Change Means Action

Change can be dangerous. That is why our natural instinct is to stay the course; stay put; avoid trying something new; leaving well enough alone; being safe; and I could mention another twenty or so excuses. If you are the type that wants to stay in your comfort zone, you will never experience the immense joy that comes from living. In order to succeed we must take risks and that means we have to change. The only way to make progress as a nation is to change our point of view, to change the way we govern ourselves, to change certain laws that are unfair, and change the way we deal with the bad guys.

Change is an action word and that means we need to act if we are going to progress. Change is not a theoretical practice of the mind, it implies real physical movement. For example, we may say that we have changed our attitude towards someone, but unless that is followed up by an action towards that certain person, they are only shallow words.

Change requires 3 things.

• The first is to recognize the need to change.
• The second is you actually do the action that is required.
• The third is you maintain the new course of action.
  

The changing part is actually a lot less difficult to do than the first part which again is recognizing that you need to change. The final part is easy. It just requires that you keep on doing the new action over and over again. The second part in the middle means you must turn around and do something different to prove that what you recognized as needed to be done will be done.

Change is empowering no matter how small it is as long as it is positive. Today, why not give change a chance and perform an action that you know needs to be done in your life. You will be gratified and empowered when you do it!

Become a Leader

"Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal." Vince Lombardi

Our country’s greatest need right now maybe leadership because everything rises and falls on leadership. We need leaders in our business terrain. There is a tendency for us to think that the subject of leadership is for those that are up there or only politicians, but I want you to realize that this discourse is about you and I.

You have leadership potential locked up inside you and you can exert a measure of influence to some degree whenever God might have placed you.

A body cannot move faster than its head the values and principles of a nation depend largely on the leader. This holds true also for a family.

Leadership can be defined as the ability of one person to influence many people to achieve worthwhile goals. The keyword is influence, when you discover the power in leadership, you will want to be a leader because leadership multiplies your effectiveness and puts your success on the geometric level.

The cheapest way to multiply your life is to become a leader to be able to raise other leaders after yourself. Your effectiveness in life will never rise beyond your leadership ability.

Everybody is born to rule. Have you ever influenced anybody to make a decision? Have you persuaded anyone to join you on a course or an assignment? Then you are a leader. Uncommon leaders solve uncommon problems and become an inspiration to others in the process.

To be a leader:

• You need a guiding vision: Ability to see ahead to know where we have to go. (Clear picture of the future)
  

• You need a definite purpose: Leaders are crusaders, crusaders are people who are willing to lay their lives for a cause. Stand for what is right wherever you are.

Do something that can make Nigeria Better

How To Be A Newsletter Writer For Hire

Some weeks back, a business owner approached me to ask if I'd consider writing for his newsletter. I'm an infopreneur, and turning words into wealth in any form sounds attractive to me. I decided to try it out and found it interesting enough to keep doing it.

How can you be a newsletter writer for hire too? It's easy if you consider two things.

First, business owners are too busy doing things and often don't have the time or energy to manage their newsletter. Second, if you have knowledge or expertise in an area, and are familiar with newsletter writing, it becomes more attractive for business owners to outsource the work to you than trying to do it on their own.

So the best way to become a newsletter writer for hire is to develop expertise in an area and find business owners in the niche to write for.

Become Expert in a Niche

If you are already an expert or specialist in a popular niche, good for you. If you are not already a specialist, you can become one by studying the available resources - websites, forums, newsletters, books and courses - until you are reasonably familiar with the niche.
Wait until you can confidently present yourself as a newsletter writer with some competence and knowledge.

Develop Expertise as a Newsletter Writer

The best way to learn the intricacies of publishing a newsletter is to do it yourself. Pick a subject you have skills, knowledge or experience with. Then start becoming a newsletter writer for real.

Create complete issues. Publish them electronically, or even in print. Offer them to your own audience. Gain experience in the various steps of the process. Figure out how to overcome hurdles and solve problems.

Find Business Owners To Contact

Search for relevant businesses that may be able to use your newsletter writing skills to add value to their customers and prospects. If you have gained expert status in dog training, look for businesses that sell things to dog owners like dog food, dog collars, dog kennels and more.

Once you have a list of potential businesses that may find your skills as a newsletter writer of value, approach them to discuss a proposal where you manage their newsletter for them in return for a payment.

Make an Irresistible Offer

When you contact the business owner, remember to focus on the right 'angle' - what's in it fo them. Don't harp about your knowledge, expertise and skills at writing. Instead, sell them on the value of having a newsletter.

