Posted 10/28/2005 by Josh Hinds

Our Dreams Are Our DNA
by James Allan

Are we paying attention to the right stuff?

Take biology for instance. I never took a biology course in my life. I really have no idea how my body works, and yet I remain in good health. But when I visit the doctor, it’s the same as visiting an auto mechanic or a computer technician.

They ask a few questions, and then tell me it sounds like a problem with the gobbly-gook. I nod my head, as if I know what they’re talking about, and then leave more confused then ever.

So, you could imagine my horror when my son comes up to me and says, "Daddy, what’s DNA?" I had no clue. The only people that really care about it are the lawyers, the researchers and the people on CSI.

I figured it had to stand for something, and I knew two things about it from watching television: it’s all over our body, and it’s unique for every body.

So, I gave him my "Daddy knows best" look and said, "Eric, it’s an abbreviation. It stands for... Dreams Needing Attention." His face lit up and he went to the phone to tell all his friends about his new found knowledge.

Then my wife came up, and said, "Hold on Eric. I decided to Ask Jeeves, and he said DNA stands for Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid." Silly Jeeves. So, I told my son that was the Latin equivalent for Dreams Needing Attention.

But if you think about it, my answer made perfect sense. Our dreams are our DNA. DNA is all over our body, and it makes us unique. So do our dreams!

My feet have dreams to run with Olympic speed. My hands have dreams to write another best-seller... or two. My eyes have dreams of seeing a summer without any road construction! And our hearts have dreams. Why else would the Internet become the world’s largest dating service?

Sure, some of us share similar dreams. Other people also want to write a few best-sellers. But, when we look at the big set of our career dreams, our relationship dreams, our fun dreams and our other dreams, we are each unique in that large set of dreams.

So, DNA is all over our body, and it makes us unique. The thing is that when we’re young, we have huge dreams. We want to cook like Martha Stewart, even if we don’t know how to turn on the oven.

The gap between our reality and our dreams is huge. As we grow older, we should be closing the gap to make these huge dreams come true. But instead, we pay attention to the dreams that are much closer to reality.

Our big dreams haven’t gone away, we’re just not paying attention to them. They’re still in our feet, our hands, our eyes and our hearts.

Adults don’t seem to think dreams come true, but they do. Dreams come true everyday. When you get up in the morning, you dream about getting to work on time. (For some this is a bigger dream than for others) At the beginning of the year, your sales manager will present a sales dream for the year. (sure, he might call it a target, or a goal, or an objective) Then the sales team works to make that sales dream a reality.

On a smaller scale, each day, you go about spending your time and money trying to make your dreams come true. The dreams you focus on will create your reality. If you’re focusing on sales of one million per year, you’ll probably get different results than if you’re focusing on sales of ten million per year.

To change your reality, change the dreams that you’re paying attention to.

If you pay attention to the dream of making it through the day, then that will be your reality. If you pay attention to the dream of becoming the person your DNA wants you to be, then your reality will go in a whole new direction.

We’re not put on this planet to settle. We’re put here to shine.

Your reality in the upcoming weeks, months and years will depend on the dreams you pay attention to today. Ask yourself what reality you want for yourself, then pay attention to the dreams that will get you there!
___________
James Allan is an inspiring writer who wants you to go after your big dreams. His first book, Street Hockey Millionaire has received international acclaim, and his Rich Start System home study course is helping people enjoy their dreams of having more money, more time and more fun in their life. For more information, visit www.streethockeymillionaire.com

Posted 10/23/2005 by Josh Hinds

Here are a couple of inspiring quotes I thought you might enjoy...

"The success of our efforts depends not so much on the efforts themselves, but rather on our motive for doing them." -- Denis Waitley

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." -- Napoleon Hill

If you enjoyed the quotes above you can search from over 13,000 motivational quotes on our site.

Posted 10/20/2005 by Josh Hinds

I just added two new articles to the Success Articles Library section of the site. They are: Success Secrets From A Billionaire by Mike Litman and 4 Little Known Secrets of Meditation, Energy and Manifestation by Matt Clarkson ... To your success, Josh Hinds :-)

Posted 10/12/2005 by Josh Hinds

15 Ways To Get Really Motivated
By Jim Meisenheimer

First, recognize that motivation is an inside job. The word motivate means to impel, inspire, hope, stimulate, incite, propel, spur, goad, move, induce, prompt, instigate, fire, provoke, actuate, cause, egg on, drive, excite, and to trigger. Don't wait for someone to motivate you, here are 15 ways you can motivate yourself.

1. Set daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and lifetime goals. A goal is a goal if it's writing. Goals get you going in the direction that's right for you.

2. Listen to a motivational tape. Record into a tape recorder your favorite quotes, anecdotes and personal success stories. Play back your tape frequently. Nothing is more motivating than the sound of your own voice. Try it!

3. Get motivated to make better telephone calls by buying Art Sobczak's new book, "How To Sell More In Less Time With No Rejection." To order call Art at 402-895-9399.

