Oct

14

The Rewards of Giving

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By sharon eiffel

Contrary to common thinking, giving has nothing to do with material wealth. Whilst it may be true that material possessions enhance the capability to give, material gifts serve only to express the attitude of giving behind. With or without material possessions we can still afford to give. After-all, it is the priceless gifts of love and caring which all humanity craves for.

Everyone wants to be on the receiving end all the time, but to have a consciousness and conscience to think of others first before ourselves is extraordinary. To give a stranger a simple smile goes a long way. Just a simple act of kindness, like someone holding the door for me, makes a difference in my entire day.

Though the act itself might be very simple but it is the attitude behind the action which is valuable. So do not worry too much about what exactly you are giving, what has value is the attitude behind it, as the cliche goes, “it is the thought that counts.” Ironically, it is in the giving that we receive. Though we might not realise it immediately, or get the very same gift from another person but the more we give the more we receive.

The immediate effect one can realize is on our bodies. The satisfaction that is gained from giving is invaluable. Giving reveals our spiritual substance, our faith in the abundance in the Universe. For if all you see is poverty and lack, how can you give? A person with a giving attitude has a positive outlook on the world. For you cannot possibly give if your heart is filled with anger and frustration. So already, you can see, that by adopting a giving mindset, by seeking to put others first before self, our outlook on the world will simultaneously change.

All fears, worries and anxieties come when we are too bogged down with ourselves. However, the moment we let go of ‘’me, me, me'’ and think of others these worries will soon dissolve. This is not suggesting that we give up on ourselves, but rather to take a step back and look at the wider picture. Rather than seeking to receive all the time, seek to give, remembering that whatever we cause others to experience we will experience it ourselves and so much more.

Put a smile on someone face, cause others to feel worthy, and be part of a good cause. In the Bible, it is written “do unto others as you would like them to do unto you”. It is pretty self explanatory that whatever you wish to experience in life, give it! We are all part of the same thing. We all stem from the same one source and we generally all share the same feelings.

By giving to others, you are working in alignment with the Source of all, for the true nature of God is generous, loving and considerate. When you give, God is indeed working through you. And if God is on your side, who can be against you? You are working with the Supreme Power whose capabilities are beyond comprehension, and with whom all we may ever seek comes from.

Open the floodgates of abundance into your life by making others experience abundance. Experience new found joy and peace into your life by becoming an instrument of God bringing joy into the lives of others.

I came across a poem on the internet which beautifully sums up what I have just said here.
“If you see it, touch it.
If you touch it, feel it.
If you feel it, love it.
If you love it…Give it.
Because nothing speaks to the Universe louder, of your belief in self, abundance, and love, than giving. And when the Universe hears, more will be added unto you. Not as A reward, but because you truly believed… in self, abundance, and love.”.

About The Author

Sharon Eiffel is a motivational writer who writes on personal development and self help. Discover the simple principles to successful living in Sharon ‘’s new e-book, The Wealth Within. Instantly get your copy now at www.ecanhappen.com or visit her blog at http://www.ecanhappen.com/wordpress

Oct

5

Forgiveness - The Most Powerful Healing Tool of All

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Mike McCoy

What do you mean when you say the word “forgiveness”? For me, it means surrender, letting go, allowing, and acceptance. Acceptance of what is, of what has been, and acceptance of ourselves just the way we are. Forgiveness means that we choose to love LOVE more than we choose to hate the world.

There are many ways to define “forgiveness”. Traditional Forgiveness implies that even though something really terrible happened, we stop obsessing over it. We “let bygones be bygones” and we allow the passage of time to help soothe our aching hearts. We may even move toward a kind of partial compassion with the thought, “he or she didn'’t know any better” or “they were doing the best they could.”

With Traditional Forgiveness, there are distinct roles that we and our adversaries play, which usually take the form of victim and perpetrator. Sometimes we are the victims, and the other person is the perpetrator. In these cases, we often feel anger, fear, betrayal, jealousy, disillusionment and hatred when we contemplate what happened. In other situations, we are the perpetrators, and we feel fear, guilt, shame and despair when we think about what we did to our victim(s).

Forgiveness and Conflict

Distressing situations often happen during childhood. Developmentally, we must respond from a child’’s innocent point of view, and most people retain both the pain and the beliefs that were triggered from hurtful family and social interactions. We also feel the deep impact of societal conditioning, and we take on ideas about who we are as we relate to our gender, color, appearance, intellect, economic status, and sexual preferences.

