Merry and Bright - and Safe

Fire and light safety tips for the holiday season


The holiday season is a special time of year but one that has greater safety risks than usual. The dry evergreen tree, those candles and electric lights you use to decorate or set the holiday mood, or the cosy fire you have blazing in the fireplace can all be fire hazards.

Here are some precautions you can take to prevent fires and help you and your family stay safe to enjoy the festivities of the season.

Decorative electric lights

-Use lights and extension cords that are in good condition and that have been certified by a recognized organization - the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) or Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC or cUL).
-Inspect cords and lights for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets/plugs, excessive kinking or wear. Check the cords periodically when they have been on for a while; they should not feel warm. If you find any of these signs, replace with an approved (CSA, ULC or cUL) product, or don't use.
-Never remove the ground pin, or file the wide peg of the plug, as this interferes with the electrical grounding.
-Never put extension cords through doorways or under carpets.
-Do not leave holiday lights on unattended. Turn off the lights when you leave work, and at home, turn them off when you are asleep or away.
Follow the manufacturers' instructions about how many sets of lights that can be strung (plugged in) together. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet (safer than working with a plugged in extension cord that is conducting electricity).
-Do not overload electrical outlets.
-Use only indoor lights and extension cords indoors, and outdoor lights and cords outdoors.
-Use mini or LED lights - they have cool-burning lights, and LED lights use less electricity.

Candles and oil lamps

-Place lit candles in stable holders (not wood or plastic) that cannot burn and are large enough to collect dripping wax. Place them where they cannot be easily knocked down.
-Trim candle wicks to a height of 5-7 mm (1/4 inch) before lighting the candle and again every 2-3 hours to prevent high flames.
-Do not go near a Christmas tree with an open flame - candles, lighters or matches, and never use lit candles on live or artificial trees.
-Keep burning candles one metre away from anything that can burn (e.g. papers, cloth, or drapes).
-Never leave a candle unattended. Extinguish it before you leave the room.
-Keep burning candles out of reach of children and pets.
-Avoid using decorative oil lamps with liquid fuel (usually poisonous) if you have young children in your household. If you do use them, keep the fuel locked away out of reach of children.

Keeping it real - the Christmas tree

-Cut trees become dry quickly and most will last about 14 days. If you are decorating a live tree for the workplace, you may want to take it down before people leave for holidays.
-When buying a live tree, give it a shake. Needles will fall if the tree is dry because it was cut too long ago. Pick a tree that does not lose its needles and with a trunk that is sticky to the touch.
-Cut 2 to 5 centimetres from the trunk of the tree to encourage the tree to drink more water.
-Water the tree. Ideally, it should have a sturdy stand that holds about 4 litres of water. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times.
-Use a preservative in the water. If you are concerned about small children or pets drinking the water, use a small amount of sugar instead.
-Keep the tree away from heating vents or registers, fireplaces, high traffic areas, and exits so it won't dry out prematurely. As well, try to position the tree so you do not have to use long extension cords.

Decorations

-Buy only decorations and artificial trees that are non-flammable or flame resistant.
-Do not use angel hair (glass wool) together with spray-on snowflakes. This combination burns very easily.
-Do not use metallic ornaments on the tree. If they make contact with defective wiring they could become a shock hazard.
-Do not use nails, tacks, or staples to hang cords and lights. They can damage the wire, cause corrosion, or create a short circuit.

Fireplaces and wood stoves

-Always use a secure screen in front of your fireplace.
-Have the chimney cleaned at least once a year to prevent chimney fires.
-Burn hardwood which will leave less creosote in the chimney.
If using firelogs, follow the manufacturer's instructions and burn only one log at a time.
-Never burn wrapping paper in a fireplace. It can create a very large fire, with dangerous sparks and embers that could cause a chimney fire.
-Make sure the fire is out before going to bed or before going out.
-Ensure that the chimney is drawing well so that wood smoke does not come into the room.
-Keep children away from gas fireplaces. When in use, the glass doors can become hot enough to cause serious burns.

General fire safety tips

-Do not leave cooking food unattended on a stove.
Keep cooking areas free of flammable objects (such as potholders and towels) and avoid wearing long, loose-fitting sleeves that could ignite over the stove burner when cooking.
-Never smoke in bed or leave burning cigarettes unattended. Do not empty smoldering ashes in a trash can.
-Keep portable space heaters away from anything that could catch fire such as the drapes or slip covers.
-Install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors on every floor of the home, including the basement, especially near rooms in which people sleep. Test them once a month, and replace batteries twice a year.

Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday.

Fran

P.S. Here is a link to a Christmas gift for you http://www.franwatson.ca/Memories.zip

5 Gifts From The Heart

This is from an email I received today and I thought I would share it.


5 Gifts from the Heart

The gift of listening: At a social event or a sales call, listen carefully to what people bring up. Those topics are important to them. Ask questions and really listen to the answers.


The gift of attention: Is someone telling you what's bothering or worrying them? Give them your full attention. It works wonders in understanding their needs, and making them feel valued.

The gift of time: We live in a time-pressed world. Instead of doing two things at once, mentally slow down and be in the moment (when you have time, of course!).


The gift of humor: Laughter draws people to you. Take a moment to laugh with your clients, friends and family. A small dose of humor produces very positive side effects.

The gift of thanks: Take a moment to give sincere thanks to everyone who has helped you this year.

And now I'd like to thank you for giving me a few moments of your precious time each week. I wish you all the best for the holiday season and New Year.

Warmest wishes,

Lynda

Lynda@LyndaGoldmanInk.com


I hope you enjoyed this

Fran
P.S. Here is a Christmas gift for you - I compiled a book with Christmas Carols, Christmas stories and recipes. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.franwatson.ca/Memories.pdf

Life Is Too Brief Sometimes

Last Friday morning at 4:56 am, December 4th, 2009 my brother died. He was two years younger than me. He was much too young to die.

My mom, his son and my sister were all able to see him before he died, thanks to two of his friends (Terry & Wendy) who had gone down to visit him. They were able to get him to the hospital and contacted my sister who flew down to Florida right away and then she contacted my mother, his son (age 26), and me. We flew down the next day and went straight to the hospital where his son had to make the very tough decision to pull the life support and let him go. I stayed the night with him and was with him as he breathed his last breath. Then we got to deal with the red tape of getting his body from Florida to Toronto.

We spent 3 1/2 hours in a funeral parlour while a gentleman filled out paperwork. We thought he was the janitor as he greeted us in jeans and a shirt that looked like it had been attacked by cats - it had picks all over it. Where was the suit and the solicitous concern that is shown by the funeral directors and staff in our Canadian funteral homes? He even went on to tell us what he would do with my brother's body, things his son did not need to hear at that time. We learned that the body could not be shipped out for almost a week due to the Health regulations that had to be followed in order to get the required paperwork, since this was Friday afternoon and he could do nothing more until Monday.

My brother had gone down to Florida at the end of October to finalize the renovations on the condo that he had bought. He had barely moved in when he became too sick to enjoy it. We were to have joined him for Christmas this year, but the cancer took him too soon.

Life will not be the same without him.

At his funeral service, there were several people who spoke about him - a business partner, his sailing club, the Lion's Club (he had been given an Award of Merit that had only been given out 6 times in the past 28 years just last year), his riding club, his cousin, and myself. Each talked about the lives he had touched, the many things he had done and what a wonderful person he was. They touched on his love of "beer, butt, bike and books" as well as his caring and love of family and friends, and the number of people who attended attested to the fact that he touched many lives.

Life for the rest of us goes on......... but you will be missed - Rest in peace my brother. I pray that you are finally at peace.

Your big sister
Fran

Four Laws Of The Universe

This week, I'm dipping into an unknown manuscript by Sterling W. Sill that contains more than 100 unpublished Laws of the Universe. Unfortunately, there are only one or two copies of this manuscript in existence and it was never published.

Luckily, I have a copy and I'm sharing some of its wisdom with you. These four laws alone provide much guidance for building a good and profitable life.

1. The Law of the Rerun

One of the best tests of quality in literature is survival. We watch reruns of old movies on TV and read the classics because their ideas and characters speak to us long after the authors and actors are dead.

