Posted 11/28/2003 by Josh Hinds

Positively Contagious
By Jon Gordon

My 5 year old daughter has memorized my cell phone number. Now each day I see "Home" on the caller ID and I answer it expecting it to be my wife. On the other end I hear a cute voice saying "Hi, Daddy. Where are you right now and what are you doing?" Her call always brightens my day and reminds me that energy is contagious.

Positive energy is contagious and negative energy is contagious. We see this in sports, business and politics all the time. One football coach such as the Dallas Cowboy's Bill Parcells can change the attitude of an entire football team and transform them from losers to winners.

Yet, one player or employee with a negative attitude can negatively infect an entire team or company. Arnold Swartzenegger certainly did not win the Governorship of California because of his political experience. He won it because of his infectious energy-the same energy that made him a movie star. It's all about energy.

Each moment of each day we have the opportunity to be positively contagious. Because we are all connected we can impact millions of people by just sharing positive energy with a few. When you make a register person at the super market feel special just imagine how many people she will positively impact because of you. And imagine all those people going home and being nicer to their families as a result.

Like the Volkswagon commercial, one good thing leads to another and it all starts with your decision to be positively contagious. At home, at work, or in your community, you have the power to either share positive energy or negative energy. It's a choice and your decision truly makes a difference.

Positively contagious people are assets, not liabilities. They make their families, companies, organizations and communities better. They energize instead of vaporize. When you are positively contagious people want to hire you, promote you, and be around you. So today decide to be positively contagious and watch your energy soar. Here are a few action steps to help you catch the positive energy bug.

1. Smile more. It's contagious.

2. Give compliments, pats on the back, and hugs where appropriate.

3. Recognize people for their hard work and efforts. Example. You are in a restaurant. Your server is doing a great job and working hard. Tell them. Reward them with a great tip. This will encourage them to be nicer to others.

4. Imagine you are a beam of light. Shine on and be an example for others. Live with enthusiasm and passion. People will be drawn to your light.

5. Focus on people's strengths rather than their weaknesses.

6. Focus on what is good in your life rather than what is wrong.

7. Make eye contact and acknowledge others. Example. I was in the lobby of a television studio in Los Angeles. People would walk in the front door and completely ignore the security guard even when he said hello. I asked him if this happened often. He said, "Oh yes. They act like I'm not even here. Like I'm a statue." Don't treat people like a statue.

8. Become solution driven. Don't dwell on problems. Identify solutions.

Positive Energy is Contagious.

May your day be filled with boundless energy!

Jon
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Energy Tips by Jon Gordon, The Energy Addict. For additional tips, visit
www.energyaddict.com

Posted 11/24/2003 by Josh Hinds

Top Ten Ways To Inspire Others To Be Their Best
By Michael Angier

We all know people who are inspiring. But just how does one inspire others? Here are ten simple ways you can inspire people to be their best:

1. Be a good example. People watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. Be someone worth emulating.

2. Care about others. People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Ask questions. Take a genuine interest in people.

3. Encouragement. Everyone goes through tough times. When you support people and encourage them through these times, you'll be inspiring them to see the best in themselves and in the situation.

4. Be inspired yourself. Look for people, ideas, environments and knowledge that you find inspiring and motivating.

5. Share from your own experience. You have more to share than you realize. Mine the rich experiences of your life and share your wisdom from your unique point of view. You may be the only one who can touch someone with your inspiring message.

6. Be vulnerable. Be willing to share your failures as well as your successes. Others will relate to you. They'll understand that they're not the only ones with challenges.

7. Tell stories. Facts tell and stories sell. They inspire, too. We learn best from parables and we all need to develop our own inspiring stories.

8. Be a good communicator. Increasing your ability to communicate effectively is a critical element for you to inspire others. Watch how you speak and what you say. Invest in your communication skills.

9. Challenge people. Many of us have had teachers who at times seemed more like tormentors than mentors. They challenged us to do our best, and we were better for it. Practice "carefrontation"--the careful and caring confrontation of others.