Each traumatic event stands out in our minds, illustrated by many colorful details. We remember what happened (or, to be more accurate, we conjure up a current version of our story about what happened) and we begin to feel the familiar corresponding painful emotions. When our memories stir up uncomfortable emotions, we often suppress them deep into our subconscious minds.

Our minds think, “If I feel that much pain again, I'’ll die. I can'’t handle it. If I go in there, I'’ll never get out.”

In reaction to the painful events of our lives, we form conclusions about the nature of reality. We attach our life essence to certain unconscious beliefs about what is real, about the way life works, about who, what and how we are. Some of our favorite beliefs are:

I'’m not good enough
I'’m unlovable
I must have done something horribly wrong
I can'’t do it right
I'’ll never be good enough
Everyone will leave me
The world is a dangerous place
I can'’t trust
God hates me

Sometimes we are not aware that we are actually harboring these beliefs about ourselves and about life. ‘’Not me!'’ we think. Well, unless we are living in absolute unity with the Oneness at every moment of our existence, some of these stowaway beliefs may still be crouching in the recesses of our minds. We can tell if they are around by listening to our thoughts as we go about our day.

Perhaps these thoughts are more familiar:

* It'’ll never turn out right
* Those people are idiots
* Watch your back - you never know what’’s coming
* They don'’t like me
* Those people always get the breaks (and I don'’t)
* Money is filthy and unspiritual
* I hate my body
* Old age is a drag
* I can never decide
* The weather sucks
* I can'’t do it because…

Sound familiar?

Our physical bodies are also excellent barometers. The quality of our thoughts directly affects our brains, hearts, blood and overall health. Aches, syndromes, diseases and physical weaknesses of all sorts are indications of what is going on in our minds.

Even the way we breathe and the way we relax (or don'’t relax) give us hints about the inner workings of our thoughts and emotions. The more we think about the upsetting events that have occurred in our lives, the more we actually create experiences of fear, defensiveness, attack and withdrawal that reoccur as patterns throughout our lives.

These themes are usually easier to see in the lives of everyone else, but as we sharpen our desire to live in the truth of what is, rather than the illusion of how we wish life would be, we begin to honestly look at our own discordant patterns. It is at this point in our development that forgiveness begins to shine like a warm beacon of hope and new possibilities.

When we forgive, we don'’t need to condone the actions that were done by ourselves or others. We can still empower ourselves and we may choose to use the legal system for support in seeking justice. This is the arena in which apologies, reconciliation, compensation, mediation and other conflict resolution techniques are helpful and appropriate.

Radical Forgiveness

With Radical Forgiveness, we explore the deep pain that we feel when we perceive that we were attacked or betrayed, or when we attack or betray someone else. We also honestly touch upon the places where we have attacked or betrayed our divine Self. This is the pain and sadness of the human condition, of feeling separate, alone and afraid.

Radical Forgiveness adds another element to the picture: the World of Divine Truth. This is not a religious idea; rather, it is an awareness that who we are is not just physical, emotional and mental -in addition, we are all sacred spiritual beings, having a temporary human experience. We realize that on a spiritual level, no one is ever hurt or healed. We are in a state of perfect, eternal wholeness, in unity with our Creator at all times.

If this is so, then what is the purpose of this human life? One purpose is that we are participating in an Earth school for our souls, so that we can expand our awareness of the Oneness that we are. Then what do the patterns of trauma and heartbreak mean? How can we understand the lessons we have come to learn?

We begin to understand that everyone who has played a part in our individual dramatic play was there as a purposeful, eternal friend. We start to take responsibility for everything that we have created, knowing that we also - simultaneously - played an essential part for everyone we have ever touched.

We realize, “So life wasn'’t out to get me after all!” We learn to include ALL of what has taken place, no matter what it felt like or looked like. Bringing this new vitality all the way into the physical cells of our body, we wash away old beliefs with loving, forgiving compassion.

About The Author

Find someone who is a certified Radical Forgiveness counselor, peace educator and mediator. She has also been a healer and Breath of Life breath facilitator for over 20 years. Contact her at www.anaholub.com for more information.

Sep

25

Imagine Your Way To Success

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Paula Snyder

Your imagination makes your subconscious mind see what your conscious mind believes. Beliefs are powerful, but your imagination is more powerful because it can change your beliefs.

