

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You can be as happy as you want whenever you want. Zen masters have proven this - all you have to do is just “be” with whatever you have right now. Yeah, I know. Sitting on the floor contemplating your blank space may not be what you’re after. Highly successful people are outrageously happy because they have fulfilling ways to meet their values. What are values? Well I’m not talking about Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown, or Limp Bizkit’s recent family values tour. Values are simply what is most important to you.

Do your values move you towards great possibilities? Is your energy directed towards meeting your values in ways that excite you and make you stronger, capable of going for even more? When you are clear on your values, your vision is bright, and you will feel primed to go for it.

How To Achieve A Big Vision

• Get clear on your values
  
• Set specific outcomes that stretch you
  
• Model outstanding people who have similar achievements
  
• Take action and go for it 100%
  
• Be aware of what’s working and what’s not
  
• Change your approach until you get your outcome

Model For Rapid Success

The 21st Century - what an exciting time to be in business. We have eBusiness, eCommerce, eLove (well maybe not yet, but I’m sure some VC or Angel is working on it), eEtc. In this competitive environment where everything is moving at eSpeed, modeling outstanding people is the fastest way to eSuccess.

Highly Successful Entrepreneurial People

• They focus on what they want, rather than on what they fear
  
• They see what’s possible, where others lack vision
  
• When they are doing the right thing, they just know it
  
• They focus on the big picture, without getting lost in the details
  
• They are interested in how to get results now
  
• They take massive action and intelligent risks to get what they want.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 9:48 PM CDT

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Analyzing Motivation

To inspire people to work - individually or in groups in ways
that produce the best results, you need to tap into their own
personal motivational forces.

1) What is motivation?

The are of motivating people starts with learning how to
influence individuals’ behavior. Once you understand this, you
are more likely to gain the results that both the organization
and its members want.

A) Defining Motivation

Motivation is the will to act. It was once assumed that
motivation had to be injected form outside, but it is now
understood that every one is motivated by several differing
forces. In the workplace, seek to influence your staff to align
their own motivations with the need of the organization.

To release the full potential of employees, organizations are
rapidly moving away from “command Control” and towards “Advice
and Consent” as ways of motivating. This change of attitude
began when employees recognized that rewarding good work is more
effective than threatening puenititive measures for bad work.

Being Motivated:

For an employee, the chief advantage of being motivated is job
satisfaction. For the employer, it means good quality work.

Note:

If you do not know what motivates a person, just ask!

B) Motivating Long Term

Self-motivation is long-lasting. Inspire self-motivated staff
further by trusting them to work on their own initiatives and
encouraging them to take responsibility for entire tasks. For
de-motivated staff members, find out what would motivate them,
and implement what ever help you can. Highly motivated
individuals are vital to supply organizations with new
initiatives that are necessary in the competitive business world.

C) Whom To Motivate?

Motivation used to be considered only in one direction:
downwards, the superior motivating the subordinate. That is no
longer enough. In well managed organizations, in which
subordinates do for more than take orders, superiors may need
motivating to act accordingly. Encourage colleagues to share
your ideas and enthusiasm at work. Use motivation to achieve
both collaboration and co-operation form everyone with whom you
work.

Motivating Different People In Different Ways

Manager

As a manger, it is important to remember that you should use
your motivational techniques to influence not only subordinates,
but also your colleagues and managers senior to yourself.

Senior Manager

Motivate superiors to perceive that what you request suits their
own purpose: for instance, improving management information with
a new system.

Colleague

Motivate colleagues to feel that b helping and supporting you
they are pursuing their own ends: for example, putting together
a joint plan for office economies.

Subordinates

Motivate subordinates to think that following your wishes will
bring them satisfaction: for instance, taking over
responsibility for an entire job.

Note:

Assess your own motivation levels as well as those of your staff

Use persuasion and influence in order to encourage
self-motivation

Visit my site http://www.careerpath.cc

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 2:19 PM CDT

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Who has not watched intelligent, educated, good-hearted people
unable to create the lives they desired, who eventually give up,
consumed with despair and anger? They flail like gorillas on
roller skates, with great strength, but no leverage at all.