Psychologists tell us that when we run an idea through our brains it makes a little groove or engram. And each time the idea is rerun, the groove becomes a little deeper and broader so that we're forming attitudes or habits.

A valuable maxim says: practice makes perfect. If we want to become a great basketball player, we run the skill until it is memorized by the muscle.

Through repetition and drill we gain skill. We develop the habit of creating excellence.

Drill for skill works negatively as well. Sill writes, "If we practice failure and error we become prolific in bringing them about." If we rerun bitterness, resentment, antagonism, we make habits of them.

But when we rerun beauty, ambition, faith, kindness, inspiration they become part of who we are. Thus the rerun is the instrument through which we express our Divine nature.

2. The Law of Retribution

The word "retribution" may sound harsh, but Sill writes that the Law of Retribution simply means that no one can step between an act and its natural consequence. "For every wrong we do, every personality quality we leave undeveloped, every opportunity we fail to take advantage of, we pay a penalty."

Often that penalty is that the undesirable act incarnates, becomes a part of us. "If a person lies, his punishment is that he becomes a liar. If we think negative thoughts, we develop negative minds. If we don't study, the resulting ignorance attracts those undesirable qualities that have an affinity for ignorance."

The point of this law is not to punish us by inflicting pain and suffering, but to awaken us, to prod us into eliminating the wrongs from our system.

For it is one of the great unchangeable laws of the universe that we are all gravitating straight toward where we belong. At the same time, "we must bear the responsibility for the time we have strangled and the development of our personality that was stillborn."

3. The Law of Salesmanship

For his discussion about this law, Sill references the Bible, which one may read for its history, philosophy, theology, but it is also the greatest sales manual ever written.

In the Sermon on the Mount, it was said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you."

Jesus also said that the kingdom of God is within each of us.

When applied to salesmanship, the quote means: the first important thing in any success is to develop our character, our inner talents first, and then the sales will come easily as a natural consequence.

If we try to build success without developing courage, industry and service, we usually don't get very far.

We also don't get very far if we behave immorally. Really great salesmanship is founded on doing right. Any sale that does not profit both parties is wrong.
The very best way to be a good salesperson is to be a good person.

4. The Law of Self-Discipline

Sill writes that The Law of Self-Discipline is also the Law of Accomplishment. You can't have one without the other. Without discipline there is no excellence, no progress, no satisfaction.

History is full of people from poor circumstances who rose to great heights chiefly because they learned self-control and self-motivation. People who learn to manage themselves can reach any objective.

To develop discipline where it is lacking, practice something every day that you don't like. My mentor used to say, "Do the things that are uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable being uncomfortable."

The rewards of self-discipline are well worth the effort spent to attain it. We should set substantial objectives for ourselves and through the practice of self-discipline meet every one.

Now, those, in my opinion, are amazing lessons.



© Copyright 2009 - David Neagle's Life Is Now Inc.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?You may, as long as you commit to leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, and include the following byline: David Neagle, Million Dollar Income Acceleration Coach, mentors entrepreneurs to quantum leap their current businesses past the 7-Figure income level in just 12 months. David invites you to download--as his GIFT to you--his legendary "Art of Success" 4-hour audio program. This audio series is a tremendously compelling and comprehensive program that demonstrates--once and for all--that Success has nothing to do with "getting" or "achieving", and everything to do with WHO we much BE to manifest our hearts' true desires. For an additional bonus, Text: success to the number: 85800

I hope you enjoyed this article.

Fran, Doctor of Purpose
"Helping People Find Their Voice"

Success

Success does not reside in a far off destination or achievement.

Success comes from the small steps taken each day that put you a little closer to your goal. We don't take leaps to success. We take simple actions in the right direction that add up over time to get us where we want to be.


"Nothing happens until something moves."
- Albert Einstein

Please Wear A Poppy

Let us remember those who have given their lives for us, those who have been wounded physically and mentally in their acts of service, and those who came back whole.

Lest we forget.....

PLEASE WEAR A POPPY

"Please wear a poppy," the lady said
And held one forth, but I shook my head.
Then I stopped and watched as she offered them there,
And her face was old and lined with care;
But beneath the scars the years had made
There remained a smile that refused to fade.

A boy came whistling down the street,
Bouncing along on care-free feet.
His smile was full of joy and fun,
"Lady," said he, "may I have one?"
When she's pinned in on he turned to say,
"Why do we wear a poppy today?"

The lady smiled in her wistful way
And answered, "This is Remembrance Day,
And the poppy there is the symbol for
The gallant men who died in war.
And because they did, you and I are free -
That's why we wear a poppy, you see.

"I had a boy about your size,
With golden hair and big blue eyes.
He loved to play and jump and shout,
Free as a bird he would race about.
As the years went by he learned and grew
and became a man - as you will, too.

"He was fine and strong, with a boyish smile,
But he'd seemed with us such a little while
When war broke out and he went away.
I still remember his face that day
When he smiled at me and said, Goodbye,
I'll be back soon, Mom, so please don't cry.

"But the war went on and he had to stay,
And all I could do was wait and pray.
His letters told of the awful fight,
(I can see it still in my dreams at night),
With the tanks and guns and cruel barbed wire,
And the mines and bullets, the bombs and fire.

"Till at last, at last, the war was won-
And that's why we wear a poppy son."
The small boy turned as if to go,
Then said, "Thanks, lady, I'm glad to know.
That sure did sound like an awful fight,
But your son - did he come back all right?"

A tear rolled down each faded check;
She shook her head, but didn't speak.
I slunk away in a sort of shame,
And if you were me you'd have done the same;
For our thanks, in giving, if oft delayed,
Thought our freedom was bought - and thousands paid!

And so when we see a poppy worn,
Let us reflect on the burden borne,
By those who gave their very all
When asked to answer their country's call
That we at home in peace might live.
Then wear a poppy! Remember - and give!

by Don Crawford


I share this to bless all who serve...wherever they may be.

Fran

Life Lesson - Fix it before it fixes You

There are so many things that this life lesson can apply to. Our vehicles, our relationships, our houses and much more. In my case it applied to a job I have been putting off for quite a while.

On Saturday I was working around my house cleaning up and putting away things in the garage and then trying to fix the door on my garage. After I examined the old door which wasn't fitting properly, I realized that I needed to cut a portion off the post which attached to the outside wall and so I carried the door and frame over to the top of my dug well where I had some support.

I wasn't really looking where I was going and as I stepped onto the well, I stepped on a rotten board on the top of my well which broke. My right leg fell through and was hanging inside the well just above the water. Luckily for me my left leg was still on the cement and the next board was still solid.

I pulled myself out, a little bruised and sore, but I then continued with my project, put the door back on the garage, put the chairs in the garage, went to the dump and then came home and changed my clothes.

It wasn't until later that I realized how lucky I really was.

I realized that If the second board had also been rotten, I would have fallen right into the well which was about 15-20 feet deep and filled with water. There was no way for me to get out.

My boyfriend had gone to get his mom from the hospital, so he didn't get home until around 6:00 pm. He would have called me, wondered where I was, but he wouldn't have looked for me until about 8:00 - 9 hours after I would have fallen in. I live in the country and my closest neighbour was gone hunting, so there was no one nearby. I had no cell phone with me to call 911. There was no way to climb out of the well.

I realized that if I had fallen in, I probably would not be here to tell the tale.

We had talked often about putting something more over the well, filling the well, etc. but hadn't gotten around to it.

Often in our relationships we talk around a problem, but fail to actually deal with it until it becomes much worse.

Sometimes with our vehicle we hear a funny noise, but we wait for a while before we take it to the garage and what might have been a $20 part has now turned into a $500 (or more) repair.

There is a saying that applies here: "A stitch in time saves nine."

Before I left I put a flat over the top of the well. My grandson suggested putting some stakes around it with rope - a good idea.

Luckily I am here. The life lesson - take care of things before they become dangerous - or fix it before it fixes you - and watch where you walk.

BANABU

Fran

SARK

My experience depends on my perception. Today I will walk slowly and find between the hours just what my day needs.