So, what do I mean by Imagine Your Way to Success? This is creating mental pictures in your mind of what you want, and some tips on getting started.

First you must decide EXACTLY what you want.

For alot of people, this can be difficult because they don'’t know what they want. It can be more money, better health, or a better job. However you must know what you want in order for this to work.

Once you decide on what you want, you must now have the fake it till you make it attitude. You must picture yourself as already achieving your goal. It works best if you picture details as well, for example say you want a new boat, you must picture what kind of boat, the length, the motor, how many bedrooms does it have, how fast does it go, who is going to be on the boat with you. I think you get the picture.

Imagine that you are watching yourself on a movie screen doing exactly what it is that you want.

Choose the same time each day for your mental pictures.

It works best for most people if they create their mental pictures first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to bed. However, that is up to you.

The important thing is to do it for 15 minutes every day, seven days a week for six weeks. This will make mental picturing a habit.

Make sure you will not be interrupted.

Make this YOUR time. If you need to turn off the phone or hang up a DO NOT DISTURB sign and let everyone know that it is to be honored.

Accept all mental pictures as positive images. Imagine yourself being successful. In the movie of your mind see yourself acting and responding the way you think you should. Picture yourself as if you had already achieved your goal. Be confident and happy.

Remember that the subconscious mind can'’t tell the difference between a real experience and one that is imagined. It agrees with every suggestion the conscious mind gives it. An imagined experience is perceived and acted on by your subconscious mind exactly the same as a real experience.

When you focus your imagination on the way you wish to be, your conscious mind directs your subconscious mind to accept these new images, and since your subconscious mind will agree and comply with the images your conscious mind creates, acting as if it were true will in effect make it true.

Part of your mind is going to try to distract you with things like; did I turn off the coffee pot? Did I lock the doors? Did I feed the dog? Just tell it to shut up and that you will deal with it later. Then return to your mental pictures.

Remember that your attitudes, feelings, and behavior change in the direction of what you believe to be true. Through your imagination you can create positive mental pictures of what you want and act as if you have already achieved success.

About The Author

Paula Snyder has found the coolest tool ever to put your mental pictures on steriods and activate the Law of Attraction to you in record speed. Check it out and grab your free gifts.

http://mindmoviesscam.blogspot.com
Mind Movies
http://www.paulaksnyder.com
paulaksnyder

Sep

21

Stretch Beyond What You Can Hope to Succed at to Learn the Most

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Donald Mitchell

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

–Yogi Berra

At age 21, I was blessed with a great mentor, legendary Harvard Business Review, Ernie Frawley. He continually listened to what I was trying to do, advised me on when I needed to make a shift, and encouraged me to take on new challenges. As a result, I found out a lot about business that I could never have learned from theoretical studies.

Let me share the story as a way to encourage you to find a mentor who will push you into challenges you are ready for, but don'’t realize that you can handle.

On his own initiative, Ernie persuaded me to start taking courses in the second year of the Harvard MBA program in marketing while I was a second-year law student. I asked Ernie why I should study second-year marketing. He responded that there was almost no discipline-specific content in the marketing courses, and no one could tell the difference between a first-year and a second-year marketing course. The courses just looked at different case studies. As a result, I would be at no disadvantage over other students in the second year curriculum.

I would have preferred taking the first-year version; but in the first year, the marketing course was held on an unscheduled basis that created unavoidable conflicts with regularly scheduled classes elsewhere.

Curious, I complied with Ernie’’s suggestion and immediately made a big mistake. Not understanding that the business school and law schools operated with different length classes, I signed up for two courses that met at the same time. And the two schools were a brisk 20 minute walk apart!

Gradually, I figured out that I didn'’t have to go to my tax class at the law school. I could just read the materials on my own. The tax code and regulations are pretty straightforward if you can understand bureaucratic language.

So I spent my class time on those days south of the Charles River listening to MBA students say the most illogical and foolish things imaginable in class: They always wanted to abandon what was working well in favor of dangerous new directions, such as the student who wanted to drop the brand name for Heinz Ketchup in favor of a new name that no one had heard of before. It was irresistible entertainment.

I began to notice that discussing business was a lot of fun while combing over the law was always deadly dull.

For the following semester, I signed up for a class that was the culmination of a marketing MBA: providing a consulting service in marketing for a real business. Wanting to be conservative due to my inexperience in business and limited business education, I picked a magazine-related project (I had worked at Harvard Magazine for several years).