Why does this happen? One possible answer is that they had
theories, models for everything around them in life, but no way
to check the accuracy of their ideas. They failed to grasp that
EVERYONE deletes information from their conscious input. It is
simply impossible to take in all the data that streams past our
senses. Note the recent experiments proving that those
self-identified with either the political Right or Left can see
the flaws in the other party’s arguments, but not in their own.
This is typical of religious or gender bias as well. Men and
women, Christian and Moslem, Believer and Atheist…all are
vulnerable to this tendency.

If we are to be successful salesmen, artists, leaders, teachers,
or simply human beings, we must have a cosmology–a world view.
But we must also have an epistemology–an understanding of the
way we gather information, and a method to determine if our
methods of gathering or correlation or extrapolation are
accurate. Since experimentation with the outside world is often
beyond us, the only laboratory we have to test our ideas is our
own lives: our bodies, our careers, our relationships. To be
certain, some aspects of these are beyond us as well, but we
have infinitely greater control here than we have of events in
the outside world, let alone events on the level of
international politics. How can we address our customers’ needs
if we don’t really understand human strength and frailty? How
can a novelist create realistic characters if he indulges in
massive self-deception? How can a parent or teacher help raise a
child to maturity without actually maturing herself?

How, in other words, can we be certain that we actually know
what we think we know? Consider the possibility that we can
increase the accuracy of our thoughts through examining our
interactions with the three major aspects of our own lives: our
bodies, our careers, and our relationships.

1) Body. Our bodies are created by our daily behaviors. They
obey the laws of physics: the balance between calories in and
calories out must be maintained. But our emotions get in the
way. Yes, some people have slower metabolisms than others.
Perfectly true. But that is simply a fact, much like the reality
that some are born into poverty. While it is more difficult for
those with disadvantages to reach success, there are countless
examples of those who have done so, and if you wish to be happy
in life, you should study what they did, and keep your mind
tightly closed to the nay-sayers. You have NO obligation to
match some culturally determined standard of beauty, but you
SHOULD feel healthy, have the energy you desire, and match your
own values. How can you know if you do? Strip down in front of a
mirror. Do you find your own body attractive? If not, you have
work to do–either physically, or emotionally. Probably both!

2) Career. We have to balance income with expenditure. It is
possible to be happy (or content, or at peace) in any life
situation. If you are miserable at work, then it is your
responsibility to either make change, or to change your own
attitude. We’ve all known people who waste their entire lives
blaming their jobs, when it is their own lack of courage and
emotional/creative flexibility that keeps them locked into a
joyless existence. Our money flow is based upon many things,
including the degree of service we provide for our communities,
the self-respect that motivates us to demand what we are worth,
and the intelligence and discipline with which we manage our
finances. Creativity, empathy, determination, energy, honesty,
risk-taking…all of these things factor in. One can either make
more money, or develop the ability to find greater satisfaction
within the current financial level. But without the ability to
find peace and satisfaction here, much of the joy of life will
elude you. 3) Relationships. The savage truth is that, in
relationships, you can have anything you can afford. The coin is
passion, health, intelligence, self-respect, and confidence. Men
and women get into terrible trouble because they are attracted
to people more attractive than themselves, and can’t be honest
about it. Women complain that men want beauty, while men
complain that women want power. Get over it. We’re wired up that
way genetically, although the specific symbols of beauty and
power vary across culture and time. The sooner you stop
complaining about this immutable fact, the faster you’ll be able
to make decisions about the level of beauty or power you are
willing (or able) to manifest in your own life to get what you
want. And no, it isn’t fair. No one said life is fair. But each
gender seems to think that the other side has rigged the game to
its advantage. In fact, the less successful a man or woman is in
this arena, the less likely they are to grasp a central truth:
if women were men, they’d behave like men. If men were women,
they’d behave like women. Stop finger pointing, and get into the
game!

