Posted 6/27/2003 by Josh Hinds

Two Personality Powers For Motivating Others
By Brian Tracy

There are two powers of personality you can develop that will increase your charisma and your ability to influence others.

Decide Exactly What - The first of these powers is the power of purpose. Men and women with charisma and personal magnetism almost invariably have a clear vision of who they are, of where they're going and of what they're trying to achieve.

Leaders in sales and management have a vision of what they're trying to create and why they're doing what they're doing. They're focused on accomplishing some great purpose.

They're decisive about every aspect of their lives. They know exactly what they want and what they have to do to get
it. They plan their work and work their plan.

Set Clear Goals For Yourself - You can increase your charisma and the magnetism of your personality by setting clear goals for yourself, making plans to achieve them, and working on your plans with discipline and determination every day.

The whole world seems to move aside for the person who knows exactly where he is going. In fact, the clearer you are about your purposes and goals, the more likely people will be to attribute other positive qualities to you.

They will see you, or perceive you, as being a better and more admirable human being. And when you have clear goals, you begin attracting to yourself the people and opportunities necessary to make those goals a reality.

Believe In Yourself - The second personality power is self-confidence. Men and women with charisma have an intense
belief in themselves and in what they are doing.

They are usually calm, cool and composed about themselves and their work. Your level of self-confidence is often
demonstrated in your courage, your willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve a purpose that you believe in.

The Secret Of Attraction - People are naturally attracted to those who exude a sense of self-confidence, those who have an unshakable belief in their ability to rise above circumstances to attain their goals.

Assume The Result In Advance - One of the ways you demonstrate self-confidence is by assuming that people naturally like you and accept you and want to do business with you.

For example, one of the most powerful ways to close a sale is simply to assume that the prospect has decided to purchase the product or service, and then go on to wrap up the details.

One of the best ways to achieve success in your relationships is to assume that people naturally enjoy your company and want to be around you, and then proceed on that basis. The very act of behaving in a self-confident manner will generate personal charisma in the eyes of others.

Action Exercises - Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, think on paper. Write out your goals and plans in detail and then review them regularly. Discuss them with others. Upgrade your goals and plans and revise them when you get new information. Be clear about them.

Second, express your level of self-confidence to others all the time, even if you have doubts inside. Always walk, talk, act and move like a winner, like a person who is absolutely confident of success and ultimate victory.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit Brian's web site and take advantage of his complimentary audio program offers - 21 Success Secrets Of Self Made Millionaires, or 21 Great Ways To Manage Your Time And Double Your Productivity.

Posted 6/26/2003 by Josh Hinds

The Freedom Solution
By John R. Barker

Wow, what a great feeling!

You woke up day after day, feeling this nagging sense of dissatisfaction. "Is this what my life has become? Trudging from point A to point B with life's great exhilaration coming from a cup of java?", you quietly asked yourself, day after day.

The days passed by into weeks, into months, into years. Years of overwhelm, stress and emptiness. Your life, it seemed, had fallen short of your hopes and dreams. You pushed harder and harder and harder and life pushed back just as hard.

"Has it really been 10, 20, 30 years since I graduated college with those dreams of conquering the world? Of doing something truly special with my life?"

Then one day it happened - perhaps today. You could live with these feelings of mediocrity no more. "What have I got to lose?", you asked yourself.

"Nothing. I want my life. I want to live my life and I'm going to live it on my terms."

With a simple decision you shed the feelings, the black cloak of oppression that kept you miserable and dissatisfied for all of those years.

You let go.

You decided to allow yourself to live, trusting you could handle what came your way. You could; you always could. The rewards, you saw, far outweighed any potential downside.

You surrendered to the thrill of life, leaving behind the illusion of security offered by the job you hated, a routine you tired of years ago and the comfort of resistance. Yes, the comfort of resistance.

The past resistance to looking bad or facing your fears became less painful than continuing to sell yourself short while living in a self-imposed box. Sure you wanted to blame 'them', but deep down you knew it had been your choice all along. You just hadn't know how to set yourself free.

But this decision, this one simple but powerful decision to release the attachments that chained you in place, to let go, set you free.

Your life is now your's to do with as you please. To go where you want. To be who you want. To look how you want, to earn what you want and to do what you want.

Freedom. What else is there?

You and I are only as free and as able to create the life we want, as we are free to take action. And whether you take action, or not, is the result of how you feel. Feelings, and nothing else, determine the results we produce and the experience of life we encounter.

If you feel powerful, you will produce powerful results and any feeling that has in the space of feeling less than powerful can be let go of as easily as you can drop a pen from your hand - if you choose to simply let it go.