My MBA student teammates were impressed with my experience, so I was asked to help organize our work. Since I knew few of the analytical techniques that MBAs learn, I relied on my teammates teaching me the various methods we could employ before we picked one. It was a great learning experience for all of us.

Three days before the final presentation, our adviser happened to mention that we were expected to deliver a 100-page written report at the presentation. We had planned to write the report later.

In a panic, I hired one of my law school secretary friends to type and started writing the report on a legal pad. Another team member was writing the presentation, but he needed to see the written report to do that.

I would write for 12 hours at a stretch and snooze for a while on the couch in our shared office while my secretary friend typed. She kept clicking away until she couldn'’t see straight and would then return a few hours later.

Twice a day the presentation team came to read what she had typed and to ask me questions. We finished with six hours remaining before the deadline.

After that experience, I felt like I could do anything.
To me, the most amazing part of the course was that our advice turned out to be uncannily accurate, even if that point wasn'’t clear until later to anyone but our team.

The presentation seemed to go well. Our client was polite and attentive. But after we ended, he asked us over a few beers if we really meant that the magazine would stop growing its circulation in six months. Yes, we meant that.

He told us we had missed the boat. He argued that the magazine was serving less than 5 percent of its eventual readership. We explained why we thought that he was wrong, but he was complacent enough not to be offended. Needless to say, the magazine stopped growing six months later.

That client and I bump into each other from time to time, and he’’s still puzzled by how we figured out that circulation was about to stop growing. It was actually pretty simple to figure out, and we explained our method to him at the time.

We surveyed the people we assumed knew the most about the magazine and looked at the rate whereby they purchased the magazine versus a key competitor’’s magazine. We assumed that ratio between the two publications would be a limit on growth potential across the country as awareness expanded.

Looking at the ratio, we simply took the current growth rate forward until that limit was reached. It would happen in six months. The publisher simply didn'’t realize that others didn'’t love his magazine as much as he did.

That kind of short-sightedness is a key reason why many businesses underperform. It was a good lesson to learn at a young age: Optimism pursued solely on faith, rather than good thinking and hard work, could be a disadvantage.

But I remained optimistic. I could see what the magazine could have done differently to grow larger . . . but its leaders weren'’t willing to consider those changes.

Three owners later, all of the changes were in place. The first set of owners cost themselves a fortune by being stuck in the wrong mind-set.

That observation was very interesting to me. Since then, I'’ve seen the same pattern repeated hundreds of times. Many people would rather fail with their own approach than look around and shift to a better one. That inclination leaves a lot of opportunity for mentally and emotionally flexible people.

Do you have mentor who pushes you to take on the challenges you ready for?

If not, what are you waiting for?

About The Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at

http://www.fastforward400.com .

Sep

21

You Never Know What You Can Do Until You Improvise

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Donald Mitchell

Improvisation is too good to be left to chance.

–Paul Simon

Improvisation is essential because it keeps you focused on trying to accomplish something rather than being distracted by hurdles and challenges. Let me explain more.

My childhood experiences made me confident that I could find opportunities where others saw none. And that confidence has always been rewarded. It’’s no wonder I'’m an optimist!

Here’’s an example: Wanting to get married right after college, I felt like it wasn'’t right to ask my parents to help pay for graduate school. I believe a married couple should be able to handle their own expenses.

But Harvard Law School wouldn'’t provide any financial aid unless my parents provided financial statements as though they would be contributing. As a matter of principle, I didn'’t want to ask mom and dad to do even that.

So I applied to law school with the prospect of a working wife and big bills ahead. Fortunately, the publisher of the university’’s alumni magazine was looking for a part-time person to manage the magazine’’s circulation and advertising activities.

I had been working as the flunky in the circulation department while I was in college and was asked to fill the job. I figured out to the penny how much money I needed to get married and go to graduate school. I also knew how much time I could spare for work from my legal studies.

I offered 10 hours of my time per week during the school year at what would be in today’’s terms over $200 an hour, plus a large bonus tied to circulation increases. The editor later told me he almost fainted when I made that offer, assuming the publisher would never agree.

The publisher quickly accepted. He knew it was a good deal. I would easily save the magazine what I cost through expanded circulation revenues. During that year, the magazine’’s readership grew by more than it had in the prior 40 years combined, and our cash balance expanded to its highest level ever. I also helped the editor shift the magazine’’s production to a new printer who provided much better quality and service at no increased cost.

