Archive for Motivational articles
Are you focusing on what you want?
Posted by: | CommentsAre you focusing on what you want?
By Karim Hajee
Or are you focused on what you don’t want?
Think about it and you might be surprised by what you find.
A lot of people focus on what they don’t want.
For example… do you say: “I don’t want to be mistreated, I don’t want to lose my job, I don’t want to be broke, I don’t want to be single, I don’t want to be overweight, I don’t want… “(fill in the blank).
When the emphasis is on what you don’t want… your subconscious mind picks up on the part after the don’t want and so creates exactly what you don’t want.
Why?
Because your concerned about what you don’t want and the energy or emphasis is on that part of the thought. If you say you don’t want to lose your job – you’re really concerned about losing your job… this is what you focus on, that you might lose your job. And this is what the subconscious mind picks up on.
Read the rest of Karim Hajee’s article at:
http://www.cartoonmotivators.com/FocusOnWhatYouWant.html
10 ways to start taking control!
Posted by: | Comments10 ways to start taking control (time management, goal setting, record tracking)
At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) have nothing to do with one another. But many of us with ADD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to manage those challenges and move forward.
Practicing positive thinking allows people with ADD to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns:
1. Take Good Care of Yourself
It’s much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.
2. Remind Yourself of the Things You Are Grateful For
Stresses and challenges don’t seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.
3. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions
A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member’s bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don’t waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.
4. Refrain from Using Absolutes
Have you ever told a partner “You’re ALWAYS late!” or complained to a friend “You NEVER call me!”? Thinking and speaking in absolutes like ‘always’ and ‘never’ makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that certain people are incapable of delivering.
5. Detach From Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts can’t hold any power over you if you don’t judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don’t follow it.
6. Squash the “ANTs”
In his book “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” Dr. Daniel Amen talks about “ANTs” – Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like “Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me,” or “The boss wants to see me? It must be bad!” When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!
7. Practice Lovin’, Touchin’ & Squeezin’ (Your Friends and Family)
You don’t have to be an expert to know the benefits of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn’t touch!
8. Increase Your Social Activity
By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!
9. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person
Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.
10. Use Pattern Interrupts to Combat Rumination
If you find yourself ruminating, a great way to stop it is to interrupt the pattern and force yourself to do something completely different. Rumination is like hyper-focus on something negative. It’s never productive, because it’s not rational or solution-oriented, it’s just excessive worry. Try changing your physical environment – go for a walk or sit outside. You could also call a friend, pick up a book, or turn on some music.
When it comes to the corporate world, protocol is pretty much the religion. To know the things needed to do are the basics of productivity, but interaction and having a steady mind makes up the entire thing to true productivity. There are those who seem to work well even under pressure, but they’re uncommon ones and we are human and imperfect. To get these little things like stress under our skins won’t solve our problems. Sometimes it takes a bit of courage to admit that we’re turning to be workaholics than tell ourselves that we’re not doing our best.
45 Lessons Of Life! (Part 2 – Lessons 31-45.)
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s the last lessons written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now. (YES – agree wholeheartedly)
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved..
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”
I hope you take these on board – I love them, so will be referring to them as often as possible.
45 Lessons Of Life! (Part 2 – Lessons 16-30.)
Posted by: | CommentsHere are Lessons 16 thru 30 Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19.. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special. (Haven’t I been saying this for years – Elle)
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple. (Can relate to this one – Elle)
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words – ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
45 Lessons Of Life! (Part 1 – Lessons 1-15!)
Posted by: | CommentsI was going through my old emails today and came across something I thought I would share with you. These 45 lessons of life are pearls of wisdom and should be taken to heart, used, passed on and shared because they are so true. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do (I keep things to inspire me too you know)
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step…..
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone…
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
Check in tomorrow for Lessons 16 thru 30.
Limiting Beliefs!