Teach them how it opens up a line of communication with their prospects and customers. Show them how they can run product endorsements and special offers within the content of their newsletter and generate more sales. Explain how their newsletter will brand their business and attract buyers more frequently to their store.

Once they are convinced that publishing a newsletter is in the best intersts of their business, you can start positioning yourself as the best person to be their newsletter writer and create a newsletter for their business.

Run projections about how much extra profit you will help generate for their business, and then show how the rates you charge will come out of added profits, making it a zero cost venture for their business, one with infinite upside potential to grow their business massively.

By becoming expert at a niche topic, learning the intricacies of being a newsletter writer, and identifying a target market of related businesses to write for, and then convincing them to let you write for their newsletter, you can take advantage of this overlooked infopreneur opportunity and profit in a big way - easily.

The Real Secret of Getting What You Want In Life

Have you ever heard the old saying, "If you don't ask, you don't get!"?

It's well worth taking heed of because far too many of us are afraid to ask for the things we need in order to succeed in life. Asking questions can open doors and bring to us the opportunities that without doubt are already out there. So why do we find it so hard?

The chances are that if you went to a good school you were always encouraged to ask questions. If you didn't quite understand what the teacher was telling you the only way to get it was to ask the meaning. As a Dad I certainly urge my sons to ask questions, it's the only way to learn.

But maybe as a child it's easy to say you don't understand and accept that you don't know something. Then it's easy to do something about it, ask for help and find the solution.

But sadly as we get older we stop asking! Maybe it's because we feel that as adults we should know what things mean and how to do them and so we don't want to appear foolish, particularly in front of our friends, family or work colleagues.

Or perhaps we have just stopped caring enough to want to learn new things and gain new experiences. It's sad, because when you do start to ask you usually start to get!

Sure, we all ask for things every day. We have to when we go shopping, go to the cinema, or go to a restaurant. But we only ask for the simple things!

Take that last example. When you go to a restaurant and see something on the menu that is unfamiliar do you ask the waiter what it is? Congratulations if you do, but most people will simply pass it over and stick with what they know. That's an opportunity lost!

And how many times, when in conversation with a group of people has something been mentioned that you don't understand? Instead of saying so and asking for an explanation it's so easy to just stay quiet and stay ignorant. Another chance wasted!

It's true isn't it? You just don't want to appear foolish.

Well it's time to change!

If you really want to move forward then you need to learn new things every day. You need to broaden your horizons, take on new experiences and discover all you need to get where you want to be.

So start asking. Ask what things mean, how to do them, and above all ask for the things you want in life.

The fact is that one of the keys to good conversation is asking questions. People won't think you're dumb or get annoyed. Instead they'll warm to you and you'll soon find that you are gaining all sorts of benefits. So don't be afraid to raise questions. Ask especially about the topics that you need to find out about to help you to achieve your goals.

Ask why, ask who, ask what. All those questions will get people talking and you'll soon to start to learn lots of new facts and information. You'll gain new knowledge and you'll discover new opportunities that will bring success to your life. And don't ever be afraid to ask for help.

So why not start right now by asking yourself some searching questions. Ask what it is you really want in life and what you need to do to get it. Search inside to find what will really bring you the happiness and fulfillment you desire. Because if you don't know what motivates you then you won't get to where you want to be.

So ask, and very soon you will begin to "get"!

Fun Ways to Learn French Fast

French is a beautiful language. It is one of the rare languages where you can express all emotions. I feel romantic every time I speak it and learning French has added so much to my travels. When you learn a foreign language, you will also gain knowledge of the culture, geography, history and daily life. The French language is spoken in many countries on all the continents.

France is the world's top tourist destination (60 million tourists yearly). In France there is always something to explore - from the Gothic cathedrals of the north to the Romanesque churches of the centre and west, the chateaux of the Loire, the Roman monuments of the south, the ruined castles of the English and the Cathars and the Dordogne's prehistoric cave-paintings.

So what are the best ways to learn French? Taking a class is an excellent way to learn. You will be able to have conversations in French with other learners and your tutor. You can also learn by listening to tapes and there are some excellent online courses.

I feel that learning a new language should be fun; otherwise it is too easy to lose motivation and give up. So think up some new and creative ways to enhance your learning.

Read comics, magazine and newspapers in French. One of my favourite ways to learn was to invest in some children’s French books with not too many words and lots of pictures. Just as a child learns English (or their first language), so you will pick up French.

Listen to French music. Even better buy a French CD with a lyric sheet, so you can follow the song. It may not seem like you are learning, but you will be taking it in.

French movies are fantastic. You can even watch your favourite English movies with French subtitles/dubbing.

You will soon find that if you do these things, along with following a course, you will come on in leaps and bounds.