If I could do something like that for the well-educated leaders of Harvard University, imagine what else might be possible!

A better opportunity soon came along. I had learned a lot about printing and financial analysis from my magazine work. Having heard about my success with Harvard Magazine, the editor of Harvard’’s law school alumni publication came to ask for my help.

I told her I would be glad to do the same things for her on a part-time basis. I negotiated with the university magazine’’s publisher to skip lunches over the summer (when I worked full time) so I could work from 4 to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday at the law school.

Soon, the law school was also making great progress in cutting costs and adding revenue. After that success, the law school’’s dean asked to meet with me to see if I would look into the rest of the school’’s publications and its messy arrangements for printing study materials and copying professors'’ work.

His face showed shock when I asked him if he knew that I was one of the school’’s law students for he thought that I was a full-time publishing professional with many years of experience. I ended up being hired to work at a vast multiple of the rate paid to the top-ranked students in the school for legal research. But I had to promise to keep my income secret.

My dean became the first of four Harvard Law School deans I served in a professional capacity. On a mostly self-taught basis, I ended up helping design or redesigning almost all of the school’’s computer systems and administrative processes, overhauling the fundraising efforts, and improving many areas of operations including the dining hall. Eventually, I began to provide strategic advice about how to gain advantages over other law schools.

From this experience, I realized that those who are at the top often have no more idea than those at the bottom that they have great opportunities. The main difference is that those at the top are more likely to be looking for better ways. I could be of help.

I found one of my most influential mentors at that time, Ernie Frawley, the legendary publisher of the Harvard Business Review. He had done an amazing job of building a highly profitable nonprofit business based on subscriptions to non-alumni and sales of article reprints for what had once been a traditional academic publication of interest mostly to professors.

Before I made any of my more controversial proposals at Harvard, I would check the ideas out with Ernie. He was always supportive. In fact, he encouraged me to think even bigger. Everyone needs such a fine mentor.

Are you ready to improvise?

Do you have a wise mentor you can check out your improvisations with?

If not, you need to get started!

About The Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at

http://www.fastforward400.com .

Sep

18

How To Be Taken More Seriously At Work

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Tony Jacowski

Have you ever felt that you are not taken seriously enough by others at work? Does this fact distress you? And how do you know that your perception is objective (i.e., you are under no illusions)? It may be worthwhile to ask yourself this question, especially if you are trying to advance within your workplace.

First of all, question why people tend to ignore you. Or why you are not able to attract others'’ attention as easily or as much as you would have wanted. Is it simply that you want all the attention and to be in the limelight all the time at work?

Too much desire for the attention of others implies inward poverty and weakness of character. However, you may genuinely and legitimately be concerned about the fact that others do not take you seriously and you should look at your own communication skills and deficiencies.

If you determine that you do need to shore up your communications skills in order to be taken more seriously, some of the causes may be as follow:

Serious Vs. Frivolous

Are you serious or frivolous by nature? Remember that in order to be taken seriously, you must be serious. This does not mean that you need to have a sad and pensive demeanor.

It simply means you are business-like and professionl - even when you crack a joke. Serious people don'’t joke as an escape from their boredom. Their jokes are the spontaneous expression of their senses of humor, especially in the workplace. It is important to be the “witty professional” instead of the “class clown” when joking with your peers and coworkers in the workplace.

Elegant Vs. Shabby

Do you dress shabbily or elegantly? How do you conduct yourself? Remember, your appearance is integral to your persona. Keeping a professional appearance is the beginning and end of being taken seriously by others.

Sloppy and casual dress and attitude are the greatest enemies of professionalism.

Talkative Vs. Eloquent

Be eloquent rather than talkative. The words of a talkative person do not hold much substance. Besides, words are often used like arrows out of a quiver. You can make friends or foes just by your diction. So be discreet in your choice of words.
Simply speaking without quality is not good enough.

Striving for excellence in your work is the foundation of your work ethic. Always pursue excellence in all your endeavors. Mediocrity in your work does not exude professionalism. If you produce inferior or mediocre work, you will not be taken seriously by your colleagues or superiors.

About The Author

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma professionals including, lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Sep

17

Accessing Your True Self in Relationships

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Debra Berndt

You may be familiar with the critical voice in your mind that tells you that there are no good ones left, you are not attractive enough or that men are jerks. Being so familiar with the voice or negative mind chatter, you actually believe what you are telling yourself. These consistent thoughts are simply an old habit and have no real substance to them. Unfortunately, they have tremendous power in creating your dating experience. In order to change your love destiny, you must change your habit of thinking.

