Don't Worry...Be Happy

Genuine Happiness Comes from Within

Sometimes, when we feel like the world is just too heavy, we look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into our minds like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” 

As we pause and observe for awhile we may realize that they started to work on a place called ‘self’.

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to love yourself.

A theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.”  To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve our repertoire to recover from our mistakes.

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”

When we begin to discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life like  and looking for the negative in everything, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.

I believe that life is about finding out about trying and failing, wining and losing, right and wrong. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy.

You may be at a down point in your life at the moment and wonder, how can we be genuinely happy in spite all these?

Take one step at a time.

Every time you exert an effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, failing on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.

Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFLs. Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”, instead of looking at it all blank and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.

Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning the highest 13th month pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life don’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best.

So, how do you become genuinely happy? 

Every one has their own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching a best selling book. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean finding a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean corporate success.

So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, your willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.

When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.

Love and accept others as you love yourself.  Laugh at your foibles.  Be empathetic and kind to others.  Do something for someone else and do something for yourself.  Don't give so much away that you have nothing left for you.  It takes courage to be happy.  Be of good courage.

BANABU

Fran Watson

Who Is In Control?

I woke up late this morning, after a very peaceful night's sleep. I read and meditated for about half an hour and when I came downstairs I began my task of filing and then dong some cleaning and I realized that sometimes it is the simple tasks that can be the most important in clearing my mind to be able to take on more difficult tasks later. By clearing my "working space" I also clear the working space in my mind.  

I have been learning a lot recently about minimalism, appreciating simple things in life and I recognize that I have too much stuff.  I also realized that my "stuff", the things "living" in my house are the things that are often in control of what I do.  The things constantly need to be moved, looked after, and they take up space.  Now some of these things may be important, but I recently cleaned out my pantry and at the back I found cake mixes that were several years outdated.  If I hadn''t had so much "stuff" in my pantry, I would have noticed that sooner.

I also have too much food in my freezer.  I live alone, so I don't really need to have a big freezer anymore, but since I do I often will buy things to put in it.  The problem is, if I don't eat it soon enough it gets freezer burn and is then wasted.  So who is in control?.....my stuff.

I retired from my day job almost 5 years ago and brought home boxes of papers and books from my 25 years of career counseling.  My thought was that I would use this "stuff" as I continued to work in the field part-time from my home.  I have not yet opened some of the boxes.  They are sitting upstairs in one of the bedrooms just taking up space.  So who is in control?....again my stuff.

My kitchen table is a "catch-all" for all kinds of papers, pens,, pencils and more, and this is where I work.  Is it any wonder that sometimes I feel scattered?  I think it is time that I begin to control my life instead of being controlled.  I will begin today to spend a minimum of 15 minutes per day cleaning some aspect of my world.  This may involve giving away books (gasp, the horror, but am I really going to read them all?) or perhaps some of my material (but really, I am going to quilt some day........) or even some of my yarn?  I have a whole container of knitted scarfs and toques to give to someone or some group.  Yes, today is the day I take control.   How about you?

To your success
BANABU

Fran

Creating Your Reality

It’s really no secret that we create our own reality with out thoughts.  Everything that we are or have is with us because we’ve wanted it.  Whether it’s conscious or not, we bring things, people, and experiences to our lives with our way of thinking.  Like the verses in the bible that say “ask and ye shall receive”, our life follows the same message:  ask, believe and receive.

To begin we must clear our mind of all distracting thoughts, such as I need to clean the house, do the laundry, finish this project, etc..  We need to find a place where we can relax and really clear our mind.  This place is going to be the place where you can let your mind think and wander instead of JUST relaxing and letting go of your stress.  A place where you can think of your intentions in life or what you want and how you will get it.  It is important to make this place comfortable and inviting, so add a plant, a small water fountain, candles or whatever brings you peace.

Once you have found this place, you can begin to think about what you want or what gift you want to receive.  It is important to have no other thoughts when you begin to think about what you actually want.  It could be a million dollars, a doctorate, to be a famous musician or outstanding athlete, or any number of other things. 

