“Well, with MY luck….”

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, “Well, with my luck, (insert something bad or unwanted here).” Chances are you’ve even said it yourself.

While they my seem like harmless words that don’t mean anything, the fact is they do mean something. We should always be aware of our “self-talk”, and what we say and think, because that is what will determine our life experience. Remember: “thoughts become things”.

When you say things like, “with my luck, it won’t work out” or, “with my luck, it’ll blow up in my face”, you’re actually saying, “I have bad luck!”, “Nothing ever goes my way!” What happens then is your sub-conscious mind starts to believe what you’re saying, and works on making it a reality.

Next time try to catch yourself before you utter that phrase, or better yet, replace the negative with a positive. Say, “With my luck, things will work out perfectly” or, “with my luck, I’ll find exactly what I was looking for at that store.” Just make the last half of that sentence whatever it is that you want.

Some food for thought. Stay positive!

Until next time,

Jim

p.s.  As always, please like and/or comment if you feel so inclined. 🙂

 

MORE Principles from “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

As promised, here is the final list of 10 principles from the Dale Carnegie classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.

These principles fall under the heading: How To Be A Leader

1. Throw down a challenge.
2. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
3. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
4. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
5. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
6. Let the other person save face.
7. Praise the slightest and every improvement. Be “lavish in your praise.”
8. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
9. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
10. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Once again, I would like to encourage you to read (or re-read) the book for a more in-depth explanation on how and why to use these principles. Here’s the Amazon link to the book:  How to Win Friends and Influence People

This concludes the little 3-part series devoted to the principles of Mr. Carnegie’s classic. I hope it was helpful or that it at least ignited a spark to go and further study these principles. Thanks for reading!

I appreciate you!

Until next time, I remain,

Yours in Success,

Jim

How To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

Well, we said good-bye to 2012 last night and awoke to a brand new year. For some, this is a time of renewal, a time for a fresh start. A time to forget about all the “stuff” we would like to forget about the past year and focus on making the year in front of us our best year ever.

Every year, I hear so many people say what they plan on doing in the coming year, myself included, only to find that by February, we’ve lost site and even worse, hope, for achieving our results. Why? Because it’s not enough to just say what you want to do.

One of the best (and probably the simplest) pieces of advice I’ve heard is this: “If you want things in your life to change, you’re going to have to change things in your life.” You may be thinking, “Well, duh! Obviously.” But because it’s such a stupidly obvious statement, it very often gets overlooked.

The fact is, we do have to change things in our life; the sadder fact is, many of us don’t. And if we don’t, nothing changes!

If we want our resolutions, or goals to become reality, then we have to take the necessary steps towards achieving them. Let’s be honest here – it’s going to take some work! The ONLY way we can achieve ANY goal is to DO something about it.

This can be done in baby steps. By changing only one or two things in your daily routine, and doing it consistently over a period of time (3-4 weeks), you’ll be creating new habits. It’s our daily habits that determine where we’re headed. If your goal is to lose weight and get in shape, you’re going to have to change the way you eat and start some kind of an exercise program. Buy different foods when you go to the grocery store. Get some exercise or work-out equipment, or join a gym…and GO, consistently! If your goal is to earn more money, make sure you’re actively searching out ways to do so. If you’re looking to get a raise, or promotion, make sure you’re going the extra mile at your job. Maybe it would help to enrol in some extra courses. The point is, it’s going to take doing something.

The problem with most of us is, even if we do take action, we don’t stick with it for long enough to form new habits. Decide in your mind right now that it’s going to take work, and it’s not going to be easy, but know, that after a while it will become easier and easier. Knowing this going in can make the difference and help break past that point when you feel like giving up. Knowing it’s going to be hard, but that it will get easier will help when you do come to that point.

Following is a list of steps to help ensure you make the most of your New Year’s resolutions:

1. Write down your goals (on paper) in detail describing exactly what it is you want. Most of the experts also suggest you write in the present tense, as if you already have it.

2. Take some kind of action step. The idea is to replace an old habit with a new one, and that requires doing something repeatedly and consistently until the new habit takes form.

3. Stay focused on what you want. There will be many distractions that come along to take you off your path. Never lose site of your desire.

4. Be happy! Yes it’s hard work, but it’s not a life and death situation (at least, I hope it isn’t). Try to be easy about it all and think about how happy you will be when you finally achieve your goal.

I’m going to get to work on my list right now. Let’s all make this the best year of our lives!

Happy New Year! Until next time.

Yours in Success,

Jim

 

 p.s.  If one of your goals or resolutions is to make more money or start a new home-based online business, please check out Empower Network by clicking on one of the links you see on this page.

SHOW, Don’t Tell!

I read a great blog the other day over at Copyblogger.com

It was written by Steve Kamb, and the title of the post was “How to Blog Like Bond. James Bond”. You can view it here.

Mr. Kamb demonstrates the importance of combining skill with confidence and style (like James Bond) in your blog posts. One point that he made really stuck with me and that’s what I want to talk about today.

He states that “a little modesty can go a long way”, and I couldn’t agree more. We never see James Bond brag about how good he is – he just IS!

I continue to notice an ever-increasing plethora of experts and gurus, especially on the internet, most of whom are “self-proclaimed” experts and gurus. People that brag and boast about how great they are, are generally looked down upon in real life, so why should the internet be any different? People want to follow leaders who get the job done, not those who say they get the job done. Talk is cheap, in fact it’s probably the cheapest thing in the world. And how can something so cheap have any value? It can’t! It’s only actions that have value.

I think there are 3 types of people in regards to this: There are those who talk and do nothing. There are those who talk and do something, and there are those who don’t talk and do something. (I suppose there is a fourth type – those who don’t talk and don’t do anything, but we don’t really need to pay any attention to that group). The first group are often the loudest and the ones we hear first, but it’s usually just a matter of time before we realize who they really are. The second and third groups will both get the job done; however, that second group will also keep telling you how great they are, while the third group will be  more likely to build you up instead of themselves. To me, that’s what real leaders do!

So, let’s not tell people how great we are, let’s show them!