Posted by: | CommentsUnderstanding beliefs
The intention of the limiting belief
Think of a time when you have wanted to do something and then countered it with the thought, ‘I can’t because I’m…’ or ‘Yes, but….’ and talked yourself out of it. We’re often afraid to start something for fear of not being good enough, or fearing failure. The thoughts that warn us of impending potential failure can see us walk away from opportunities. This is the result of our subconscious trying to protect us from failing. This is often termed ‘protecting your comfort zone.’
This is another extract and cartoon I drew for Tracy Plaice’s Face The Music and WIN! book.
Tips For Achieving Goals!
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have long-term projects with short-term expectations? If you do, that is a sure path to frustration and failure.
Lifestyle goals such as exercise and healthy diet have to become habits in order to be effective. Career change also takes time and planning, and it doesn’t happen overnight.
Your world has shifted. There’s voice mail, e-mail, pagers, and faxes that have made a “waiting” period unacceptable and almost obsolete. With information immediately available, we expect relationships and goal achievement to be done the same. As you read this you know that it is unreasonable to expect that, don’t you? We’ve been led by advertisers to believe that we deserve immediate gratification, and that it is readily and effortlessly available!
When you want to train a puppy, you know that it’s going to take time and consistent reinforcement. You’re ready for that, because you want your puppy to behave in an acceptable way. Why then, are you so patient with the puppy and so hard on yourself?
When you plant seeds in the garden, you tend them, water them, hope for sunlight and nurture them. Are you nurturing yourself?
The best way to move gently and effectively towards your goals is to take a reasonable approach. Break your long-term project goal into sub-goals. Break it into doable, short-term chunks. Today prepare the soil; tomorrow plant the seeds.
Break Your Big Goal Down Into Managable Small Chunks!
Each action you take and each step is satisfying because you know that it is contributing to the completion of your goal. You cannot rush Mother Nature with your garden, and the same is true for your goals.
This process is much more than “bloom where you’re planted”, because when you’re the gardener you choose what to plant and how to nurture it. Do the same for yourself, and grow yourself beautifully. Your goals will be accomplished in due time, and you won’t end up up-tight and frazzled.
Success Secrets Still Valid!
Posted by: | CommentsAuthor Michael Jeffreys personally interviewed 15 top motivational gurus in 1997 for his then upcoming book. After talking to gurus from Brian Tracy to Dr. Wayne Dyer, he distilled 8 Secrets to Success they all agreed upon. These secrets are still good today and are as follows:
- Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life – In a society where people blame everything from their parents to the government for failure, those who don’t buy into this mentality or succumb to the “victim” thinking succeed. To blame something or somebody outside yourself is saying they have control of your life and not you. Someone else’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality.
- Live Your Life On Purpose - What separates motivational thinkers from the unsuccessful is that they believe they’re doing what they were put her to do. The difference between this and just living, is that the latter is just getting through the week with the least problems. But when you live your life on purpose, your main concern is doing the job right. For the entrepreneur this means finding a cause you believe in and building your business around it.
- Be Willing to Pay the Price - Be willing to pay the price for your dreams. Wanting a big house, a luxury car, and a million dollars in the bank is all very nice, and everyone wants these things – but are you willing to pay the price to get them? This is one of the major differences between the successful and unsuccessful.
- Stay Focused – Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of tasks, phone calls, messages, and everyone competing for our time. Focusing requires giving up something in the present because you are investing your time in something that will pay off big-time down the road. Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson were turned by 30 publishers when they submitted the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. Instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal and did four or five interviews per day for radio, TV, and newspapers, for five days a week for a whole year. Eventually, a small publisher decided to take a chance, and of course now it’s a best-seller that spawned an entire series that have sold more than 10 million copies.
- Become An Expert in Your Field One striking factor all successful people have in common is how seriously they take their profession. They strive to be the best at what they do, and do almost anything to improve. If someone followed you around all day with a video camera at your business, would it be a tape you’d be proud of or embarrassed about? Make the decision today to work at being the best in your field. How? By finding out what the “best” in your field are doing, and do what they do.