10. Read. It may not follow that all readers are leaders, but certainly all leaders are readers. Stay informed. Share what you read with others. Tell people about books that have inspired you. Share the knowledge.
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Posted 11/21/2003 by Josh Hinds

How to Set and Achieve Your Goals
By Jonathan Gee

The subject of setting and achieving goals is one that has been discussed long and hard by many an expert and author, over many years. I certainly do not intend to try and emulate any of them in this article. Rather, I simply want to give you my thoughts and ideas, gleaned from many years experience in a training environment. Ideas which are applicable to ordinary folks like you and me.

So where on earth do you start?

Start by asking yourself the question, “What do I want to achieve?” What is it that I really want? Understand that when you carry out this exercise you must suspend your negative mind. Don’t start to analyse each idea as you think of it. Definitely don’t think that you can’t achieve what you have written down.

This is just a brainstorming session to get your ideas flowing. Write down big, long-term ideas, as well as small and short-term goals. For example, I would describe ‘tidy the house’ as a small and short-term goal. Whereas, ‘be promoted to CEO of my company’, as a big goal and a long term one, particularly if you have only just joined the company.

At this point it is important to put together a plan of your goals. Make separate lists of your long term goals, and your short term goals. It is generally accepted that a long term goal is one that will take more than 90 days to achieve. However, they are your goals, so you can set whatever time limit on them that you like, but make sure the limit you do set is reasonable and realistic (more on this later).

Write Your Goals Down - Next write your goals down. There is something quite magical in doing this. The very act of writing a goal down somehow sends a message to your subconscious that you mean business. Write in minute detail. Describe what you want to achieve or have in colorful language. Include everything you can think of to do with a particular goal.

Let me give you an example of one of the first goals I achieved several years ago. My goal was to quit smoking! These are the exact words I used.

“At midnight on December 31st 1989, I will give up smoking. I will become a non-smoker. I will be glad to give up because it is a disgusting, poisonous, filthy, smelly, unhealthy, unsociable, selfish, dangerous and expensive habit. It will cease to be part of my life.”

I wrote those words late September 1989, and told as many people as I could that I was giving up at the end of the year. I read them everyday until December 31st when I gave up. Do you know what is so incredibly powerful about this? I haven’t smoked since, and I used to get through a pack a day.

So that you can gain maximum benefit from this exercise, I am going to share with you a word that I came across many years ago. To assist you in setting your goals I give you the word - Smart.

Make your goals SMART. What do I mean?

Your Goals should be: Specific ? using the above goal as an example, I wrote ‘I will give up smoking’ Now that is pretty specific!

Measurable ? From 20 cigarettes a day to none.

Achievable ? I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but deep down inside I knew I could do it.

Realistic ? I gave myself 90 days. It wouldn’t have been realistic for me to try and quit the next day. My brain would not have had time to come to terms with the concept. (Incidentally, it’s a mistake a lot of people make when trying to give up smoking. They try to quit immediately, and get frustrated when their plan doesn’t work.) As with all soundly based goals, you have to be realistic and give yourself sensible targets.

And finally, Timebound
This is so important. You have to set yourself a time limit on every goal you want to achieve. I gave myself 3 months to quit. I even wrote down the day and time, so that I had an absolute deadline. It worked I can tell you, and setting goals has continued to work in every area of my life.

In Closing.
So now you have the tools you need, to set and achieve whatever you want for your life. As we head towards a New Year plan what you want to achieve in 2004.

Brainstorm your ideas.
Make your plan of short term and long term goals
Write them down
Refer to them everyday
Make them Smart

‘Goals without time limits are only wishes’

Until next time, make every day a success.
Jonathan Gee
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'Fed up with how much time you waste?' 'Frustrated because you can't control your time?' Author Jonathan Gee has the answers in his ebook '57 Supercharged Tips to Manage Your Time' It's simple, straightforward and GUARANTEED!