I encourage you to subscribe and receive a free curriculum that will offer you insight into the power of feelings - and how you can learn to use them to your advantage. There is no obligation. Simply click this link, subscribe and prepare yourself for a life transforming experience.
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John R. Barker
Sedona Training Associates

Posted 6/20/2003 by Josh Hinds

A Matter of Chatter
By John Harricharan

I first met Cindy during my second year of college. It was in the cafeteria where she bumped into me. Yes, she literally bumped into me and her food tray went crashing into everything. I heard her mutter under her breath, "What an idiot!"

"Pardon me," I replied, not knowing what else to say, but definitely feeling that it was not my fault.

"Oh no," she said, "It's always my fault. I am really so clumsy. I am very sorry."

Then I realized that she was referring to herself when she had said, "What an idiot." Over the months I got to know her a little better. Sometimes we'd sit at the same table in the cafeteria and other times I'd be sitting next to her in a class.

It never ceased to amaze me how often she repeated the phrase, "What an idiot", at the smallest thing that happened. It was as if she had been programmed to respond to the slightest misfortune with self-blame.

One day I finally asked her why she kept referring to herself as an idiot. Her eyes opened wide as she said that she was not aware that she did. She confessed that it was probably a habit and that she always felt that when anything bad happened, it was her fault.

She told me that the voice in her head always told her that she was an idiot and pointed out that she was not as good as others. The constant, negative chatter in her mind had prevented her from achieving her greater potential.

Cindy managed to graduate and we eventually lost touch with each other. But I always wondered how she was doing. I always hoped that she was able to still the chatter in her mind and to change the programmed voice to a more positive self-image.

The matter of chatter is a very serious one. If we were to listen carefully to what we are saying to ourselves we would find very interesting conversations going on. If we are happy and fulfilled, these internal conversations would probably be positive. If we are constantly worried and depressed, we would probably have sad and confusing conversations.

We can literally change the outside world by first changing our inner world. Generally, it's our inner conversations that determine what our outer world looks like. If we constantly think sad thoughts, then our self-talk will focus on sad things and the entire world will appear depressing.

If we always think angry thoughts, the world will appear angry. Even a beautiful sunset would appear to be filled with angry shades of red. But if we think peaceful and positive thoughts, the world will seem peaceful and positive to us.

So how do we silence the endless chatter in our heads? Here are a few tips:

* Try to find some quiet time each day and listen to what you are saying to yourself. Don't be like Cindy who kept calling herself an idiot. Once in a while we all say terrible things about ourselves, but if we do it too often, it becomes a habit and we start believing those things.

* As you listen to the conversation in your head, do not follow them. Just observe them and let them go. If you start to focus on the thoughts, you'd get caught up in them and then get carried away by them.

* After observing your thoughts for a while, you'll find that they move on and you are not trapped by them. Remember that your thoughts are not you. You only have them. Don't even worry about replacing them with positive thoughts; that will come later.

Simple as the above exercise may seem, it will have the most profound effect on your life. Gradually, at first, and then faster, you'll find that a greater calm comes over you.

Because you've let go of the chatter, the noise diminishes and you are now able to hear the voice of intuition, the voice of the universe seeking to guide and help you.

Yes, it's a matter of chatter and clatter and if we turn the volume down, we will be able to hear the beautiful symphonies of life.
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John Harricharan is an award-winning author, speaker and the creator of the ground-breaking "PowerPause" system for success. He has shared the lecture platform with such well-known speakers as Deepak Chopra, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Og Mandino, Eric Butterworth, C. Everett Koop and others. To learn more about the "PowerPause" and see why critics are raving about it visit through the following link: http://www.powerpause.com

Posted 6/10/2003 by Josh Hinds

Getting Help With Your Career
by Jeff Keller

It's the standard advice: if you want to advance in your career or find a new position, seek out people who are already succeeding in that field and learn from them. I can't argue with that principle.

You can certainly shorten your learning curve by asking questions or by establishing an ongoing mentoring relationship. After all, you don't want to reinvent the wheel and learn by trial and error alone. But how do you approach someone for advice?

Some strategies are more effective than others in getting people to offer you career assistance. Here are some guidelines to increase your chances of getting the advice you need - whether you're looking for specific answers or hoping to establish a long-term mentoring relationship:

1. Don't come across as needy or desperate. In times of economic recession and layoffs, people are understandably concerned about losing their jobs or finding new positions. Even so, you'll never get results by "pleading" with people to help you in your career.

We've all had friendships or relationships with people who are needy and "clingy." These individuals call all the time and make a drama of everything in their lives. They are "high maintenance" people, and you want to run for the hills to get away from them.

And the same is true when people tell you how desperate they are to get a job ... or how many bills are piling up. Dwelling on the negative aspects of your current situation will only drive people away from you.

2. Avoid the shotgun approach. Some people think that the more people they ask for career advice, the better. So, they send out an avalanche of letters, or make numerous phone calls, hoping one will work out.

When I receive such requests by e-mail or snail mail, it's always obvious that the sender has used a form letter that's being sent to many companies or individuals.