Last night I attened a Mini-Vacation Seminar with SARK. I have been participaing in SARK's Awesome Adventure for the past month and she invited participants to join her in a Mini-Vacation.

If you have heard of SARK, you know about her brightly coloured books and you will be interested in seeing her site. Click here to visit Planet SARK.

If you have never heard of SARK, you are in for a treat. Don't waste any more time, just run on over and Click here to visit Planet SARK.

Transform what's not working...SARK style! Take a look at SARK's Transformation Exper!ence for a life-altering multimedia journey of healing!

Try two free samples days of SARK's Transformation Exper!ence...a multimedia journey of healing and transformation for the splendidly imperfect!



Have a Succulent SARK day.


Fran

P.S. Make the most of yourself for that is all there is to you. (Emerson)

Dreams and Goals

Goals and Dreams

Don't underestimate the value of a few seconds. As Benjamin Franklin said, "If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves."

Quotes from Will Rogers “Our smallest actions may have tremendous repercussions”
“Our today is what it is because of what we did yesterday. “
“We need to be conscious of what we are doing or not doing.”
“If you don't take advantage of an opportunity when it comes, you may miss it for eternity -- grab hold and don't let go -- seize it now. “
“Nothing worthwhile is easy - you have to work at everything."

All too often as women we get sidetracked by the various demands of our life – our husbands/boyfriends, our children, our parents, our jobs… We forget that we too are allowed to have dreams and goals, that we are important and that our lives are important to us as well as to others.

How many times have you been going to do something for yourself – even if it was only to sit quietly with a cup of tea or coffee – when someone came by or called and asked you to do something? When this happens, more often than not, you sighed a little and then said, “ok” or “no problem, I can do that”. You likely didn’t say: “I’m sorry I don’t have the time at the moment”, or “Let me get back to you.”, even though that might have been what you wanted to say. Or, we just sit down and then we jump up, remembering one more thing that needs doing, and then we’ll just sit down and relax.

For instance, as I was writing this I sat down with my Chai tea, picked up my pen and started to write. Then I realized I hadn’t eaten anything yet, so I got myself a bowl of cooked cabbage, which I had just finished making, and then I went to rinse the dish and thought, “Oh, I should do these dishes.”, so I did. Then I came back to the table, to my cold Chai tea and an unfinished article, so I took my tea and put it in the microwave and picked up my pen. As soon as I’m finished writing I will go upstairs, put on some make up and head off to the church hall with my six pies and see what they need help with for our church supper.

But back to goals and dreams… How often have you let the busyness of your life interfere with achieving a goal or a dream? How often have you used the excuse, “I just don’t have the time to…”? (You supply the goal or dream.) I know I used that excuse far too often.

The truth is, you will never “find” the time, you have to “make time” for it to happen.

There have been times in the past when I pursued my goal straight out and others when I meandered my way along. I achieved my goal of a university degree in 2000 after 13 years of distance education. I started when I was 38 years old. I set my sights on 2000 and finished my final course in August 2000, in time to graduate and attend the ceremonies in October. Nine years later that is till one of my proudest moments.

My very first goal as a child was to become a mother. I didn’t want to be a pilot, a teacher, or anything else. Just a mom. I was married at 18 but the kids didn’t come along for 5 more years. I had 4 – boy, girl, girl, boy – and I’m proud to say that they are ALL wonderful, responsible, intelligent, caring human beings. If you have read my bio you will know that I officially became a single mom when my oldest was 14 and my youngest 3, although I had spent a great deal of time on my own as we had separated several times.

I found that it is important to keep on setting new goals or else you run into the problem of just sitting around wondering what you should be doing. That was my dilemma from the time my kids were born until I became a single parent and set my goal to achieve my degree.

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to make money on the internet. I had dreams of raking in “big bucks”. After all, that’s what all the ads say you can do. So I signed up for this offer and that offer and I bought this course and that course, but I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t set up mini goals and time lines and so I have been floundering. (I did make at least one wise purchase - Rosalind Gardner's Super Affiliate Handbook.)

I purchased the woman-2-woman domain several years ago when I was writing articles on a regular basis, but life got in the way and I never got set up. This week I decided that now is the time. I would just get it up and add to it each week. I will be adding info on Affiliate Marketing, Traffic Exchanges and Personal Growth with links you can use. Most will be women as that is my main focus, but there have been several men whom I have found very helpful, so I will share that info as well.

My goal for this website is to have a list of at least 5 items in each section by mid November. If you have some suggestions, please let me know.

I look forward to hearing from you. Check on how I’m doing by coming to my website http://www.woman-2-woman.info

See you later

Fran
P.S. Interested in Affiliate Marketing? Learn from the best.

Are You Enough??

"The Universe provides for us all every day, no matter how much we have or don't have. We deserve to feel that we are, have and do enough in our lives."
--SARK

Susan talks about being who we are in many of her books and she has recently begun an online Adventure. I have been a fan of SARK since I first read one of her books in the late 1990's. I was excited fo find our about her latest venture and I would like to invite you to come along for the ride with us.

What vibrant activies have you always wanted to try???? Try them now! Come along with us. See where the road leads. Click here to view more details

Achieving Goals

Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authorities on the development of the human potential. He is the best selling author of 23 books and has trained 2 million people in 23 countries. http://www.mp3motivators.com/tracy.htm?KBID=2786

How to Achieve a Goal by Brian Tracy

The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than for you to cast off your own limitations than for you to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.
As a wise man once said, “You must dream big dreams, for only big dreams have the power to move the minds of men." When you begin to dream big dreams, your levels of self-esteem and self-confidence will go up immediately. You will feel more powerful about yourself and your ability to deal with what happens to you. The reason so many people accomplish so little is because they never allow themselves to lean back and imagine the kind of life that is possible for them.

A powerful principle that you can use to dream big dreams and live without limits is contained in what Elihu Goldratt calls the “Theory of Constraints." This is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern thinking. What Goldratt has found is that in every process, in accomplishing any goal, there is a bottleneck or choke cord that serves as a constraint on the process. This constraint then sets the speed at which you achieve any particular goal.

What Goldratt found is that if you concentrate all of your creative energies and attention on alleviating the constraint, you can speed up the process faster than by doing any other single thing.

How to achieve a goal

Let me give you an example. Let us say that you want to double your income. What is the critical constraint or the limiting factor that holds you back? Well, you know that your income is a direct reward for the quality and quantity of the services you render to your world. Whatever field you are in, if you want to double your income, you simply have to double the quality and quantity of what you do for that income. Or you have to change activities and occupations so that what you are doing is worth twice as much. But you must always ask yourself, “What is the critical constraint that holds me back or sets the speed on how fast I double my income?"

A friend of mine is one of the highest-paid commission professionals in the United States. One of his goals was to double his income over the next three to five years.

He applied the 80/20 rule to his client base. He found that 20 percent of his clients contributed 80 percent of his profits, and that the amount of time spent on a high-profit client was pretty much the same amount of time spent on a low-profit client. In other words, he was dividing his time equally over the number of tasks that he does while only 20 percent of those items contributes 80 percent of his results.

So he drew a line on his list of clients under those who represented the top 20 percent and then called in other professionals in his industry and very carefully, politely, and strategically handed off the 80 percent of his clients that only represented 20 percent of his business. He then put together a profile of his top clients and began looking in the marketplace exclusively for the type of client who fit the profile; in other words, one who could become a major profit contributor to his organization, and whom he in turn could serve with the level of excellence that his clients were accustomed to. And instead of doubling his income in three to five years, he doubled it in the first year!

So what is holding you back? Is it your level of education or skill? Is it your current occupation or job? Is it your current environment or level of health? Is it the situations that you are in today? What is setting the speed for you achieving your goal?

Remember, whatever you have learned, you can unlearn. Whatever situation you have gotten yourself into, you can probably get yourself out of. If your real goal is to dream big dreams and to live without limits, you can set this as your standard and compare everything that you do against it.

The three keys to living without limits have always been the same. They are clarity, competence, and concentration.

Clarity means that you are absolutely clear about who you are, what you want, and where you're going. You write down your goals and you make plans to accomplish them. You set very careful priorities and you do something every day to move you toward your goals. And the more progress you make toward accomplishing things that are important to you, the greater self-confidence and self-belief you have, and the more convinced you become that there are no limits on what you can achieve.