Posted 11/17/2003 by Josh Hinds

Conceptualize Your Success -- Whatever You Want Wants You!
by Mark Victor Hansen

What you can conceptualize in your mind will materialize in your life. WOW! Think about that for a minute. Whatever you focus your powerful mind and energy on, will manifest itself into physical form. This has been going on your whole LIFE and you may not have even noticed it.

Have you ever been on your way to a meeting and said, "There is no way I'm going to get this deal?" Then, sure enough, you didn't get the deal. You probably thought, "See, I knew I wasn't going to get that deal." You're right, you didn't stand a chance, because you had already created a self-fulfilling prophecy and declared that there was no way you were going to succeed.

You have no one to blame but yourself. Failure was pre-conceived by you, through you, and out into the Universe. It simply gave you what you asked for!

Your mind is that powerful. You don't even have to speak what you are thinking in order to see it come to fruition. Think of your mind as having the Universe on speed dial. It is THAT powerful.

Because your mind is such an amazing instrument, you must use it with care. Remember, great thinking creates great results. Mediocre thinking creates mediocre results. Which do you want?

Artists absolutely amaze me! They start with a blank canvas -- not a splatter of color on it -- and they create phenomenal masterpieces with just their minds, brushes and paint. How do they do it? How do they know what to paint?

Before they ever picked up a brush they had already conceived in their minds exactly what they were going to paint. It is already there. Their job is to make sure that the artistic concept is transferred from the mind to the physical form.

That's what I want you to learn to do -- to conceptualize your dreams, whatever they may be, and change them from mental into physical. Because -- just like an artistic masterpiece waiting for the artist to create it -- your dreams are waiting for you to make them into your reality.

We all have a calling. We all have a purpose in life. Not all of us are meant to be artists who paint on canvases, but we all have a gift. Sometimes it is presented to us early in our lives, and other times we realize our special gifts later, when we least expect.

Take Mother Teresa, for example. She heard her calling in 1947 when she was already acting in service to God as a principal of a Catholic high school. At that point, she discovered her purpose in life and decided to live in the Calcutta slums with "the poorest of the poor." She knew what she wanted to do, what she had to do, and she did it.

How do YOU do this? Well, just like Mother Teresa, before you can achieve it, you have to conceive it.

The word "conceive" means "to cause to begin life; to form or develop in the mind; to understand; to put in words, to express." And that is the order that your dreams will be realized in.

First, you conceive an idea, your dream or goal. The first moment that you decide that this thing -- this goal, this dream -- is what you want, it begins to live.

You feed your dream by thinking about it, turning it over and over in your mind. As you develop the idea you begin to understand it, to know what it is that you want -- the thing that wants you.

Once you express it by writing it down, putting it into words, it's like pouring fuel onto a fire. You have made a request from the Universe. After that your dream takes on a life of it's own.

"It's not that people want too much, it's that they want too little."

Mark Victor Hansen
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Article submitted by Mark Victor Hansen - Co-Author of the Chicken Soup For The Soul series of books. For over 26 years, Mark Victor Hansen has focused solely on helping people in all walks of life reshape their personal vision of what's possible for themselves. Visit MarkVictorHansen.com for resources, secure shopping and web-only product specials, speaking schedule and current projects. Mark is also the co-author of "The One Minute Millionaire" book.

Posted 11/13/2003 by Josh Hinds

Labor that Works Miracles
By Jim Rohn

Two thousand years ago on April 15th one of Jesus' disciples came to him and said it was time to pay taxes (that's how I know it was around April 15th), but they had no money. In response to his disciple's statement Jesus said "no problem".

Now why could he say "no problem"? Well, word had it that Jesus was a miracle worker. If you hand a problem to a miracle worker what they are inclined to say is "no problem". You've got to hang out with people like that.

I belong to a small group and we do business around the world. These guys are all miracle workers. What an incredible group. If you hand any of them a problem guess what they say, "no problem". How many books will they read to solve a problem? As many as it takes.