- Write Out a Plan for Achieving Your Goals – Write out an action plan/map for how you’re going to achieve your goals. Trying to reach your goals without a plan is like trying to drive from Los Angeles to Chicago without a map. A goal that isn’t written down is merely a wish or fantasy.
- Never Give Up - Never, never, never give up. When you’re fully committed to achieving your goal, giving up is not an option. You must be willing do whatever it takes to make it happen. The power of perseverance is an awesome force. As someone once said, “inch by inch it’s a cinch”. Think of the lowly inchworm – if it pondered the length of the trip from start to finish before it started, it probably would never move. To a worm’s point-of-view, the garden path must look like a trip to Mars. Never give up! Keep on going like the Eveready battery bunny, and pretty soon you’re there.
- Don’t Delay - Nobody knows how much time they have left to accomplish their dreams, and we must remember that we don’t have forever. The clock is ticking, and sooner or later your number comes up and you’re gone. Successful achievers know this too, but they don’t view it as a “negative”. Achievers use it to “spur them on”. They go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible, for as long as they have.
I had a friend who used to say, “Today is a check – cash it! Yesterday is an I.O.U. – forget it! Tomorrow is a promissory note, don’t bank on it!” I think that’s a pretty good summation of life, so go out there and cash in on that “today”
10 Easy Steps To Achieve Any Goal If You Really Want To"
Posted by: | CommentsAre You a Victor or Victim of Your Circumstances? If you are intent on being a victor in your own life, these 10 easy steps will guarantee you success in all you do and in all that you hope and want to achieve.
This Coaching Tool will ensure that you reach any goal you want and attain your desires and dreams. You can help your clients, employees or family members apply these steps too and set them up for success. It works if you work it! Achieving You Goal
1. Write down and list what you really want to achieve in your life right now or in a few years time.
2. Of the list, which one do you most want at this moment?
3. Write it down
4. List ALL the steps from A to Z that you would need to do in order to achieve this goal
5. Next to Step 1, write down WHEN you will do this. Write down the date and time
6. Start! Do it!
7. Do not give up until you achieve it
8. If you are met with obstacles along the way, find ways to get around them
9. You don’t get to NOT KNOW – ask whomever you need to OR do all the research you can to get an answer or find a solution
10. Email me when you have reached your goal 
If you have secrets desires go ahead and turn them into attainable goals by following the 10 steps above. Just by doing this you will already be setting yourself up for a much greater chance of success. Success comes from planning, moving and taking action! As you begin the 10 steps you will see your goal take shape and once you experience positive results and outcomes with each step you take, you will be more and more motivated to persevere until what you want is what you have. If you are waiting for your dreams to become reality d o something now!
What wishes, hopes or dreams can you turn around right now into an achievable and workable goal?
Kim Knight, The Coach Yourself to Greatness Coach, has helped a number of clients target their goals. The Personal Life Coach is not only a sought-after trusted and inspirational coach. There are many successful clients whose friends and family are amazed at finding out that someone else coached them on their overall transformation. Kim is the creator of the forthcoming Online 7 week course, How to Get What you Want Now.” Created for practicing coaches and individuals. For more information, visit Kim’s site at www.kimknightcoaching.com and sign up for up for her FREE Coaching Tips at http://www.coachtogreatness.com
Kim Knight may be contacted at http://www.kimknightcoaching.com expatk@yahoo.com. Click here to view more of their articles.
Kim is a passionate and successful weight loss and personal life coach. She works internationally covering most continents and is available within 12 – 24 hours of your email received.
Tony Robbins explains why you fail!
Posted by: | CommentsHave you ever bought a ‘How To succeed’ product, a slimming course or some expensive Internet marketing package and then failed to make it work. Well here’s a video that Tony Robbins explains why you fail…
http://tonyrobbinstraining.com/320/interview-with-frank-kern-and-john-reese/
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