Competence means that you begin to become very, very good in the key result areas of your chosen field. You apply the 80/20 rule to everything you do and you focus on becoming outstanding in the 20 percent of tasks that contribute to 80 percent of your results. You dedicate yourself to continuous learning. You never stop growing. You realize that excellence is a moving target. And you commit yourself to doing something every day that enables you to become better and better at doing the most important things in your field. Concentration is having the self-discipline to force yourself to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, and stay with it until it's complete.

The two key words for success have always been focus and concentration. Focus is knowing exactly what you want to be, have, and do. Concentration is persevering, without diversion or distraction, in a straight line toward accomplishing the things that can make a real difference in your life.

When you allow yourself to begin to dream big dreams, creatively abandon the activities that are taking up too much of your time, and focus your inward energies on alleviating your main constraints, you start to feel an incredible sense of power and confidence. As you focus on doing what you love to do and becoming excellent in those few areas that can make a real difference in your life, you begin to think in terms of possibilities rather than impossibilities, and you move ever closer toward the realization of your full potential.

**********************************
I hope you enjoyed this article.

For more information on Brian and his books, click here

Fran

P.S. Want a Free Think and Grow Rich Book?
It's Already Created a Million Millionaires
I've Got a Copy Reserved For You At
www.FreeTGRbook.com/franwatson

Awesome Anytime Adventures

Are you ready for the ride of your life? Join SARK and I on an awesome adventure. You never know where you will end up, but it will always lead to a Sweet Spot. Click here to visit Planet SARK.

What vibrant activies have you always wanted to try???? Try them now! Come along with us. See where the road leads. Click here to view more details

Looking forward to seeing you on the journey

Fran

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Are you a Cause or an Effect?

I was browsing through my hard drive when I came across this article that I had saved. Unfortunately, I did not save the name of the person who wrote it, so with apologies to that person, I submit this for you to consider. It is a long post, so you might want to grab a coffee to drink while you read it. I share it with you as it made an impact on me when I read it again this morning.

Have a wonderful day!

How To Be A Cause and Not An Effect

Are you a ‘cause’ or an ‘effect’? The more control over your life you have, the more empowered you are. The more empowered you are, the happier and more fulfilled you will be. Therefore, there’s a good reason for discovering how to always operate as a person of “cause” and not one of “effect”.

What I mean by ‘cause’ is a person who realizes that they are in charge of their lives. They take full responsibility for their lives no matter if their results are good or bad. A person in control of their lives has this reflected in their mindset, their thinking and their language.

What I mean by ‘effect’ is a person who claims to be a victim and operates under the illusion of not being in control of their lives. They set up others as the controllers in their lives and give their personal power away unnecessarily.

One of the greatest revelations I’ve had is that when my life wasn’t working, I went in front of the bathroom mirror and said to myself, “Gee, my life sucks right now. But you know what? I made it suck. And because I made it suck, I can make it great again.” By acknowledging that I was in complete control, even when I made my life less than great, it gave me incredible perspective.

Look around you. What’s working in your life? What’s not working yet? Everything is a result of what we thought and did yesterday. Tomorrow will be a result of our thoughts and actions today. What specifically can you do right now to improve an area of your life you’d like to? Write it down and then do it.

Here is a specific example of language and how to detect whether you’re acting as a ‘cause’ in your life or simply an ‘effect’. How do you use cause and effect language? Listen carefully to your language.

Example of someone who is an effect:

“That person makes me feel bad when they look at me like that.”

Yikes! The person speaking the sentence has now painted themselves as a victim by being at the mercy of whoever looks at them. They’ve given up all their control of how to feel to the other person. Now, with a simple look, the other ‘all powerful’ person can make the speaker feel rotten. That’s no good.

Here’s how to rephrase that sentence for the person to acknowledge they are in control:

“When that person looks at me, I choose to feel bad inside.”

The speaker now acknowledges that they are choosing to feel bad. And you know what? When you can choose one way, it means you can choose another way. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. Next, the speaker can choose to feel good or at least neutral after recognizing they have a choice. Who in their right mind would decide to feel crummy if they knew they had a choice?

Here’s are a few more ‘effect’ sentences for you to rephrase:

“Whenever he comes home late, he makes me angry at him.”

“Whenever she looks away during our conversation, she frustrates me.”

“When my spouse goes out with their friends without telling me where they’re going, he worries me.”

Ok, you’re job is to rephrase these. If you are using these ‘effect’ phrases in your language, detect them and stop. Listen to others as they speak. Their language gives them away whether they view themselves as in control or as victims. Applying just this one tip has the power to change your life.


Finding Your True Purpose In Life

When you’re on purpose, you’re following your path. Things come to you, you’re in “the flow” of things, and good things happen. If you’re stuck doing something you don’t like, you’re not on purpose. It’s spiritually depressing to be stuck in a rut of a job that taxes you daily.

We weren’t put here on Earth to just slog away at some job we hate until we retire at 65 with the gold watch and die shortly thereafter. When we’re on purpose, we’re fired up and going for it. We jump out of bed and get to go do what we love. Therefore, you can easily see why it’s important to find your true purpose in life and follow it.

Here’s how. Go back to your past. Find what kind of experiences lent themselves to you losing track of time and getting lost in pure bliss. Now, when you can figure out how to make money at that, you’re really onto something. In fact, you’re well on your way to living your dream lifestyle.

Avoid asking yourself immediately how you can make money doing what you love. That may be too difficult a question right now. Instead, ask yourself how you can add value to others’ lives while you do what you love? Go ahead and do this now. How specifically can you add value to other people’s lives while doing what you love? Write the answer down that pops into your mind.

Can you demonstrate it to others for entertainment?

Can you teach it to others to empower their lives?

Can you sell the fruits of your labor by putting it into a product?

Can you consult with others who would willingly pay for your expertise?

Suppose you love to travel. How can you add value to others’ lives while traveling? The key here to keep in mind is that by adding value to others’ lives, you’ll be compensated. Back to the travel example.

You could travel and then create value for others as a result of your travels:

• Write a travel book
• Create a travel review website
• Market a budget travel newsletter

Or you could get a job where a side benefit of your job is to travel.

• Become a roadie for a worldwide concert tour
• Become a pilot or airline attendant
• Work as a buyer for an import/export business

My point is that you can create a lifestyle around your passion and your true purpose. Let me submit myself as an example. My personal mission statement at this time in my life is, “Live my dreams and give back to others in a win/win way.” Pretty straightforward. I asked myself what I could do that was consistent with my personal mission.

And I came to where I’m at now. I create and market information products that serve people and empower their lives. After reading hundreds of books, going to countless seminars, and performing who-knows-how-many exercises on myself, I decided I wanted to help others in the same way. That’s when I founded my business.

My friend relayed to me the story of a guy who just loved to sleep. That’s it. He had nothing that truly fired him up, where his heart burned with passion and eyes glistened with positive emotion. He just loved to sleep. So if he loved to sleep, how could you go fashion a livelihood out of this? In other words, how can this guy serve others by sleeping?

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• He could create a book on how to get a good night’s rest (Who wouldn’t want to sleep soundly and wake up rested?)
• He could create an audio program to help people sleep easily
• He could find sleep research institutes and volunteer to be a subject for their sleep-related experiments
• He could give talks and radio interviews on how to “powernap” for 20 minutes for an immediate boost in mental clarity and energy
• He could create his own sleep laboratory where he tests different ways of sleeping to find what gives the most restful sleep and then publish the results in a scientific journal

This is just sleep and it’s admittedly a harder subject than others. Your passion is going to be easier to turn into what you do for a living. Recall times in the past when you were happiest. During your day-to-day life now, note when you’re feeling awesome. How can you turn that into what you do?

Mark Twain said, “Happiness is making your vacation your vocation.” I wholeheartedly agree!

Killing Procrastination Instantly

Have you ever had a great idea but did not act upon it? And then later you saw that product or service out in the marketplace, perhaps earning the founder/inventor millions of dollars? Fortunes are lost due to procrastination but that’s not the only reason to kill off procrastination instantly.