4. To overachieve every quota you are given take this advice. First write yourself a check dated for 12/31/05 payable to yourself and write how much you want to earn on the amount line. Make three laminated copies and put one in your briefcase, auto console, and home office. Second, always aim higher than the quota you are given. If you adjust your aim, the results will follow.

5. Buy an inspirational book of quotations and keep it in your car. Read three quotes daily. Remember - inspirational words usually inspire us.

6. Invest 15 minutes daily to read books and articles about the selling profession. This is gourmet food for your brain. Don't skip a day.

7. Get a mentor, preferably one outside of your company. The truly successful people never go it alone.

8. To jack-up your sales performance, prepare your own laminated cue cards. Create cue cards for making appointments, your 12 best questions, for handling the price objection, and for asking for the order. Each cue card should be prepared word-for-word. Your performances will sky-rocket.

9. Buy a composition notebook for your car. Record your successes, failures, and daily observations about your selling environment.

10. Read the "The Ancient Scrolls" an inspiring book by Tim Connor. To order call 800-222-9070.

11. To get motivated about improving your personal financial situation, set a personal net worth goal and write it on a spread sheet, then review it monthly. Self worth increases proportionately with net worth.

12. Tell your family if you achieve 110% or more of your annual sales quota - you'll take them anywhere they want to go on vacation.

13. Tell your family when you reach a new monthly sales record milestone, you'll take them out to celebrate.

14. Select one song that really gets you moving and play it every morning as you back out of your driveway.

15. Make a dinner date with your spouse tonight then go some place special.


Every day is a great day, especially if you don't see your name in the obituary section of the paper.

It's easy to make every day a masterpiece when you're motivated.
___________
Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: www.meisenheimer.com

P.S. If you're in the Sales Profession, or looking to improve your sales skills (remember, everybody sells -- even if they're just selling themselves or an idea) visit SalesTrainingAdvice.com

Posted 10/09/2005 by Josh Hinds

Finding and Creating Meaningful Work
By Dave Smith

Trust that which gives you meaning and accept it as your guide. ~ Carl Jung

Meaning is very personal and unique to each individual and community. No one can judge another’s work and say it is meaningful or meaningless. But we can attempt to generalize and define it along the lines of wants and needs. Abraham Maslow famously created his hierarchy of needs: as each base need is satisfied, the next one up the pyramid becomes more important, beginning with physiological needs (food, water), to safety, belonging, esteem, and finally, self-actualization. Anyone engaged in fulfilling their own, other people’s, or their community’s real needs is probably doing meaningful work.

As an example, one could argue whether or not shaving is a need, but for many it is. Razors occurred in the Bronze Age, and a nick-name for the straight razor in modern times was “cut-throat” razor. The safety razor was invented in the mid-1800s and allowed more people to shave themselves safely.

The safety razor with disposable blades was invented in 1903. Was that meaningful? Then the dual blade safety razor was invented, and now we have 5 and 6 blade disposable safety razors that are silly and extremely wasteful. Consumers who were perfectly satisfied with the twin-blade safety razor can no longer buy one. Somewhere along the line inventing and making safety razors lost meaning by going from a need to a want and on to competitive one-upmanship.

To find or create meaningful work we first need to find our passion.
People often misquote Joseph Campbell “Follow your bliss and the money will come.” But what he really said was “If you follow your bliss, you will always have your bliss, money or not. If you follow money, you may lose it, and you will have nothing.”

Then we can determine if our community’s needs fit with what we are here to do. Our community may not purchase a product or service that is our passion, so we either have to educate them so they understand the need, or support ourselves in other ways so we can do what is meaningful to us on our own time. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his life and was supported by his brother, but the world eventually caught up with his passion. How much are you willing to sacrifice to live your passion?

Another alternative is to either tweak our passion to fit the community, or tweak the community to fit our passion. Unfortunately, we live and work in a throwaway consumer culture, built on cheap energy, which is unsustainable and produces much that is totally meaningless, unneeded and harmful. But that is beginning to change as energy prices rise and we become more locally focused. Years ago E.F. Schumacher said, “Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant, and the beautiful.”

There is so much meaningful work that needs to be done to get us from where we are now to where we need to be that there is an almost limitless need for meaningful work that will match up with our own passion. If the community refuses to support your passion, then you may need to get passionate about changing the community. A local radio personality used to say “If you don’t like the news go out and make some of your own.”

Finding or organizing an affinity group is the final step. We are much more effective working together than working alone, and work is much more meaningful when it is part of a shared, cooperative process with others who have similar values. We may turn our group into a small, local business or a non-profit community organization. Purposeful, progressive change that makes the world a better place takes risk and daring by people who care and work together for the common good.

It is incredibly difficult to finance and build the successful entrepreneurial, outside financed, fast growth, early-exit, get rich quick business that is so celebrated by our business culture. And most of it is so meaningless -- little variations on a theme rather than something really new -- that the main motivation is often to get enough money that we can get drunk everyday and go sleep on the beach for the rest of our lives and never have to work again. Is this really what we all came here for?