Learning French can help you learn other languages like Spanish. Learning French can help you improve the interpersonal skills you bring to an international career in computer technology, pharmaceuticals or engineering.

Starting Your Day the Right Way

The morning is the most important time of the day. Why? - Because it can easily set the mood for the rest of your day! - This is due to many reasons. One of the most significant is that it is much easier (scientifically, almost 25 times easier) to develop short term paradigms (viewpoints) upon first waking up. When you first awaken, your mind is slowly leaving the delta state, (low brain wave frequency) where it is most easily influenced by mental suggestion. In other words, your mind is most open – and what you put in it will stay in it, until at least the end of the day. It is for this reason that often, if you are awakened by a sound or a song, you may be able to easily recall it again and again throughout the day (even if it’s a song you cannot stand!).

That being said, it is absolutely critical that you start your day off on the “right side of the bed.” Any negative thoughts you have will shape your subconscious for the entire day. Realize, if you wake up and say “Sh*t… today’s gonna suck…”, then it will suck! - Your subconscious would be imbued with a belief that “today sucks” and would work with your mental filtering systems and all of your senses to perceive information accordingly. There’s a lot to it, but the point of this article is to give you a list of tips to start your day off the right way… so back on track.

We know you’re busy as #%$! In the morning and don’t have time for therapeutic, two hour spa sessions when you’re trying to get to work or class on time. Therefore, this list is as “grounded” as is possible, and you can start using it – Now.

Also, for the record, we DO use every single one of these ourselves.

1. Initial Wakeup

GET UP! FAST! When you wake up, get out of bed as fast as you can! (without sending yourself into cardiac arrest, of course.) Waste no time in getting up. The best cure for procrastination is action – so if you’re procrastinating about getting out of bed, just force yourself to get up! …and wallah! - Problem solved! Jumping out of bed will spike your metabolism, and will end all thoughts of “just lying there” a little bit more. As an added bonus, I put my alarm clock on the other side of the room – forcing me to jump out of bed and go turn it off… and once I’m out, I stay out!

2. Light

The power of light is severely underestimated by most people. How? It has profound effects upon body chemistry and energy levels. You circadian rhythm (based on light levels) affects nearly all aspects of your physiology. Over 200 processes are controlled by the level of and type of light that you receive, including heart rate, digestion, appetite and thirst, fluid balance, stress level, emotions, immunity, hunger, energy, blood pressure, body temperature, physical strength, reaction times, sexual appetite, urine production and brain balance – just to name a few. Bright, natural light is ideal for bringing the most energy to all these systems. The more light you receive, the more serotonin your pineal gland produces – a “feel good” neurotransmitter. The less light received, the more melatonin your pineal gland produces. Melatonin is essentially a depressant / sedative. This explains why humans living in Spain are some of the most upbeat, positive beings on the planet, where as residents in Norway or Russia are some of the most depressed. Your body makes melatonin at night, and makes serotonin during the day. So, the sooner you turn on the lights, or open the blinds preferably, the sooner your body’s systems will increase their energy levels. The longer you keep it dark, the harder it will be to wake up – that simple.

3. Wake Up to a Clean Room

This one may not seem that significant, but believe me – it is. Waking up to a clean, organized room has a positive first impression upon your mind. Waking up to clutter, dirty clothes, and piles of beer cans from the night before does not. This may seem like a bit of a feng shui thing, but give it a try, and you will realize – it does work. It’s easier to vacate a room when it’s clean, pristine, and relatively organized / empty, versus one that is piled high and more “cozy.” Keep your room stark… put things away from you’re done using them. It will help.

4. Fresh Air

Open the window. No matter what season it is. Open the window… even if it is just a crack. Your bedroom has sat stagnant all night, void of fresh air, especially if you leave your door closed as I do. When you open the window (and the door preferably) you create a cross draft to bring in fresh air. You have lowered the oxygen level by rebreathing the same air in the room at night. However, as soon as you open the window, you bring in fresh air with high oxygen levels – instantly raising your energy level. Even if it is 10 degrees out, open the window just a tad. When it’s cold out, it will have even more of an effect – the cool, denser air will carry more oxygen, and the temperature alone will help you to awaken.

5. Music
Music is a huge part of my morning. Even if you are not musically motivated, music can shape your mornings. Turn on music as soon as you can after waking up. Make sure it is something positive and uplifting – as chances are it may become stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Personally, I love pounding trance in the morning – it’s positive, uplifting chords and driving bass last with me all day. Make sure you’re listening to something that pulls you up… not down. The effect of music upon the brain is something we will discuss down the road – stay tuned. Also, if music is not available, any high frequency sound chords can work. Birds chirping, wind chimes, ect – all help awaken and sooth the mind.