Many people procrastinate for a number of reasons: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of the unknown, etc. The idea that it’s easier to put something off tomorrow than doing it today is a lazy way of thinking that does not help whoever holds that belief.

Let me first tackle fear of failure. Many people put things off, believing that if they do it later they’ll do it better. Or if they do it later, they won’t fail. But usually the ‘procrastination’ route just leads to not doing it at all. Let me let you in on a little secret that, if you understand it, will change your life. This secret can transform your life if you truly grasp the depth of the simple sentence.

Here goes nothing: There’s no such thing as failure. That’s a million dollars worth of insight right there. (I’ll take a check please…hehehe) The only way to fail is to not even go for it. The people who succeed the most have failed their way to success. The thing to keep in mind is that after each time something doesn’t work to learn from it and adjust accordingly. And then plod on. And keep doing it until you win.

Many people fear success and fear the unknown. I’ll combine the two into one because fear of success is partly based on fear of the unknown. Everybody’s got a comfort zone. That’s a given. And what’s outside our comfort zone is unknown to us. People are habitual creatures and generally don’t want to step outside to the unknown unless they make a conscious, concerted effort. That’s why a lot of people procrastinate.

I’ve told you about procrastination and what it stems from. Friend, I’m not going to leave you hanging without giving you a real, workable solution in how to instantly end procrastination forever.

But first, let me tell you about a dangerous side effect of procrastination. I call it ‘psychic weight’. ‘Psychic weight’ is the weight you feel on your psyche for having a whole lot of things left unfinished that you need to do but are procrastinating on.

An example is prudent here because it will crystallize your understanding of what I’m saying. Suppose you want to go watch a movie with your significant other but you’ve got some household chores left unfinished such as mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, and doing the laundry. While at the movie, it may be harder for you to enjoy the movie if your mind is wandering because you may be thinking about all your unfinished chores back at the house. This is doubly bad. Why? It’s doubly bad because instead of enjoying the movie, you were distracted by the ‘psychic weight’ of your mind gravitating toward your unfinished chores AND when you arrive back at home, you still have to do those same chores that lessened your movie experience!

Now, after you’ve killed the procrastination habit, imagine yourself mowing the lawn immediately, doing the dishes, and finishing up the laundry. You automatically feel a good sense of accomplishment. You joyfully invite your significant other to a movie with the peace of mind that you’re free to enjoy the movie fully. Much better, isn’t it?

If you go to procrastinate, ask yourself, “What’s the ‘psychic wait’ of me putting off this action? What can I gain by immediately doing it right now? How much of a sense of accomplishment will I feel by getting this done right now?” Asking yourself these questions will put you in the mood to ‘Do-It-Now!’

I used to procrastinate, especially when I began working for myself. Instead of doing what was important, I surfed the internet, incessantly read and wrote email, etc. It was junk food for my mind for me when I didn’t discipline myself to do what mattered. Sure, it felt good at the time, like the yummy taste of junk food, but it caught up to me later. Things that I needed to do weren’t getting done.

So how did I kick the procrastination habit? I made a list of things I needed to do for the day and ranked them in order of importance. Then, I did the first thing on the list and stuck with it until complete. Then I moved to the next thing. This alone doubled my productivity. If I didn’t accomplish the first thing on the list, I would just keep going with it as long as it took.

Slow and steady smokes somebody who is a short-term sprinter all day long. Remember that as you run for your goals, you’re in a marathon and not a sprint. Just keep going every day. Remember the Energizer bunny? It just keeps going and going, right? Well, you and I can do the same thing. Just keep plugging away.

Adopt this belief as your own: “Action is always better than no action”. When you take action, the best case scenario is that you get your result immediately and you are very satisfied. The worst case scenario is that you don’t get your result but you do learn something for the next time. The problem with ‘no action’ is that you don’t learn anything if you haven’t done anything.

Creating An Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude is important in our lives because when we are grateful for what we have, we’ll attract more abundance in our lives. Furthermore, we’ll feel more fulfilled and happy with our lives when we are grateful for what we have.

Meanwhile, someone who is ungrateful will perceive a lack. There will be a void in their lives. To lead a truly rich life, each of us needs a sense of gratitude. You get my point.

One way I’ve discovered to be more grateful and in turn create a more fulfilling life for myself is by “counting my blessings”. Basically, this means that as I begin each day, I mentally go through a list of things I’m grateful for. They range from my relationships to my personality characteristics to my career to my material goods. I just go down the list and go into a state of utter appreciation for each positive thing going on in my life.

As you can see, this is easy to do. And it really works. Having an attitude of gratitude will enrich your life in more ways than you can imagine. Don’t take my word for it, though. Prove it to yourself by taking a week and practicing the technique every day as you get up. As you do this, it will become easier. Another neat benefit you’ll receive is that you’ll find more and more things to be grateful for and your sense of appreciation will increase.

Another method for creating gratitude is to volunteer your time for others. Help those out who are less fortunate than you. It will make you feel good and you’ll get a sense of how much you really do have which you may or may not notice through your day to day life.

On occasion, though not as often as I’d like, I go downtown and find some homeless people standing outside the shelters and offer to buy them a simple fast food dinner. I take a small group of them to the local fast food restaurant and buy them some burgers. When I chat with them, it’s interesting to understand their points of view and get acquainted with them. They get a free meal and I get a sense of gratitude for all I have as well as a feeling that I helped someone else out a little bit.

So the next free moment you get, you might stop and ask yourself what you’re thankful for. It’ll serve you well.

Getting Whatever You Want

In this article, you’ll discover how to get whatever you want. I’m going to give you specific principles that, when applied, cause near miraculous results in your life. After you become very clear in what you want, you can go after it in an all-out manner.

For whatever you want, it’s going to come from someone or someplace else. Think about that right now. You want more money? It’s going to come from your company, your customers, your clients, or whomever. You want more love? It’s going to come from your parents, your significant other, your kids, etc. You want more appreciation? It’s going to come from your co-workers, your boss, your significant other, your peers, etc. No matter what you want, it’s going to come from someone or someplace else.

Since whatever you want originates elsewhere, first figure out how to give it first. Here’s one of my top rules:

“You go first!”

If you want love, give it first. Friendship? Give it first. Money? Give it first. There are two principles at work that guarantee that you’ll receive whatever you want back. They are the rules of reciprocity and of equality.

The first rule of reciprocity is why two friends will fight over who “gets” to pay the bill after their mutual lunch together. If all people are dialed into the radio station WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?), then it doesn’t make sense that a person would voluntarily want to pay for lunch. The reason the two friends fight over who pays for lunch is because of a deeper principle at work: the one of reciprocity.

Reciprocity at work is simply the rule “Do not take without giving back. Always give back for what you take.” We’ve had this rule ingrained in us since we were little kids.

Now how can you use reciprocity to get whatever you want? Find someone that you want something from. Then genuinely serve them by giving to them freely. Help them out however they need help.

Let’s say I want to increase my business and I want to partner with Alex who is doing a lot more business than me. I could go to Alex and say, “Hey, would you mind selling my product? It will make you some money.” Alex likely has no interest in promoting my product as a result of WIIFM. Consequently, what I can do is first ask myself, “In what way can I help Alex and increase his business?”

I take the answer to that question and go do it. I help Alex out and increase his business. He likes it and I’ve made a favorable impression on him. Now, if I were to pop the question of asking him to help me out promoting my products, he’ll be MUCH more likely. Reciprocity is why. He received and now he’s going to give back.

The second rule of why “going first” to get whatever you want works is equality. To me, the universe balances everything out. If someone consistently gives and gives some more, then they’ll receive. If they give out of their hearts without expectation, the universe goes to work to assure they receive equivalent or greater benefit in the future. I invite you to adopt the belief that you’re a giver and that you’re receiving is a result of your practice of giving.

Another way to get whatever you want is to practice “risk-reversal”. In marketing, this is offering a guarantee on the products so that you can overcome a prospect’s innate aversion to “taking a risk” and buying the product. People don’t want to be burned so they are cautious. With a guarantee, the risk is no longer on the buyer. The guarantee permits the customer to send the product back if the product does not meet their needs. The risk has shifted from the customer to the vendor. The vendor takes all the risk. The customer does not have any.