It's clear that they're using a template and just changing the name of the company each time. People will help you when they think you've given considerable thought to your selection and that you've done the research to determine who might be a good candidate to ask for assistance.

3. Recognize the mentor. It's vital to convey to the mentor that you're familiar with what he or she has done and that you find something about the mentor to be valuable. This isn't about worshipping or "buttering up" the person.

But don't kid yourself: everyone loves to be recognized. And the mentor will be impressed that you have taken the time and done the research to learn about him or her. The mentor has the right to know, "Why are you contacting me?"

4. Convey how you will serve the mentor. In my experience, more than nine out of ten people seeking career assistance only mention one person - themselves. They want advice. They want help. They want certain questions answered. Their approach is "Me, Me, Me." This is a complete turn-off. If you want assistance, be of service to the mentor. Think ahead of time about what you can offer to the mentor.

For instance, if the mentor is speaking at a trade association meeting, offer to help out on-site. If the mentor could use technical help (and you're a computer whiz), offer your services at no charge.

You're asking the mentor to take time out of his or her busy schedule to serve you. It only stands to reason that you should be offering to serve the mentor as well. Remember, you're looking to establish a mutually beneficial relationship.

5. Make specific, limited requests. Over the years, I've received dozens of requests from people, who ask in essence, "Tell me everything you know." Most of them submit a list of questions, such as: What is the key to success in sales? Who is your competition? What trends do you see in your industry?

These are general, and in my view, highly unreasonable questions. You must respect the other person's time if you want to be helped. Identify your one or two most important questions and then ask. You stand a much better chance of getting a response.

Recognize also, however, that much of the information you're seeking may be found in readily available resources, such as books, tapes, seminars or through membership in a trade association. Don't make someone else take time to help you when the answers are easily obtained on your own.

6. Pay for the advice. If you want to speak with someone for an hour or two and get extensive advice on a variety of topics, consider paying that person to spend some time with you, either on the phone or in person. I've had tremendous success with this strategy when I needed help, and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Once you're a paying "client," people will gladly offer their best advice and give you more than you even expected. With one bit of information (such as getting a vendor recommendation) you can save many times the amount of your investment.

When you follow the ideas presented here, I assure you that you're going to stand out from the crowd. Most importantly, you're going to receive the help you're seeking ... and that will allow you to build a satisfying, rewarding career.

Jeff Keller
(c) Attitude is Everything, Inc.
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Jeff Keller is a motivational speaker and author of the best-selling book, Attitude is Everything. He recently released a new audio program called "Success from Soup to Nuts. For more information about Jeff's motivational presentations and resources, go to www.attitudeiseverything.com

Posted 6/04/2003 by Josh Hinds

Just a quick bit of news -- I've been working on an articles library. As you might imagine I get a whole lot of articles and essays sent my way for use on the web site and newsletters. While I'm extremely thankful for it, to date its been a problem as far as displaying the majority of what is sent due to the layout of the web site (and number of articles sent in -- that's a good problem to have of course)...

Anyway, the new articles library should help that tremendously :) You can browse through a listing of the articles that are there, as well as search by keywords or terms. It's pretty darn handy if I do say so myself... So what are you waiting on? Click here to check it out... Josh :)

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"Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment." (As A Man Thinketh)

In her book, "Unstoppable", Cynthia Kersey writes that a prominent psychologist asked 3,000 people, "What have you to live for?" An amazing 94% answered by saying they had no definite purpose for their lives - 94% percent!!

With those kind of results, is it any wonder that there are so many unhappy people in our world today?

James Allen also tells us on this subject that, "They who have no central purpose in their life fall an easy prey to worries, fears, troubles, and self-pity." When I was part of the 94% without a purpose my life was constantly dark with all types of worries, fears and troubles.

I was a ship without a rudder floating aimlessly in a raging sea. Nothing in my life seemed to go right.

I believe we were created with a purpose in our heart, and part of our journey here is to discern that purpose and to act on that purpose.

Purpose puts power and excitement in our life. It keeps us from looking at the little picture of "me" and causes us to look at the big picture of "we."

Take time to stop and spend some quality time thinking about your purpose. Refuse to go another year without having a stated purpose and some goals to back it up.

Ralph Marston, who writes The Daily Motivator, says "Your wishes, desires, hopes, dreams, opinions, likes and dislikes, at their very deepest level, revolve around a purpose. You can sense it. It is there.

Pay attention to the times you really feel good about yourself. Ask yourself why this is so? Keep asking until you touch a purpose so fundamental it cannot be explained in any other way."

I don't know who Barry Munro is, but I recently read his great quote on the power of purpose. "You are only as strong as your purpose, therefore let us choose reasons to act that are big, bold, righteous and eternal.

And that's worth thinking about.
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Copyright (C) 2002 Vic Johnson. All rights reserved worldwide. Change your thoughts, change your life Free eBook - As A Man Thinketh James Allen's timeless classic. Grab your copy here!