We need to be clear with ourselves about what it is we want.  To excel, we must be specific.  If I say I want to lose weight, then just saying it is not specific enough.  I should say that I want to be healthy, live longer, eat less, and look better, and have a specific weight goal in mind, i.e. lose 10 pounds by a specific date. 

The next step is to believe that you will achieve your goal.  In order to achieve what you want, you’ll have a much better chance if you can visualize it.  Many times basketball coaches will tell young people to “visualize” the ball going into the basket in order to score.  It has been proven that imagining something is close to actually doing it.  If your thoughts and feelings are on the same level as what you want, you will raise your emotional bar and expand your imagination.  You have a great chance of being successful.  This is something that winning athletes do all the time.

Something else that is important to do is to express your gratitude.  Make a list of all the things you are grateful for; and that will open the door for more good things to come to you.  It will open your heart to give gratitude for the beautiful life that you have received.  Gratitude should be an enormous part of your life and should come as natural as breathing.

Once you’ve cleared your mind, decided what you wanted, visualized having it and expressed gratitude for what you have, your request is heard.  The details of how it will happen will then fall into place.  Make sure and stay positive by monitoring your feelings, but let go of trying to control things.

Whenever you start to feel down, sad or angry, quickly turn your feelings around so you will be surrounded by good, positive vibes.  Remember to stay positive and do something that helps you feel good.  Read a book, listen to music, walk in nature or anything else that will keep you inspired and feeling positive.

Continue to be patient if your dreams do not come true in hours, days or even months.  Just keep believing and sending out positive thoughts and feelings and continue to keep negative thoughts away.  Remember to be grateful and really enjoy your gift when you do receive it.  Surround yourself with the luxury of having the gift and enjoying it.  Make it part of your life, nurture it, and let it grow.  Look for the positive parts and always follow that path.  Enjoy your life and expect it to be good.

To your success

BANABU

Fran Watson

New Beginnings

Building A New And Better Universe - Building A New And Better YOU

That is our goal.  Getting better each and every day.  Releasing our bad habits and creating new habits that will help and not hinder us.

What goals have you set for 2016?
What habits are you going to build?
Who will hold you accountable?
How will you know if you succeed?

Why not state your goals in the comments section below.  Share your goals and your determination to achieve them.  I'll start.

1.  To write a letter to my daughter who is far away on the 1st day of each month.  (I started early, so I have completed 2 so far.)
2.  To update my website.  (It is a mess, I have neglected it for a while now.)
3.  To write a blog post every week in 2016.  (I have 4 blogs, and I hope to be able to write a post for each one each week, but will commit to writing at least one post per week.)

This is a start.  I hope to add more as the year progresses.  Now, how about you?

Fran

Gettting Started

So, for the past few days I took a break from everything and spent 3 days vegging in a chair and watching shows on PVR, now it is time to get back into gear and I am finding it difficult to do so.  I have neglected my blog, neglected my business, neglected my housekeeping, now it is very difficult to get back into the swing of things, so I started looking at ways to get moving again and Matthew Graves came up with a great idea - 3 Wins a day for 30 Days.  I signed up. 

How about you?  Are you finding it hard to get started on what you need to do?  Are you ready to begin?  I am joining Matthew Graves in a new project - 3 wins every day to move forward for the next 30 days.....  http://ow.ly/WiN3t  They can be business or personal.  Your choice.

It is important to have a plan if you want to succeed and Matthew's plan can help you succeed.

Fran Watson
https://www.facebook.com/banabu.ca/

Habits - good or bad?

Habits

UNCONSCIOUSLY we are forming habits every moment of our lives. Some are habits of a desirable nature; some are those of a most undesirable nature.

 

Some, though not so bad in themselves, are exceedingly bad in their cumulative effects, and cause us at times much loss, much pain and anguish, while their opposites would, on the contrary, bring as much peace and joy, as well as a continually increasing power.

 

Have we it within our power to determine at all times what types of habits shall take form in our lives? In other words, is habit-forming, character-building, a matter of mere chance, or have we it within our own control? We have, entirely and absolutely. "I will be what I will to be," can be said and should be said by every human soul.