By reversing this risk, more sales are made and the customer and vendor are both satisfied. How can you apply “risk-reversal” in your life to get whatever you want? Let me demonstrate by the example of Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich”.

Napoleon Hill chose his future employer right out of college although his future employer didn’t know that. Napoleon Hill just decided to work where he wanted. Here’s how he got the job. He went to the employer and essentially said, “Let me work for you for two weeks and I’ll pay you for the opportunity. Let what I pay you be drawn against my future earnings. At the end of two weeks, if you don’t like me, I’ll leave. If you like me, you hire me at the rate I’m paying you for the opportunity to show myself.”

Lo and behold, the employer jumped at this idea. Two weeks later, Napoleon Hill had the job he had set out to get. Why did this work? It worked because Napoleon Hill overcame the employer’s reluctance to hire a new, unproven kid right out of college. View it from the employer’s perspective. He had a risk-free offer. He either got a super employee after two weeks or he got a kid to pay him two weeks of wages and two weeks of FREE labor. For him, it was totally “Risk-FREE”. How can you apply “risk-reversal” in your life to get more of what you want?

Here’s in a nutshell what to do to get whatever you want:

1. You Go First
2. Use Reciprocity
3. Reverse the Risk

The Lost Art of Planning

“Failing to plan is like planning to fail”. I’m not sure who said it and yet it’s a great quote. Many people plan their vacations more than they plan the lifestyles they’re living. A lot of people have a mixture of influences from friends, relatives, and others who shape their lifestyles. They end up leading what I term “accidental lifestyles” or “lifestyles by default.”

What if we could plan our dream lives? Friend, I’ve got good news for you. We can! There are no rules in this lifetime. None. You can live your life on your own terms. How to get there is by planning. Planning and then taking massive, immediate, repeated action until you get what you want. See the article on “Mastering the action habit” for the bit about taking action.

This article we’re going to focus on planning using the E.V.A. formula. I’m going to give you a step by step procedure. A few of you will take this information and apply it and thus put yourself on the fast track to your dream lifestyle. Unfortunately, statistics say that many of you who read this article won’t apply it. I personally hope you’re one of the few that does!

Onward. The first step for making your plan is to decide what you want. This is your “End Result.” How do you want to live? Where do you want to vacation? What’s your dream house look like? Imagine yourself driving your dream car. What kind is it? Keep going and vividly make this real in your mind. After you decide what you want, you have to have a vehicle to get there. This is the second part of the E.V.A. planning formula.

Your vehicle is what specifically is going to allow you to get your dream lifestyle. This could be your career, your job, your part-time business, or your own full time business. Know where you’re at now too. This is point A. You’ve already established where you want to be, point B. Your vehicle is the mechanism that will drive you from point A (now) to point B (your dream lifestyle).

So figure out the specific vehicle you’re going to use to get you where you want. Ideally, it will be something that you enjoy doing. You could travel from where you live across the United States in a used Yugo or a brand new Mercedes Benz. Both will get you there. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to enjoy the ride.

After you have decided on what specific vehicle you’ll use to get you to your dream lifestyle, go 1000% all out firing on all cylinders going into hyper-speed warp drive after what you want. Avoid hesitating. If what you do is getting you where you want to go, good. If not, adjust. Back up. Make new plans. Take even more action. Of course, this is the third part of the E.V.A. formula: action. The more of it you take, the sooner you’ll get what you want.

Another thing about designing your own life is to go through and write down what you value and what you don’t. Rank your values, in order of their respective importance in your life. Write out your own personal code of conduct and your mission statement. Then stick to it. If things change, change things on what you’ve written. Writing things down forces you to get clear and specific about who you are and what you’re about. It further affirms to your unconscious mind to behave in the manner that you desire.

Here’s a recap of the E.V.A. formula:

End Result

Vehicle

Action

Go for it! Nothing’s stopping you!


The Two Most Important Words To Your Development

In this article, I’m going to explain to you the two most important words to your development. Your development means achieving your goals and developing yourself in all areas of your life. You will benefit from these words by integrating them into your vocabulary and applying them.

The first word is “start”. To reach the end, you have to have a beginning. Start things up. Let me tell you something you probably already know but maybe hadn’t thought about really consciously until now. There is no perfect time to start something. So why wait? There’s no reason. Many people describe their goals as “When I…X” or “When X happens” where “X” is the condition they’re waiting on and will continue to wait on.

Just get up and running. If you want to do something well, it’s worth doing badly at first. It’s the way we all learn. My philosophy is to just start up and go for it. When I take one step, the next step will be revealed to me. Sure, I may not know what the heck I’m doing and yet I believe in myself enough to figure it out. If I don’t know what to do, I have the second most important word to lean on, which I’ll describe later in this article. Just take one step. Promise yourself to take one small action every day.

Again, there won’t be any perfect time. Shoot, I can wait years for the stars to align, for the ocean tide to be high, for my astrological sign to be aligned with the moons of Jupiter and so on and so forth until I get the right “sign” to begin. But meanwhile, I’m burning up my most precious commodity; my time.

When you burn up your time, it’s like you’re taking the present that the Universe/God/The Great Spirit is giving you and slapping it away. And you can never get it back. My point is to just start doing something. Do it badly if you must and just say, “Hey, I’m going to find out some of the ways this won’t work and when I run out of ways it won’t work, I’m going to succeed.” It’s true. Run out of ways NOT to succeed and you’re bound for success.

Think about something you do incredibly well now. This could be at your job, at home, with your hobby, with your family, or in sports. At some point in your past, you probably weren’t as good as you are now, are you? You may have even been downright rotten. What happened? You kept at it and you got better and now you’re successful at it. See friend, this part of the article is not groundbreaking. I’m just reminding you, “Hey, remember when you didn’t do something well but now you do? Well, anything you want to do well now but aren’t so red hot at is just the same experience repeated.”

You’ve got all the resources in you to do it. This is undeniably true. You’ve been less-than-excellent in the past and now you are excellent at something. You learned one skill which means you can do it again, now. And I do mean right now! Not tomorrow, not the next day. Now, now, now, now. You get the drift of what I’m saying, don’t you?

So after you get up and running, you may run into snags. Snags are obstacles you meet on your journey to success. Still, I commend you for using the first word “start” to get rolling. Now here comes the second most important word to your personal development ever. Are you ready? It is “help”. Help, to me, is a near magical word. You can summon others to help you achieve what you want.

Ask for help early and often. For whatever you want to do, achieve, or solve, there is someone or something out there who not only knows how to help you but who WANTS to help you too! They may have already handled this challenge you’re facing. Stubborn pride cost me a lot because I wouldn’t ask for help from others in the past. I thought I had to do it all alone. Meanwhile, I wasted time fumbling around while another person could have immediately helped me.

Any worthwhile pursuit will have snags along the way. So get help when you find them. Defeat the snag and move on to bigger and better things. And when you get help, pass along your expertise too to others so that everyone benefits.

There you go. ‘Start’ and ‘help’ are the two words that will put you on the path to achieving your every goal and living the life of your dreams. Congratulations. As you imagine leading your dream lifestyle, you can picture it now so clearly, and tell yourself inside how great a job you did, as you feel wonderful with this powerful sense of achievement…you can remind yourself that you did it because you got started and you asked for help along the way.

BANABU!!!!!!!

Fran

Personal Goal Setting

Quick Goal Setting Tips

1. Make goals meaningful. Goal setting for the sake of goal setting almost always ends in disappointment. Goal setting is simply a tool to use in achieving a favorable outcome -- what some people call a "Dream."

2. Use positive language and the present tense when setting a goal. It is better to say "I weigh a healthy, trim and fit 185 pounds" than "I want to lose 20 pounds."

3. Always put your goals in writing. Every expert agrees that setting a goal without putting it in writing drastically reduces your chances of success.

4. Goal setting should take place in every area of your life, including Health, Relationships, Spiritual, Career and Financial.

5. Setting Life Goals will add dimension, excitement and texture to your life.

6. Failure doesn't always mean that you did something wrong in your goal setting or implementation. It may just mean that the time you allotted for success wasn't adequate. A thorough review process should be undertaken before setting the goal again.