Deep within your mind is a voice that is friendly, kind, reassuring and compassionate. That warm, wonderful part of you is your true self. Even if you hear the voice rarely, she or he is still there struggling to be heard. Allow yourself to open up to the kind voice that is encouraging and supportive and start believing her or him. By focusing on the positive flow of thought through your mind, you make it stronger and more powerful. Soon the thoughts of love and self-assurance will become a stronger habit and the negative voice will become quieter and even non-existent.

An easy way to retain your mind is by using self-hypnosis. Hypnosis is a simple relaxation of the mind to allow new ideas to flow deep into your subconscious, the source of all of your thoughts and beliefs. Eighty-percent of your thoughts are the same everyday and you need to find a way to redirect the flow so that you can steer your mind in the direction of love and acceptance. Like an old shoe, your negative thoughts can be more comfortable than new, supportive ideas. After a few weeks of daily self-hypnosis, you will notice a change in the way you think and act, especially in your dating life. Your real wonderful self will start to emerge.

Hypnosis is not a magic wand but a tool that you can use to retrain your thinking. The trance state allows the critical voice to relax so that the voice of your true being can flourish. Hypnosis is more powerful than simple affirmations. To make a shift your subconscious mind, it takes one thousand affirmations to equal one suggestion in the trance state. Less work, faster results, why not give it a shot?

By allowing the old, worn out ideas dissolve away, you can bring forth your amazing, unlimited self to play in the world. Accessing your true self enables you to stand in your magnificence and project that image out to others. You will soon find that the relationships you attract will be healthier and your entire state of mind will become more peaceful. You do not have to change anything about yourself except where you direct your mind. Focus on who you really are and let your light shine.

About The Author

Debra Berndt is a Certified Hypnotic Love Coach, Host of The Love Coach Radio Show, and Author of the upcoming book, “Let Love In.” Get free attract love mp3 download and her weekly dating advice newsletter from her website at AttractLoveToday.com

Sep

16

Be Challenged by the Best to Be the Best: Peter Drucker Asks a Question and Makes an Observation

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Donald Mitchell

We always carry out by committee anything in which
any one of us alone would be too reasonable to persist.

–Frank Moore Colby

I had the good fortune to work with Peter Drucker for many years in helping to sharpen my focus on creating tomorrow’’s best management practices. Let me share with you what I learned and encourage you to seek similar stimulation.

By early 1995, Carol Coles and I had been meeting with Peter Drucker, the founder of the management as an academic field, two or three times annually to review what our learning organizations for executives and entrepreneurs were doing and to get his advice on how to improve. It was exciting to hop on the plane to California from Boston knowing all the great things we had to share with Peter.

On this occasion, he unexpectedly shifted our focus. He asked a new question: “How many of these new developments are you learning from your members and how many are you developing from your own thoughts?” Considering the last year’’s results, we realized that although the members were doing a great job of defining what they wanted to know, we had drained the insights members could provide from their experiences. The new processes, solutions, and breakthroughs were coming from work that Carol and I were doing. We admitted that to Peter.

He noted that if that were true, these organizations were holding back the innovations that Carol and I could develop and deliver. We agreed to think about his observation.

His question was like the emotional impact of being hit by a surprise earthquake. We were reeling with the implications for weeks.

Nagged by that suggestion, I realized that a totally new approach was needed. Other seeds started to germinate that I had gathered from my observations about the nature of making rapid improvements. Here was the conclusion: The fastest current rate of progress could be replaced by much more rapid improvements when better sharing of knowledge was tied to focusing existing attitudes and habits in more helpful directions.

Gradually, I began to realize that it is possible to accelerate worldwide improvements by 20 times within the span of only 20 years. That realization was a key ingredient in launching the project to bring that result about. Before the end of 1995, the project to achieve that acceleration goal between 2015 and 2035 was born.

Thirteen years later, we'’ve shown that it can be done.

But the task would never have been begun without Peter’’s challenge.

Who is challenging you to step beyond your wildest dream?

Find someone with a tough question and get started!

About The Author

Donald Mitchell is an author of seven books including Adventures of an Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Read about creating breakthroughs through and receive tips by e-mail through registering for free at

http://www.fastforward400.com .