In each of these three arenas, there are painful truths we must
face: human beings are wise, and good, and strong, and
spiritual. Unfortunately we are also lazy, dishonest, confused,
and childishly wish the world would simply recognize our genius
and follow our advice. Why should the world, our customers, our
audience, our children, listen to us when we cannot communicate
honestly with ourselves?

In the creation of fictional characters, often all one has to do
is create a flaw in one of these three arenas, and then create a
plot situation that will teach the character a lesson they need
to heal. In the world of advertising, almost all products are
sold with an appeal to one of these three areas: sex, power, or
health. Fail to understand how human beings are driven by these
needs: or how almost EVERYONE fails to balance in all three of
them, and you will miss a primary motivation in human history.
If we cannot understand or effectively communicate with our own
psyches. What hope have we to effectively understand one another?

Mastery is a road, not a location. We needn’t be millionaires
with bodybuilder physiques married to movie stars with in order
to progress toward clarity and power. But we must take
responsibility. We must admit that we want health, and
happiness, and love. And move with both discipline and joy
toward a future we can cherish. What we learn along that road is
the Truth of what we are. And the truth will set you free.

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 8:32 AM CDT

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There lies in the heart of every man a quiet hunger. A longing for an earth shaking significance. It can be heard in the quiet, most unedited times like when our head hits the pillow at night. As the pressures of the day fade away the voice catches our attention. “I was meant for more than this, there has got to be something more.”

This calling catches us by surprise at the strangest times. We have felt it as a fire-in-the-belly as we watch movies like Braveheart and Gladiator. We remember the zealous times of our youth when our ideals and passion seemed to rule us. The world, however has ended up cold and somewhere along the road something was lost.

Many men and women alike have learned to accept a life of quiet resignation, committed to maintaining the status-quo. But still, in the times we least expect it, we hear that distant call again. A call for meaning, purpose, passion, significance. It continues to haunt us, to stalk us, and as we try to silence it with reason and maturity we find that indeed, it is a fire within our bones and it will not yield.

Our suspicions are correct. There is a larger story and we have a role to play in it. It has been said that what a man does during his life shall echo throughout eternity. Regardless of whether we choose to or not, we will leave a legacy. We will leave either blessings or curses to those that follow.

Nelson Mandela wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Most men spend years running from their purpose. Many spend years in waiting for their purpose to be revealed. But it is on the battleground of life that you find your role in the larger story. The script will not be delivered before the next scene, but it will come to you in your courage.

If you are ready to find your purpose, find the voice. Go back to the places that you have heard it most clear. For some it comes in the early morning, before the cares of the day have drowned them out. For others it comes through music, or movies, or books. For others it is found on a walk through the woods or on the side of a mountain. Find the voice again and listen. Allow it to stir you up again. Then begin to move in the direction it calls.

Your legacy is written on you heart, it’s up to you to write it on the hearts of others.

Shane Parkins is a social entrepreneur and serial innovator. He has developed his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer around the concept of “venture philanthropy”. With his passion for impacting the world around him, Shane Parkins has built partnerships with homeowners across the nation to bring an end to the human trafficking and slavery pandemic. A modern day abolitionist, Shane directs a substancial portion of the commissions earned from home loans into programs that bring freedom and healing to thousands around the globe. You can learn more about the cause at his website http://www.shaneparkins.com/ or email shaneparkins@hotmail.com

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 10:30 PM CDT

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Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Intellectual Cross Pollination

Intellectual Cross Pollination is the raw material of the idea generation process. This statement alone implies that certain actions ought to be taken to enhance the quality and quantity of the idea pool, including:

a) The larger the number of people actively involved in the idea generation process, the better the quality of results (manipulating group structures further enhances results).

b) The larger the number of diverse and novel participants in the idea generating process, the richer the results.

c) Making use of networks and collaborating increases the tacit knowledge mix, thus overcoming path dependency, parochialism, competency traps and allowing frame breaking.

d) Allowing access to varied knowledge bases / information stores increases the intellectual base of the idea generating process.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop MBA, is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

Posted by admin as World Of Self Improvement at 12:45 AM CDT

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