Personal Goal Setting Portal


Goals-2-Go is a goal setting portal featuring a goal setting blog, goal setting programs, goal setting software and other programs for setting goals for weight loss, quit smoking and getting debt free. There is an overwhelming amount of goal setting information available on the Internet but most people who have never set goals before sometimes find the information confusing and conflicting.

We have utilized master teachers of goal setting including Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Bob Proctor, Mark Victor Hansen, Cynthia Kersey, Lisa Jimenez and Vic Johnson as the core teaching for our goal setting programs. We also feature the highly acclaimed Goal Tiger goal setting software which can be used alone or in conjunction with any of our programs for goal setting. Our master teachers unanimously agree that a written plan for goal setting is critical to success when setting goals and our Goals 2009 goal setting program is built around that tenet.


Personal Goal Setting that works

Check it out...you deserve it.

Fran

P.S. That link again

Tellman's twisted legs

Fran,

WOW!

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******************
You can overcome anything just like Tellman if you truly believe

Fran

Enough Time??

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."
H. Jackson Brown

Simply give others a bit of yourself; a thoughtful act, a helpful idea, a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other person's mind and heart.
Charles H. Burr

The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement.
Sidney Madwed

The measure of life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.
Peter Marshall

BANABU by Mike Kemski

What do you let define your level of success? What motivates you? What inspires you to keep moving forward in a world where it seems just as easy to stop moving at all? Does happiness have a room at your house?

For most people it's their job and how much money they make. While that's one measure of accomplishment and achievement, it's only one.

I was engaged in a conversation with new friend I made and listening to her talk was heart wrenching and a nice reality check for me.

There are so many people trapped in their own lives it scares me. First, you should know that the only reason it's a bad thing to be trapped in your own life is it completely stops the natural growth progression that you are meant to experience.

And that conversation with my new friend is a great example of that.

She's in her mid 40's and has a job that pays her a pretty decent salary. She brings home 6 figures a year in salary plus additional bonuses.

But when she talked to me every word was full of desperate energy. Every sound she muttered had frustration, confusion and a sense of defeat in it.

Her words were confident and powerful words but they didn't have that energy behind them.

She used words like independent, leadership, project management, the ability to drive things to completion and so on but her face was droopy and eyes were dead.

Then she mentioned that the previous week she participated in a project for Habitat for Humanity. Her and some co-workers went and put a new floor in someones house who needed it but didn't have the means to do it.

What happened then was powerful. She lit up like a shooting star, her posture straightened up, her eyes filled with love and life, her words became genuinely confident and powerful, and her entire existence was filled with a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

As we chatted about her charitable experience she stayed full of high energy and life. The more her body would change the more excited she became. And then it happened...

I asked her why she didn't do more of that type of work. Her answer was simple, it didn't pay enough. She said it's impossible to add that kind of contribution to the world and make as much money as she makes.

And within 30 seconds she was slumped over and looked like hell again. It's like a little guy in the control center of her body just flipped the switch and turned the lights out!

I was in complete fascination. How can it be that powerful of a difference and that obvious but still be so confusing?

See, to my new friend her highest value was being defined as a successful woman and the association to success she has is how much money she makes.

So I asked her, “How does it feel to be an unhappy success?” She looked at me and had a short circuit in her brain. She couldn't comprehend being “successful” but still very unfulfilled and unhappy.

Success, how ever you define it, is supposed to make you feel good and if it doesn't it's a sign that somethings gotta change!

When you're unhappy in your life it's like those little lights that turn on your car when you need oil or something like that. It's an indicator that somethings not on track here and if you keep going the direction you're going you're headed for a major breakdown.

So ask yourself the question, “What defines the level of success you experience in your life? And do you need to make any changes or “add any fluids”?”

And always remember that everything you ever experience is dynamic energy and is constantly changing. When you add gas to car and you go somewhere you use that gas and end up needing more.

Life is the same way. As you make corrections and travel down new and exciting roads you will need to refill your tank also.

Maybe spirituality maybe emotionally, maybe mentally, maybe financially, definitely physically or maybe all of those things but one things for sure, what ever you decide defines success for you will determine which way you need to go to get it.

And if it's not something that fills your body with energy like my friends brief experience with Habitat for Humanity, listen to the message and keep exploring life. It's a pretty fun thing to do with the right perspective...

To your success!!

Mike Kemski & Fran Watson

P.S. Watch for the launch of my new website www.banabu.ca in the near future!

Get Inspired

How to Crack the Jackpot of Inspiration
© 2009
Julie Jordan Scott

I have a story for you, today, about inspiration – and
how to tap into inspiration anytime using any creative
medium or method.

The illustration uses photography and writing. These
experiences can be translated into any form of creativity,
even if that creativity is related to building your
business or strengthening a relationship or writing
a poem or sculpting a new form.

Take what I offer and let the words help to crack
inspiration open in you in a profound, new way.

I know you are ready – and willing – and have
intense desire and focus.

Step into it, now – with me.

My friend, Victor, and I were in the midst of a
conversation about motivation and inspiration
yesterday. We were talking about feeling it and
not feeling it and what our responses were,
either way.

I told him about my recent journey from Bakersfield
to Corona del Mar and back again in one day for my
Uncle's funeral. It felt different, that day,
because I didn't feel compelled at all to pull
my notebook from my backpack and catalog my
experience with words. "It was strange," I noted
without further reflection or judgment.

I added, almost absently, "I did take a lot
of photos, though."

I took a quiet breath. "It was something, taking
photos." My words sounded almost like an apology.

I turned the conversational attention to my friend.

"What about you?" I asked. "What have you
photographed lately?"

"Not a thing," he answered. "Nothing has
interested me."

I coughed, gagged and sputtered. I heard some
version of a vocalized "What?!" burst from
deep in my lungs.

He asked me a question, "What am I going to
photograph here in Podunk, USA?"

I was speechless, absolutely speechless. Victor
has taught me so much about making forward
progress no matter where I am, my dear friend
saying there is nothing to photograph in his
version of Podunk, USA which is very similar
to my version of Podunk, USA. Victor's lack
of inspiration right where he was, Podunk
or not, shocked me right into wordlessness.

I decided to take a slightly different angle
to our conversation.

"Remember how you have complimented me for
having a great eye in my photos?" I asked him.

He nodded yes. I asked another question.

"How do you suppose I developed what you
describe as `a great eye'?" There was a pause.

"You take a lot of pictures." Victor responded.

"Yes, I take a lot of pictures. Every day I
take pictures. Here, in Bakersfield, in MY
Podunk, USA." I paused again. "Every day."

Every day I take photos of aspects of life I
find interesting because I choose to find the
images right in front of me interesting.

I choose to be interested in objects which may
not be notable to anyone else but me. I want
to be fully engaged so I engage with what is
in front of me. It is so simple.

That's what living a creative lifestyle is about,
it is about an invitation to become more fully
engaged in your life.

What will you choose to be interested in today?

I choose to be interested in the metaphors
during my journey of the past several days. Of
architectural elements, of cornices, archways,
doorways, the tiles in benches and walls. I
choose to be interested in changing perspectives,
in looking from the undersides, in noticing
how the changing light changes how I see and
experience things. I choose to get right up
against things, to let me lense get microscopically
close to a subject.

I choose to engage wonder about the bark on the
palm tree in my front yard and then turn to engage
in the wonder of the bark on the palm in my backyard,
which is different than the bark on the front palm.
I choose to engage wonder with the spider web, the
leaves on the mulberry tree, the window sill the
spider web is woven upon, the movement of the
sun throughout the day and throughout the seasons.

It is in these moments when I notice the beauty
around me coupled with the conscious action of
taking photos of "uninteresting things" in my
version of Podunk, USA, that magic happens.

This is when inspiration cracks open inside
of me. I allow myself to be devoted to seeing
in a new way without being attached to "being
inspired" – believing I need inspiration in order
to crack open creativity and instead, allow
inspiration to be cracked open through
the devoted actions I take.

My devoted, conscious action invited inspiration
to crack open within me.

I invited inspiration to come in and as always,
inspiration didn't fail me.