The alternative is the local, small, service-oriented business that provides a service or products that are needed and delightful…friends and family scraping some capital together to create a business that serves its community, and that the community loves. As rising energy prices erode the economic viability of the huge transnational businesses with long supply lines that now dominate our economy, it will be the small local farms, shops, and trades that will once again form the heart of our communities.

The basics of good business will still hold: find a need -- a real need -- and fill it… organically, gently, non-violently, elegantly, and beautifully.
____________
Dave Smith is the co-founder of Smith & Hawken and author of: To Be Of Use – The Seven Seeds of Meaningful Work. His website is: ToBeOfUse.com

Posted 10/04/2005 by Josh Hinds

New Brian Tracy Articles Added...

I just added 5 new Brian Tracy articles to the Motivation and Success Articles Library. They are as follows:
* Accepting Yourself Unconditionally
* Be Prepared To Ask
* The Major Obstacle To Financial Success
* How To Succeed In Business
* Management And Other People's Knowledge

-- To your success, Josh Hinds :-)

Posted 10/02/2005 by Josh Hinds

The Power of Story
By Christina Baldwin

True stories of ordinary people are the most inspiring experiences we share. Stories talk about action and stories inspire action. Stuck in traffic, we look for the story: Why is everybody stopped? We scan radio stations. Finally we creep over a rise and see bent metal, flashing lights. We have all driven by such scenes grateful that we aren’t involved, but maybe we are the first on the scene. We pull over and jump out, approach the wrecked vehicles, calling, “Are you all right?”

A young woman is bleeding, “My baby….” she says, “get the baby out…” This is a one-sentence story. And perhaps you are a twenty-five year old car mechanic with a stranger’s baby crying in your tattooed arms and you start singing a Polish lullaby your grandmother taught you. The child calms and you tell the mother, “Here, take my bandana and apply pressure to that cut on your forehead. I think you’re okay, it’s mostly blood…” This is a life-changing story activated by one event. Soon the patrol cars come, the ambulance comes, someone takes the baby and it’s all over, except your arms feel empty and you can’t stop humming that lullaby.

Story changes what we believe about ourselves. You start collecting baby blankets and teddy bears to be stored in the local highway patrol cars. You tell the story over and over—each time remembering the woman, the baby, and how you felt in that moment. A television station calls and you’re on the local 6:00 news. Later you hear that someone started the same movement in another city and another.

By telling the story you understand the experience and imbed it into your memory. The stories that grow from such moments can travel way beyond the lives of anyone directly involved. In the age of global communication someone across the world can say, “Hey, I read about this guy… this mother… this baby…”

The young man could have driven by. He chose a reaction and lived out a story that made him a hero. When we share our actions through story, we give other people inspiration, information and courage to act. When we risk being the better part of ourselves we make a better world.

Story offers every person the chance to make a better world through the power of words.

Want to fulfill your personal dreams? Make sure you are carrying a story in which you tell yourself you are capable of doing the things you want with your life—and then live up to your story. A little girl wanted to be a dancer. She wasn’t automatically good at it—she just practiced. She’s not famous, but she’s a good dancer with a local troupe. Life stories can be realistic and daring.

Want to help others develop a helpful story? A kindergarten teacher heard a student say, “I can’t do that…” She asked, “What would you need to believe in yourself?”
“…to be strong like a lion.”
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s make a story about you and a friendly lion who helps you grow into a strong and caring person.” Stories support people’s imagination.

Want a better neighborhood, workplace or organization? The next time someone says, “Jim is always blocking constructive action. I just can’t work with him.” Tell the story about the time you got snowed into the parking lot and there was Jim, shoveling you out. Stories can highlight actions that shift our expectations of each other.

Want a kinder community or country? We can hear each other’s story in ways we cannot hear each other’s opinion. Two neighbors, one Republican, one Democrat, found shared values in recycling when they walked a roadside clean up crew together. It gave them a way to begin discovering commonality. Stories champion human goodness however it shows up.

Two people can have almost identical experiences and create very different stories out of them. Story gives us the power to choose: we can turn tragedy into triumph, and we can turn triumph into tragedy. When we practice the power of story, we can help set loose the stories that make for happier lives.

• A parent and a teenager caught in misunderstanding went camping. They put questions for each other into a hat and drew out the slips of paper one at a time.

• A couple set aside one hour a month to read to each other from their journals: not commenting, just listening to the private story of their partner’s life.

• A team of people assigned a difficult task decided to write their strategic plan as a mythic story and then fulfill their roles as heroes and helpers.

When we know each other at the level of story we create relationship and community. Life is richer. Streets are safer. All it takes is a little courage to turn to someone and start a conversation: What’s your favorite birthday? Who’s been your most creative teacher? What’s the best thing that happened to you last year? When did you take a risk that turned out really well? Let’s tell each other those stories.
___________
Christina Baldwin is the author of Storycatcher, Making Sense of our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story. Find out more at www.storycatcher.net