There is nothing more true in connection with human life than that we grow into the likeness of those things we contemplate. Literally and scientifically and necessarily true is it that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

 

The "is" part is his character. His character is the sum total of his habits. His habits have been formed by· his conscious acts; but every conscious act is, as we have found, preceded by a thought. And so we have it - thought on the one hand, character, life, and destiny on the other.

 

And simple it becomes when we bear in mind that it is simply the thought of the present moment, and the next moment when it is upon us, and then the next, and so on through all time.

 

One can in this way attain to whatever ideals he would attain to. Two steps are necessary: first, as the days pass, to form one's ideals; and second, to follow them continually, whatever may arise, wherever they may lead him.

 

Always remember that the great and strong character is the one who is ever ready to sacrifice the present pleasure for the future good

 

You decide what habits you will allow to control you and what habits you will control.  It takes time to make or break a habit.  Allow yourself 30 days of continual repetition before the habit becomes established.  You can change any aspect of your life if you work at it.

 

Good luck....

 

BANABU

Fran

Impossible Dream?

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today
and the reality of tomorrow."

.

~ Dr. Robert H. Goddard   

 

Many of the things we take for granted today were once thought to be impossible.

 

Travel to the moon???  Impossible

 

Travel by air???  Impossible

 

Travel by horseless carriage???  Impossible

 

Speak to someone on the other side of the world???  Impossible

 

Connect with people using wireless technology???  Impossible

 

What do you want to see happen that people are telling you is "Impossible"?  Don't listen!  Anything is possible.  Start asking yourself the right questions... "How can I?"

 

If people are shooting down your dream, stop telling them about it.  Get rid of the negativity - it's your dream, not theirs.  People want to keep the status quo, so they are worried when you try to change it.........change it anyway.

 

To achieving your impossible dream!!

 

Fran Watson

Procrastination

Procrastination:   to be slow or late about doing something that should be done : to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc.

An old English proverb says:  "One of these days is none of these days."  If you don't have a plan it doesn't get done.

Unfortunately as you can see by the dates of my blog, I fell into the procrastination trap, getting up too late to spend the necessary time to accomplish everything I wanted to do.  Also, the main thing is, I did not have a written plan to spend the time updating my blogs.  When I had it written in my daytimer, it happened, when it wasn't there............nothing happened.

Have you found this happening to you?  Have you  been procrastinating on a task or tasks that you know you should be doing and want to be doing?  Time to write it down.  An unknown author wrote:  "The past cannot be changed; the future is still in your power."  This means that you can begin again TODAY. 

Start by writing down what you want to accomplish.  Then write down when you want to accomplish it by.  Then break it down into little steps - something you can do each day.  Write your goal in the comments section below.  Once you put it in print, you will have a much greater chance of accomplishing it. 

To your success
BANABU

Fran Watson

Missing....

I MISS THESE THINGS

 

Go back now...........

Close your eyes.....And go back....
Before the Internet or the MAC,
Before semi automatics and crack
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo
 

Way back........

 
I'm talking bout hide and go seek at dusk.
Sitting on the porch, Hot bread and butter.
The Good Humour man,
Red light, Green light.

Chocolate milk,

Lunch tickets,
Penny candy in a brown paper bag.

Playing Pinball in the corner store.

Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch

Jacks, kickball, dodgeball, y'all!

Mother May I?

Red Rover and Roly Poly

Hula Hoops and Sunflower Seeds,

Jolly Ranchers, Banana Splits
Wax Lips and Mustaches

Running through the sprinkler

The smell of the sun and lickin' salty lips....

Wait......

Watchin' Saturday Morning cartoons, Fat Albert,

Road Runner, He-Man, The Three Stooges, and Bugs,

Or back further, listening to Superman on the radio

Catchin' lightening bugs in a jar,
Playin sling shot.

When around the corner seemed far away,

And going downtown seemed like going somewhere.

Bedtime, Climbing trees,

An ice cream cone on a warm summer night
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan
A lemon coke from the fountain at the corner drug store

A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers,

Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians,
Sittin on the curb,

Jumpin down the steps,

Jumpin on the bed.
Pillow fights

Runnin till you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt

Being tired from playin'.... Remember that?

I ain't finished just yet...