This is significant. Remember this message: I
didn't wait for inspiration to be there. Instead,
I invited it to join me and consciously acted
in a space and attitude of wonder, of
gratitude, of engagement.

You don't have to wait for inspiration, either. You
can choose to crack it open inside of you by engaging
with life right in front of you, right there, right now.

Inspiration is right there, exactly where you are,
exactly as you are in an infinite number of forms
and images.

Look around your space right now, with a renewed
sense of wonder.

What do you see? Smell? Feel? Hope? Wish?

Take what you see, smell, feel, hope, wish and
wrap it up in a creative adventure with words
or photos or song or prayer or sketch.

Crack yourself open to the inspiration all
around you right now.

=================================================

Official Words from Julie Jordan Scott

You may use the article written by Julie Jordan Scott in this issue
of Discover Your Passion as long as all the copy remains intact and you
include this resource box at the conclusion of the article:

********************************************
Julie Jordan Scott, Personal Success and Creativity Coach
Dare to Discover Your Passion, Decide to Live Your Destiny!
Subscribe now to the ezine that will show you how. Best of all,
its completely complimentary! Send a blank email here:
DiscoverYourPassion-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Awesome Giveaway from Tellman

Tellman went CRAZY!

the 13th module

I don't know if you've ever hear of his
Perpetual Marketing Machine, but short
of Mass Control by Frank Kern it's probably
the most revered and sought after home
study course ever made.

The success rate of his students is
absolutely outstanding.

Between Tellman and his students,
a whopping $2 mil has been pulled in
over the last year alone using only
what you'll find inside the course.

and here's the kicker:

It's a GIVEAWAY.

the 13th module

He's actually handing out copies of this
thing all 'willy-nilly', to anyone who wants
to learn.

(you can bet I grabbed mine already!)

I hope you get over there quick, because I know
he's not keeping it up there for all to grab for very
long, but he won't say exactly when it's coming down...

anyway, I wanted you to have the chance to learn
how you can start pulling in five figures a week like
his students :-)

the 13th module

(That way you can buy more stuff from me!)

Grab yours while it's still a freebie,
a chance like this only comes around
once in a while -

remember:

"fortune favors the bold"

Enjoy...

Fran Watson

the 13th module

P.S.
I didn't get you an Easter present,
so consider this a gift from me...

it's worth about four grand, so it's not
like I cheaped out on you :-)

the 13th module

From This Moment Forward

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward." - Kierkegaard

-

I am currently reading some books that I ordered from simple truths This article is from Mac Anderson's book - Charging the Human Battery. These books are not available in your local bookstore, they are only available on this site and it is an amazing site to visit. There is a wealth of information.

I love this quote by Mac Anderson:

"Just remember...people are like sticks of dynamite; the power's on the inside, but nothing happens until the fuse gets lit."

Here is a sample from the book - page 27

Understanding that we control our own destiny is key to our success in life. Simply put, when we decide how we want our life to be we must take responsibility and move forward.

Lance Wubbels has captured the essence of the "live life forward" idea with these simple but powerful affirmations:

From this moment forward...I stop the blame game and excuses. I am responsible for my life and for where I am today. I cannot blame the people an circumstances in my past, and I refuse to hide behind my past mistakes.

From this moment forward...I take responsibility for my thoughts, beliefs, decisions, and actions. If I am unhappy with something in my life, the power to change lies within me.

From this moment forward...I rid my soul of all bitterness, grudges, rage and anger against others. I will forgive others and stop wasting my life by trying to get even. I will be kind and compassionate to others.

From this moment forward...I will focus on knowing what I desire in life and let it light a fire under me. I want to run through life with passion.

Take a moment to write your own "From this moment forward." It takes courage, but it can change your life!

To your forward moments...may they be great moments!

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca/publicspeaking.html

P.S. Come back for more snippets from the books I am reading and check out my public speaking blog

Opportunity Knocks

Are you waiting for opportunity to knock?

This is a question that Mark Hendricks asks in his Ulitimate Success Program.

He goes on to say that "You are the opportunity. You create opportunity. YOu develop talents to acquire opportunity. You turn negatives into positives as part of your opportunity."

The lessons teach you how to explore, invent, originate and adapt as you live your life to the fullest.

Come and join us for the weekly lessons and grow your opportunities.

To your ultimate success!

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca

P.S. Here's that link again: Click here

Success

If you wait for everything to be perfect according to your preconceived plans, then you may well wait forever. If you go out and work with the current of life, you may find that success comes from building upon small things.

-- Deng Ming-Dao, Writer

There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everythng you ever dreamed or imagined you could become.

-- Orison Sweet Marden (1850 - 1924), Founder of Success magazine

Talent is never enough. With a few exceptions, the best players are the hardest workers.

-- Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Professional basketball player

Words to live by, and perhaps words that may inspire you to live well.

Live wisely, listen carefully, speak positively and have a wonderful day.

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca

A Miracle

A Miracle

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.

She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.

Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.

She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's really, really sick..and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"

" I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money."

"How much do you have?" asked the man from Chicago .

"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered barely audibly.

"And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to."

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents---the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. "

He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the miracle you need."

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well.

Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

"That surgery," her Mom whispered. "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost...one dollar and eleven cents....plus the faith of a little child.

In our lives, we never know how many miracles we will need.

A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.


Feel free to share this miracle.

May we begin to recognize the small miracles in our daily lives and to be thankful for them.

Have a blessed day

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca

FEAR

Why didn’t I send a resume to that job. I had most of the qualifications and the person they hired doesn’t have anywhere near the skills that I have….

Why didn’t I enter that contest last year. I thought about it lots, I could have entered, but I didn’t. Why didn’t I?

Why didn’t I go and talk to that new person at the office. She seemed nice enough, but I just let everyone else say hi. What’s wrong with me?

Is your life full of “Why didn’t Is?” If it is, then you too are a victim of………….FEAR!

Fear causes us to do strange things. It may cause us to hide in our houses and not come out for days or weeks. It can cause us to give up on friendships because we think that the person might not like us. It can cause us to see rejection when someone doesn’t say good morning to us when they come into the office.

That demon FEAR can really wreck our lives!

So what can we do about it?

There are many things we can do. Those of us who entered the door of Toastmasters, quivering and quaking in our boots learned that taking that first step was the absolute hardest, but once that step was taken the rest became easier. And that is the secret to beating that FEAR demon.

The first thing we have to do is to look carefully at what our fear really is. Is it a fear of rejection? A fear of looking foolish? A fear of being judged? A fear of failing? Whatever it is, the next step is to ask yourself, what’s the worst thing that could happen? If I’m rejected, will my world stop, will I cease to exist? No, my life will go on and I will find someone who won’t reject me.

What about looking foolish? Well, let yourself do something really foolish, put on a clown suit, encourage people to laugh at you. And as far as being judged, what does it really matter what the neighbours think? You need to be happy about what you are doing for you, not for the neighbours.

Fear of failure prevents many of us from pursuing our dreams. We ask ourselves… “what if….” Well, what if you do fail? What then? You just try another way. When you were a toddler and you fell down, you didn’t think it was the end of the world, you simply got up and took another step, reaching for your goal.

Fear of rejection has controlled my life in many ways, and I have limited myself, not tried when I expected negative results. The words I heard as a young child come back to haunt me time after time and I have to overcome the feeling and go forward.
I wrote a poem for a friend back in 1987, but it is a poem that I wrote for myself as well and I return to it time after time for the inspiration to carry on when I feel like giving up, when FEAR has me in its grasp and I would like to share it with you in closing. It is entitled RISK.

RISK

Do not be afraid to shine.
This world needs what you have to give.
Open up the areas of your being;
expose them to yourself - to others.
You are valuable.
You are unique.
You have much to give.
Do not be afraid to give it.

As we risk ourselves, we grow.
Each new experience is a risk:
we can try, and maybe fail,
and as a result, grow -
or hold back and stagnate.

You have the potential
to be anything you want to be!
You are free to choose.
You are limited only by your fears.
Let your dreams take over,
fly with the eagles,
soar into life,
the world is waiting for you!

*********************************

Fly high

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca