As I was driving down the road last week enjoying the spring weather with the sunroof open and the windows down, I heard an advertisement on the radio about a specific state lottery ticket that was offering a pretty big prize. After painting a glowing picture of how amazing your life will be when you win the cash price, they wrapped things up by reading the disclaimer. You know this part, where the volume drops and the voice speeds up to the point you can barely understand what is being said. But I caught the final few words: âActual chances of winning one in 4,480,447.â Now, relatively speaking, those are pretty good odds for a lottery, but I caught myself thinking, well, what about the 4,480,446 people who donât win?
Which then got me thinking about how we can have the tendency to wait for something âbigâ to come into our lives and make our dreams a reality and suddenly bring the results we have wanted for ourselves into being. But mostly, thatâs not how life works. The vast majorit...
Getting started with anything is easier when we start our days well. Whether youâre bright-eyed and sun-shiney in the morning, or if those who live with you know to avoid you until you have some coffee in your system, these simple tips will have you waking up smiling at the sun and setting the stage for making great days.
Smile
Even if it looks more like a grimace that would terrify anyone who saw it, scientific research shows that the simple act of smiling, even if itâs forced, automatically tricks your brain into feeling better. When you turn that frown upside down, there is instant feedback to the brain that reinforces a feeling of joy. So even if you have to visualize your alarm clock flying across the room to get it done, choose to start your day with a smile.
Practice Gratitude
Being thankful is an instant game changer, and mornings before your feet even hit the ground are great for a gratitude practice.
Consider keeping a small gratitude journal next to your bed, and upon a...
This weekend I had the opportunity to spend more than 6 hours in trainings with publisher of Success Magazine and founder of the Insane Productivity program, Darren Hardy. This is a gentleman who, no doubt, has been able to accomplish some amazing things. And he's been able to do this by understanding what he wants to be good at and focusing his attention there.
In fact, Darren suggest that the number one skill to master to be your best, most productive, and most fulfilled in the 21st century is the skill of learning to control your attention.
Here are three simple things you can do this week to focus your attention:
Use Power Hours
Just a few weeks ago, we covered power hours in a great post you can read here. The idea of the power hour is to set aside time as sacred to be focused on your most important actions. This is a time to put the do not disturb sign on the door. Turn off calendars, email, social media and shut off your phones so that you can work uninterrupted. Put your at...
As soon as this is finished, then I'llâŚ
     Once the kids are out of school, I'll be able toâŚ
          Once the kids are in school, I'll have time toâŚ
               I just need to get this done and thenâŚ
I have to do this right now, but someday I'llâŚ
I've heard this mantra in many forms expressed in numerous ways, but the bottom line sentiment is the same:Â Instead of doing right now the thing that is wanted, it must be pushed off to some distant time in the future so that the demands of today can be met.
The sad thing is, often this 'someday' never comes--most often, if you don't do it now, you won't do it later.
Now, the truth is, there is a balance between responsibility (some things we don't want to do must be done) and avoidance (coming up with excuses to 'not yet' do the things that we would ideally want to do and create in our lives). How do we live in a healthy bala
...The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 on March 8th, 2014 was a true tragedy and mystery. I do hope that by the time you are reading this, that mystery has been solved and the families affected either have their loved ones back or closure in knowing what happened.
But for me, in the hours, days, and weeks following the disappearance, a new tragedy emerged.
âTwo oil slicks spotted in sea south of Vietnam.â And later, âOil slicks not from missing airplaneâ
âLarge debris spotted and believed to be from missing airliner.â (LARGE pieces of debrisâup to 70 feet in size, just rolling in our oceans). And later, âLarge debris spotted is not from missing aircraft.â
 â122 objects spotted in search for debris.â Once recovered, the debris was shown not to be associated with the missing plane.
âMore debris spotted in search for missing aircraft.â Followed by, âDebris found was determined to be pallets and shipping containers from cargo ships.â
 âCluster of orange objects spotted in...
by
Amanda Sides
Almost every business can benefit from good writing. Whether you're emailing clients or creating content for your blog, being able to communicate in writing is a powerful tool to boost your business.
Not everyone likes to write, and not everyone is good at it. If that's you, you could consider outsourcing this critical task, or you could work on getting better at it. Here's how.
As an entrepreneur, you're probably already reading quite a bit. Keep it up, and vary the material. Read the latest personal development books, novels, humor and satire columns, news articles, and your competitor's blog. Learn to recognize good writing, and take the time to identify what makes it good.
Start keeping a journal. You can write about anything at all. Maybe start by writing letters to family members (knowing that you're not going to send them), recording the day's events, or detailing your goals and dreams. You could use a random topic or writing prompt and give yours...
âBut I donât like green beansâ my three-year old nephew recently complained to me as he eyed the healthy pile of the vegetable on his plate. âI canât eat all those. Thatâs a lot,â he said.
After stifling down the nearly automatic responses rising up in me including, âBut there are starving children in Africa!â and âYou will clean your plate!" [said in my best drill sergeant voice], I thought to myself, âYeah kid. I get it.â
I mean weâd all rather have crackers, or, you know, Krispy Kreme, but in this household, we are going for those 9+ servings of fruits and vegetables each day and in order for the little fellow to hit the target, he was going to have to eat some green beans. Trying to pull up a little empathy from the three-year old me who had to eat all sorts of foods I didnât love, I took a look at his plate and realized that it probably did seem like an insurmountable pile of green beans to a three-year old boy who knew he had to eat his veggies but didnât particularly like them...