If they need to consult - how much consulting will they do? As much as it takes. How early will they get up? As early as it takes. "No problem"... you got to hang out with people like that. You cannot believe the thrill of being associated with miracle workers, people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done and perform miracles.

When asked about paying the taxes Jesus said it was "no problem". In fact, he said it was going to be easy - he told the disciple to just go fishing. Now it couldn't have been any easier than that, especially for this disciple whose name was Peter, because Peter was a fisherman.

Now if you can fish and you should fish and you don't fish - then that is why you do not get a miracle. But Jesus told his disciple to go fishing and the first fish that he caught to look in its mouth. Peter, who was used to strange things happening, agreed.

Well, the first fish Peter catches, he looks in its mouth and finds coins. Peter then adds up the coins and they are exactly enough to pay his and Jesus' taxes.

"Wow!", you might say, "That is a miracle!" Here is why we call it a miracle - simply because we don't quite understand how it works. That's all. Doesn't mean it doesn't work, it just means we don't quite understand how it works. Which is true of all miracles. In fact, for most of us - our whole life is a miracle.

How about this miracle... God says if you plant the seed I will make the tree. Wow, you can't have a better arrangement than that. First, it gives God the tough end of the deal. What if you had to make a tree? That would keep you up late at night trying to figure out how to make a tree.

God says, "No, leave the miracle part to me. I've got the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the seasons. I'm God and all this miracles stuff is easy for me. I have reserved something very special for you and that is to plant the seed."

I have found in life that if you want a miracle you first need to do whatever it is you can do - if that's to plant, then plant; if it is to read, then read; if it is to change, then change; if it is to study, then study; if it is to work, then work; whatever you have to do. And then you will be well on your way of doing the labor that works miracles.


To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

(excerpted from Jim Rohn's The Challenge to Succeed series)
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Announcing a Very Special Invitation - The Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan! One of the most comprehensive resource and success plans ever created for you to reach all of your goals in the next 12 months! For details and/or to take advantage of the special introductory offer go here -- Also subscribe to the weekly Jim Rohn newsletter while you're there.

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2 Beliefs Essential For Success
By Gordon Bryan

Want to unlock your potential?
Want to move forward to success?

Well neither of these will happen in a month of Sundays without belief.

I always harp on about attitude being the magic word, and belief is one attitude you MUST have. Not only that, but there are TWO types of beliefs needed!

The first is belief that it will happen. Whatever your goal is, however you want to improve your life, whatever wealth you want, in order for any of it to come true, you need to believe that it will happen.

You need to know this for a fact, not just some wishy-washy hope that it would be nice, but know for a fact that it can and will happen to YOU.

The second belief is in yourself as a person, and your right to succeed and enjoy abundance.

Abundance is all around, but most people do not tap into it, they don't grab their fair share, because they just don't believe.

They either feel they are undeserving of the good things, or they believe that something or someone will wreck their plans. Can you guess who that 'someone' is, that will wreck your plans? Yourself!

Without the two cast-iron beliefs firmly in place, you will not see your plans through, you won't go that extra mile, you won't be prepared to pay the price.

You ARE worth it! You, me, all of us, we are individuals making our own way thru the journey of life.

Each of us is a worthy person, and fully deserves to enjoy life, whatever that may mean to each of us.

As one of your affirmations, tell yourself that you are a strong and worthy person, and your 2 beliefs will be nicely in place to support your efforts all the way.

You will know that you are worthy of the success, and you will know you have the strength to overcome any hurdles.

Copyright Gordon Bryan 2003
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Gordon Bryan's new book, 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days! has been described as 'a must read', 'awesome', and 'a true gem'. If you liked this article, see the book for yourself by clicking here!

Posted 11/05/2003 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. Visit Brian's web site and take advantage of his complimentary audio program offer - 21 Success Secrets Of Self Made Millionaires.