Eating Kool-aid powder with sugar

........Remember when...

When there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyers) and the only time you wore

them at school, was for "gym."

When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you even had one.
When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there.
When nobody owned a purebred dog

When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a miracle.

When milk went up one cent and everyone talked about it for weeks?

When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.

When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then.

When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done, everyday.

When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. And, you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot!

When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not

even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your

parents.

When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed ... and did!

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.  Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of em!!!

Didn't that feel good.. Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

There's nothing like the good old days! They were good then, and they're good now when we think about

them.

Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate, then share it with someone that missed out on them.

 

Sometimes I think our life would be so much better if we could go back to these days.  There is so much anger and killing in our world.  People have not learned good ways to deal with their unhappiness other than lashing out at others.  Many people don't have the words to recognize and/or express how they feel so they react in anger.

 

To simpler and happier times in your life

All the best

 

Fran Watson

Resilience

"To become resilient, it is important to take care of yourself.  Simplify your life.  create balance by streamlining and prioritizing activities.  Make sure there is enough time for faith, fun, and family.  Eliminate unnecessary tasks and give permission to yourself to rest.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  Pace yourself.  Learn as much as possible.  Keep a sense of humour.  And remember:  the key to resilience is the acceptance that the only certainty in life is change itself." - Diana M. Amadeo

 

Simplify your life - what are some of the things you can do without?

Streamline and prioritize activities - do you really need to do everything? 

Time for faith, fun and family - do you have a "family night", a time to sit down together to get to know each other better, to play some games or watch tv together?

Eliminate tasks - what can someone else do for you?

Permission to rest - yes, it's ok to take some time to just sit down and relax - not only is it ok, it is necessary for life and health and balance.  Read a book, watch a movie, sit out in the sun.

Ask for help - we are not "superman" or "superwoman", people like to be asked for help, it makes them feel needed.

Pace yourself - don't try to do everything at once.  If you have a large project to do, do one step at a time,  break it into small bites.  As they question goes, "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time."  It is how you accomplish anything - one small step at a time.

Learn as much as possible - try to learn one new thing each day.  At the end of the year you will have learned 365 new things.  Read a chapter of a book each day.  You will be amazed at how many books you will have completed in a year.  15 minutes per day = 91 hours in a year.

Keep a sense of humour - learn to laugh at yourself when you make a mistake.

Accept that change is inevitable and go with the flow!

 

BANABU - Building A New and Better Universe / Building A New And Better "U"

Fran Watson

 

 

Jim Rohn

Have you heard of Jim Rohn?  He died December 5, 2009, two days after my brother, but his memory and his teachings live on in books and videos and tapes and CDs...  Recently someone sent me some YouTube videos and I thought I would share them with you.  Grab yourself a coffee or cup of tea, a notebook and sit down in a comfy chair while you watch and listen as he shares some of his wisdom with you.

The Three Keys to Greatness


Living An Exceptional Life

I hope that you enjoy these.  Let me know.

To your success.

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca

The Bottom Line

FACE IT.....nobody owes you a living.

What you achieve or fail to achieve in your lifetime is directly related to what you do or fail to do.

No one chooses his or her parents or childhood, but you can choose your own direction.

NOTHING is carved in stone.  However if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. 

You can change anything in your life if you want to badly enough.  Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have.  We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy - if not less of it - doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do. - Terry McMillan, Writer

Time plays no favourites and will pass whether you act or not.  Every time you wake up and ask yourself, "What good things am I going to do today?" remember that when the sun goes down at sunset, it will take a part of your life with it.

Excuses are for losers.  Benjamin Franklin said that "He who is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else."  Those who take responsibility for their actions are the real winners in life.

Winners meet life's challenges head on, knowing there are no guarantees, and give it all they've got.

It's TIME to TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE.  BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

"You can truly be whatever you want to be...you only have to want it badly enought to succeed."  Lillian Vernon. 

Dare to dream....to take risks...  Never think it's too late or too early to begin.

As Dr. Norman Vincent Peale said:  "The Greatest POWER we have is the power of choice.  It's an actual fact that if you've been moping in unhappiness, you can choose to be joyous instead and, by effort, lift yourself into joy.  If you tend to be fearful, you can overcome that misery by choosing to have courage.  Even in darkest grief you have a choice.  The whole trend and quality of anyone's life is determined in the long run by the choices that are made."

So what do you choose to do today?

Fran Watson
www.franwatson.ca

Illusions of Limitations

This video was sent to me today. I wanted to share it with you.

May it touch your life.

Fran

The Power of Words

Check out this great video on how words can effect you.....

http://www.flickspire.com/m/lcm/VictorBelieve

Fran

Valuing Minutes

Yesterday I attended an online conference with Janet Legere and she talked about segmented intention. Paying attention to what you are doing and intending it to be successful.

This morning I pulled my daily quote from my tin and it said, "With this dawn, this new day, I value each minute."

I was taken back to my recent Time Management Workshop where I shared with the participants the value of time - 1440 minutes in a day.

Wasting 15 minutes a day works out to 91 hours per year. What could you do with those 91 hours?

If we read an average of 12 pages a day (about 15 minutes) we could read 17-18 books per year. We can learn a new task, become an expert in our field of study, or upgrade our education.

We could exercise and stay in shape while tuning up our heart. 15 minutes 3 times a week will maintain a healthy body.

We could spend the time in personal meditation or spiritual contemplation to bring balance to our lives.

We could devote 15 minutes of quality time to someone we care about. We could choose a different person each day. We could write a letter, send a card, make a phone call or a personal visit. We could sit down with someone and ask them a question and really listen to their answer.

Take a few minutes to think about how you spend your time and how you could spend it better.

Do some tasks that take only 5-15 minutes and feel good about having accomplished something.

Plan your day to include small tasks as well as large tasks, write down what you intend to accomplish - you will have a much better chance of succeeding.

To your successful day!!

Fran

BANABU!

Steps to Building A New And Better You

"A Better You" Your 7 day program to self-development

I have lost count of how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Just this morning on the news they announced another Hollywood split and the magazines at the checkout counter have headlines that scream about breakups. Not that I care (and really I don't). It seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. However, we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think about and improve on that should be enough for a week. At the end of the week, recycle the steps and go through them again until they become habits.

1. Know your purpose: Are you wandering through life with little direction -hoping that you'll find happiness, health and prosperity?
Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time. This may seem tricky at first when you see yourself to be in a tight or even dead end. But there's always that little loophole to turn things around and you can make a big difference to yourself.

2. Know your values: What do you value most? Make a list of your top 5 values. Some examples are security, freedom, family, spiritual development, learning. As you set your goals for 2012 - check your goals against your values. If the goal doesn't align with any of your top five values - you may want to reconsider it or revise it. The number shouldn't discourage you, instead it should motivate you to do more than you can ever dream of.

3. Know your needs: Unmet needs can keep you from living authentically. Take care of yourself. Do you have a need to be acknowledged, to be right, to be in control, to be loved? There are so many people who lived their lives without realizing their dreams and most of them end up being stressed or even depressed for that matter. List your top four needs and get them met before it's too late!

4. Know your passions: You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who have inspired you to become the very person you wanted to be.

5. Live from the inside out: Increase your awareness of your inner wisdom by regularly reflecting in silence. Commune with nature. Breathe deeply to quiet your distracted mind. For most of us city slickers it's hard to even find the peace and quiet we want even in our own home. Try just sitting in a dimly lit room and play some classical music. There's sound, yes, but music does soothe the savage beast.

6. Honor your strengths: What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three - if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands? Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you can share what you know to others.

7. Serve others: When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being.

When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others -your spirit - your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, much more if it were to be the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done to them.

Self-development is indeed one type of work that is worth it. It shouldn't always be within the confines of an office building, or maybe in the four corners of your own room. The difference lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.

To Building A New And Better You (BANABU)

Fran

Something to Think About

Have a beautiful and blessed day

BANABU

Fran

You Are Brilliant

Cultivating Your Personal Brilliance
Your Natural Abilities Add Up To Personal Brilliance

By Jim Canterucci,
Author of Personal Brilliance: Mastering the Everyday Habits that Create a Lifetime of Success

Personal Brilliance is the result of mastering the everyday habits that create a lifetime of success. Personal Brilliance is the sum of what you’ve learned, experienced, and practiced. Awareness, curiosity, focus, and initiative are the catalysts that spark innovative thinking and light the way to brilliant thinking and brilliant action. These four catalysts are innate abilities – natural gifts – possessed by each of us and they can be just as useful at home as they are at work.