Sep

15

Your Personality Could Land You the Perfect Job

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Tony Jacowski

For example, an extrovert will find it easier and more comfortable to give presentations to a large number of employees, while an introvert may not be so comfortable in that role.

Employees are more productive in jobs that suit them. You cannot categorize personality as good or bad. However, certain jobs are best suited to specific individuals.

Introverts

Introverts have shy personalities and find it difficult to mix in a crowd. At the same time, an introvert can be good at catching on quickly and performing well.

Introverts may be good at drafting presentations or speeches but delivering in front of the crowd can be difficult for them; their shyness will be an obstacle.

Extroverts

Extroverts can easily mingle with people and do not find it difficult to function in a crowd. They can be managers, where they need to converse with a number of people on a daily basis.

Logical, Practical, and Well Organized

If these are qualities that you possess, you may be very good in accounting, management, technical writing, computer programming, or even as an electrician. All these fields require logic, facts, and organization.

If you practice these qualities daily in your life, you will find it easy to survive in one of these fields and make the most of it.

Sensitive or Intuitive

Sensitive people can be good counselors and business advisors, as they can relate to others'’ pain and feelings easily and are hence able to counsel them well.

Sensitive people also make good nurses and teachers as these professions also need a caring approach. People with great intuition can also be good ministers.

Enthusiastic, Ambitious, and Candid

A talkative, easy-going person can find it easy to be on television or radio. These people find it easy to speak on anything and everything - and can be great entertainers.

Creative and Spontaneous

Someone who is creative and can come up with things spontaneously can do well in the advertising world, in photography or even as a graphic designer.

Creative people can also be good cooks, as they can explore new recipes.

Imaginative and Dramatic

These people can be good at writing scripts or fiction. They can also be good painters and musicians.

Nurturing and Progressive

These personalities can make good social workers and nurses. They derive great satisfaction in nurturing others and in making the world a better place.

Try taking a personality test to help you uncover any hidden skills, talents, and abilities that you might have. This may help reaffirm your career choice or help you change direction.

About The Author

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’’s Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for six sigma professionals including, lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Sep

2

Conquer the Race of Life

Filed Under Personal Development | Comments Off

By Sowmithri Ramgangadar

One may ask a question, if the race of life can be won, all by ourselves or destiny plays a role in this. We must put in our efforts to the maximum possible extent as the saying goes - even if your efforts fail, do not fail to put in efforts. Our efforts coupled with our intuition and sixth sense will help us to a great deal in this race.

We should meticulously plan as Abraham Lincoln said - if I have eight hours to cut a tree, I will use six to sharpen my axe. It would be wise to accept gracefully the result even if things do not go as planned by us.

All said and done, we should realise the fact that there is a Supreme Power above everybody and everything else and this power is the one in charge of the universe and not you or me. Life is as a decathlon race made up of several events. We may not be able to do well in all the events but we should endeavour to participate in every event and complete the race of life. For after all, the sum total is what matters irrespective of failing in some of the events.

We should understand that each of us is endowed with some strength and limitations. In our own interest, we must try to improve on our strengths and overcome our limitations to win the race of life. In this race, we should remember the story of the tortoise and the hare, where the tortoise won the race in a slow and steady manner.

Here the technique of self-hypnotism will help. Whenever a negative thought keeps nagging you, bring in a positive thought to nullify the negative. For example, if you think you cannot do something or cannot handle a situation, keep thinking constantly that you can do what you want and go ahead and attempt it and you will be able to succeed. Whenever adversity stares at your face, stand up to it. The more the number of adversities you go through, the tougher and seasoned you become.

Let us tell you the story of a boy who ran a race.

All the children lined up with full of hope to win the race
One of the boys who was in the lead lost his step and slipped
Amid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face
Some one in the crowd told him to get up and win the race

He got up and thought that he could catch up and win the race
He was so anxious that he slipped and fell again
He thought he will give up but once again a voice in the crowd said
He should get up and win the race

Again, with a lot of determination he got up to run the race
He wanted to complete the race irrespective of success or failure
All the other children finished the race
And when this boy crossed the line, the applause was such
That it looked as if he had won the race.

It is in bouncing back every time we fall or fail that matters in the race of life. You are not a failure until you fail to try.

About The Author

Sowmithri will guide you to Conquer Yourself for Success, Peace and Happiness based on real life experiences over two decades and more. Find out how at
www.conqueryourself.info

← Previous Page — Next Page →

Close
E-mail It