6. Food

Start your morning off with a full glass of water before you eat anything else – This is essential. Toxins have been ejected from tissue and line your throat and mouth (thus, morning-breath) and the last thing you want to do is to allow them to adhere to your breakfast. Drink a full glass of water –and give it ten minutes. If you have an empty stomach, the toxins will be flushed down, and pass out with your urine, with no food to absorb them. Ten minutes later, you may eat your breakfast. The subject of a healthy breakfast is obviously a lengthy subject, but I’ll be brief – DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST. They’re not lying when they say it’s the most important meal of the day. Your body has been starved for eight hours or more, and breakfast is crucial. Breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism, ends your body’s “hoarding mode” from the night, and will actually help you lose weight and stay lean if you chose the proper foods. Make sure you eat some fruit, some protein, and some carbs. My typical weekend breakfast consists of an orange and three scrambled eggs… very basic, but quite healthy. If you’re eating loads of sugary cereal, or worse, doughnuts for breakfast, you need to go do some basic research online on how to eat healthy. You could be lean and good looking, but lack energy, and your arteries may be 90% blocked – as a result of your diet.

7. Cold shower

Take a cold shower. Yes, freezing cold is unbearable. You don’t have to do it that way. Start it off hot… like me. Then, after you’re medium-toasty (not well-toasty... it will make you more tired), put it on cold for as long as you can take it. Then, put it on hot for a minute… then cold for a minute. Repeat the hot-cold cycle a few times – this will not only wake you up fast, but it will expand and contract your pores to force out toxins and oils from the night. End the shower with a cold rinse – you want to be cold when you step out… it’s critical, as it will raise your metabolism, and keep it there. Try the cold shower thing for a week – you’ll notice a difference. A long, hot shower depresses your physiological systems and makes you want to go back to bed. A cold, invigorating shower will wake you up – fast. Try it.

8. Make Your Bed

This doesn’t serve as much of a purpose for in the morning, as it does for in the evening. I’ll explain how it works from my situation. I wake up. I do my morning routine. I (in this example) do not make my bed. I leave. I work all day, and at the end of the day, I think of all the projects that I am going to work on when I get home. However, when I get home into my room, I suddenly feel tired… there’s something drawing me to my bed. The covers are thrown back – like a great, yawning mouth of gaping comfort… calling for me to dive in after a long day at work. So I do – I jump in, cover up, get all toasty, and sleep away half of my evening – only to go to bed again a few hours later. Leaving your bed unmade kills your motivation. Not only does it appear messy, which drains your energy in its own right, but it also invites you back in repeatedly, when you usually cannot afford to. So, make your bed. You’ll notice you get more things done in the evening.

9. Time Savers

There are several small, simple things you can do to save time in the morning. For one, if you check your computer in the morning (MySpace, Facebook, email, stocks, weather, ect), then try this. Rather than shutting down your computer at night, put it in standby. You will save a few minutes over turning it on, and it won’t use any more electricity. If it takes your computer four minutes to boot up, multiplied over a year, that is over 24 hours! An entire day you would save if you followed the routine everyday. Another rather obvious tip is to put all your “to-go” items in one spot. Put your phone, wallet (or purse), watch, rings, notepad, ID badge, car keys, ect; all on the same part of the counter, or in a bowl perhaps. It will save you time searching for everything. Additionally, whatever time you are waking up now, wake up ten minutes earlier. It makes a world of difference in the morning. If you can get over the “I could sleep for ten more minutes” thinking, you will reap amazing benefits. Ten minutes can take a lot of the edge off of your morning, allowing you to take your time as you go about your routine. It can save you money as well. I can tell you in my case that if I leave a few minutes early, rather than driving 80 MPH to make it to work on time, I can drive 65-70 MPH, which, due to exponential drag and air resistance, is optimum gas mileage speed for my car, and saves me a few bucks each week in gas.

10. Self-Talk

Self-Talk should be the most important part of any morning routine. In the morning, you need to load yourself with as much positive mental programming as possible. Your mind is most receptive to it in the morning (and at night), and it will shape the rest of your day. Your programming comes in many different forms, and it is our job to help you use it to your advantage. Mental programming is too much for this article… keep your eyes on us as we come out with new products to help you shape your mind exactly the way you want it – and help you live the life you deserve.

Speak Up, how Can You Communicate Effectively at Work

In an open, trusting environment people seek clarification and replace assumptions with understanding.

Some people seem to have an innate ability to connect with others in a spontaneous way and others have to work at it. But we need adequate communication skills to survive in life. Without them, we’re at a disadvantage in many parts of our lives. We learn these skills from our parents, and later from teachers and friends. We usually have gaps in our knowledge about communication.

Communicating clearly sounds like a simple task. If it’s so easy, what holds us back? In successful interactions we understand others and what they’re saying, thinking and feeling. Then we can improve our relationships with each other and ultimately improve overall morale in the workplace.

Forewarned is forearmed. Knowing that workplaces are less than perfect climates, how can we find ways to work together respectfully? Being aware that most of us have gaps in our communication skills and that various personality types communicate differently puts us on warning that we need to educate ourselves in this area. If we approach our work situation with open eyes and some basic ‘tools’ we can communicate effectively with our co-workers. Here’s how: observe, listen (no, really listen) and respond. Yes, you’ve heard it before, but now it comes with a twist: honesty. That’s right, being honest with yourself and others.

Nicholas Boothman writes about four basic business personalities in How to Connect in Business. The types behave differently and require feedback that fits their uniqueness. The dreamers, or idea generators like space and options; the analysts make sure ideas work and need us to pay attention to detail; the persuaders know how to get ideas appreciated and like enthusiastic responses to suggestions; and lastly the controllers ensure that things get done and don’t like to waste time. So it’s no surprise that we need to pay close attention to how others relate to make the wheels turn in the workplace.

Another dimension of communication is our delivery, or expression. Expression is a mixture of speech, body language, intonation and eye contact. Boothman says the most effective way to connect with others is to look them in eye. He recommends that we do an exercise: for one day just notice the eye colour of every person you meet, that’s all. This will increase our rapport with others and our confidence in our own abilities. Another powerful tool for understanding how someone is feeling is to subtly mimic their body language. It’s quite surprising how well we then sense the other person’s feelings.

It takes effort to put aside our own ideas, and more importantly, our judgments. We often appear to be listening when we’re really not. Davis, Paleg and Fanning, authors of The Messages Workbook call this ‘pseudo listening’. We do this for various reasons including preparing our response, wanting to be liked and not knowing how to leave without offending someone.

Respectful communication means saying what you have to say directly to a person, not behind their back, and using tact and understanding. Be certain to state how you feel, not how you think they feel (use the tried and true “I message”). Offering solutions to the problem and readily acknowledging the truth in what they say creates a productive and healthy workplace.

Many people have written about the basics of clear, assertive communication. These involve giving our full attention to the person speaking, listening for the feelings behind the words as well as the content of what’s being said and acknowledging what you’ve heard. We can acknowledge what we’ve heard by paraphrasing (i.e. restating for clarification) and by giving honest feedback.

Complete messages have four parts: observations, opinions, feelings and needs. When receiving messages, practice asking yourself ‘what do I notice?’, ‘what’s my opinion’ etc. Leaving out some of the parts makes the communication only a partial message. This may lead to misunderstandings. Another common pitfall we may fall into by omitting parts of messages is sending covert messages, or messages with negative subtext underlying the spoken words. Try to catch yourself before you send covert messages that imply that the receiver is doing something wrong. An example of this would be ‘you work slower than a one-legged snail’ with the underlying message of ‘you’re too slow at your work’. When we include all the above parts the stated message will be congruent with our underlying feelings and opinions. The message will then align with our non-verbal communication which makes up 70-80% of our interactions (i.e. body language, intonation and eye signals).

The easiest way to communicate successfully is to keep it simple to avoid the common pitfalls. Pamela Ziemann, writing in “Speaking with Your Authentic Voice” has a formula for communicating successfully. She recommends truly listening without formulating your answer; pausing for 2-5 seconds to breathe; repeating the question; then responding honestly. She stresses the importance of not saying too much.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. Part of trusting ourselves is listening to our intuition, or “the power of knowing things without conscious reasoning” (Webster). We have all experienced positive and negative intuitive or gut feelings. These body-mind messages may come as hunches, thoughts, voices, restlessness or feelings of relief. Trusting rather than stifling them gives us more information to work with. This helps us communicate more clearly and to know when, where and to whom we should speak. It allows us to be more honest with ourselves and others.

Balancing our own needs with the demands of our jobs means communicating respectfully and honestly and creating psychological safety for ourselves in our work environment. When we speak and act from our core values we enrich our own lives and those of everyone we come in contact with. So go ahead, Speak Up!

TIPS:
• Think carefully about what you’re saying and why
• Self disclose only if comfortable
• Repeat questions, giving yourself time to identify your feelings
• Check others’ statements twice to get a truer response
• Follow your intuition
• Ask yourself: How does my workplace fit my values?
• Have some fun at work.