For instance, one busy mother got tired of juggling work demands with last-minute requests from her kids. She decided to train her children in time management by having a planning-time session on Sunday evenings, at which time all her children had to tell her what activities they had planned for the coming week. Then, if they asked to do something and it wasn't on the weekly schedule, the answer would be "no" unless it was a true "life or death" emergency. Soon, when the children’s "I forgot to tell you" resulted in mom saying, "Next week you'll remember to plan early” instead of hectic last minute changes, sanity returned to her schedule: personal brilliance, in a real life situation.

That Personal Brilliance will benefit you in the business arena almost goes without saying. After a thirty-year banking career, John Huston used his awareness, coupled with his vast experience, to identify the positive economic impact that entrepreneurial businesses have in the creation of jobs in a community. Also applying curiosity, focus, and a great deal of initiative, John has played a huge part in galvanizing the angel investor community in Ohio to support entrepreneurial ventures in the area. He has created angel investor events in which entrepreneurs can make their innovations known and, as a result, is the co-founder of the only angel fund in Columbus, Ohio. John used his experience, as well as his habits of personal brilliance, to create a new career that is tremendously helpful to his community.

The secret to personal brilliance is mastering the everyday habits of the four catalysts: awareness, curiosity, focus and initiative. To find out where you rate on the Personal Brilliance scale, take the 10-minute Personal Brilliance Quotient Assessment at www.MyPersonalBrilliance.com. Your results will let you know which catalysts are strongest and which ones you can enhance with practice.

Awareness involves self-awareness first (the hardest part), then being conscious of your environment. As your awareness of a particular issue or situation grows, so does its influence as you're reading a book or article, watching a pertinent program, or having a conversation. You begin to think about it subconsciously in everything you do.

You develop a curiosity as you think, looking in many different arenas for insights. You pay attention to all aspects of your life with this filter, seeking to solve the problem. You look at the obvious things, but your curiosity helps you go deeper.

While going about your day-to-day life, you are extremely focused on the problem. I’m not talking about a laser beam focus. I’m referring to a 360-degree focus, more like a spotlight with a beam that widens out. You don’t want to limit yourself. Your focused attention should allow you to be open to all possible solutions that are out there.

Awareness, Curiosity, and Focus lead to many new ideas and options. However, without Initiative, ideas never get put into action. Individually, the four catalysts – awareness, curiosity, focus, and initiative – are invaluable. Combine their forces and you will astound yourself. It’s important to mention that for some reason, coming up with a new idea or solving a problem hardly ever happens by applying these catalysts in a linear order. Although you can be intrigued with an idea, then increase your awareness, become more curious about the topic, focus on it, and finally take action, it’s more likely that two or more of these catalysts will be engaged at the same time. These catalysts tend to work together so seamlessly, that it’s often impossible to determine the order in which they occurred.

When these four catalysts become daily habits, the wheel of innovation spins! By harnessing the power of each of these habits, your level of personal success and fulfillment will soar.

Jim Canterucci is the author of Personal Brilliance. He can be reached via the web at www.MyPersonalBrilliance.com or at 614.899.9044.

© XXV, All Rights Reserved.

David Childerley

I just noticed this video at the bottom of my post and wanted to share it with you.  I, myself, will be putting it on my webpage to review on a regular basis.  You can check out David's other videos on YouTube.



To your personal growth and happiness

Fran
http://www.franwatson.ca/

Video - Strategic Intervention

Check out these videos

http://www.robbinsmadanestraining.com/nadc/index.html?gclid=COrXmOjSmKgCFQbCKgoduFSCBw

http://www.robbinsmadanestraining.com/lindseysmartview_search.html

"This is a free training - at no charge - which we like to offer our community in our new method of human change called Strategic Intervention."
I hope you find this helpful
Fran
http://www.franwatson.ca/