ONESarmiento's Blogspot

Leadership Excellence

2010-01-30T16:11:00.000-08:00

By Brian Tracy

As a leader, your job is to be excellent at what you do, to be the best in your chosen field of endeavor. Your job is to have high standards in serving people. You not only exemplify excellence in your own behavior, but you also translate it to others so that they, too, become committed to this vision.

Leadership Excellence
The key to leadership is the commitment to doing work of the highest quality in the service of other people, both inside and outside the organization. Leadership today requires a focus on the people who must do the job, and an equal focus on the people who are expected to benefit from the job.

Integrity
The single most respected quality of motivational leaders is integrity. Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty with regard to everything that you say and do. Integrity underlies all the other qualities. Integrity means that when someone asks you at the end of the day, "Did you do your very best?" you can look him in the eye and say, "Yes!" Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings. It means that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.

Courage
Courage, combined with Integrity, is the foundation of character. One form of courage is the ability to stick to your principles, to stand for what you believe in, and to refuse to budge unless you feel right about the alternative. Courage is also the ability to step out in faith, to launch into the unknown and then face the inevitable doubt and uncertainty that accompany every new venture.

Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great, the king of the Macedonians, was one of the most superb leaders of all time. He became king at the age of 20, and in the next 11 years, he conquered much of the known world. When he was at the height of his power, he would still draw his sword at the beginning of battle and lead his men forward into the conflict. He insisted on leading by example. Alexander felt that he could not ask men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome. The sight of Alexander charging forward excited and motivated his soldiers so much that no force on earth could stand before them.

Realism
Realism is a form of intellectual honesty. The realist insists upon seeing the world as it really is, not as he wishes it were. This objectivity, this refusal to engage in self-delusion, is a mark of the true leader.

Responsibility
Responsibility is perhaps the hardest of all leadership qualities to develop. The acceptance of responsibility means that, as President Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here." If you run into an obstacle or have a setback, and you make excuses rather than accept responsibility, it can mean the difference between success and failure.

Action Exercise
In the end, you become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way. Take time to get to know your staff so you can better understand how to best support them. By knowing everyone's strengths and weaknesses, you can strategize how to put everyone to productive use.

The Laws of Negotiating

2009-09-08T17:46:00.001-07:00

By Brian Tracy

The Laws of Negotiating are closely related to economics. They are part and parcel of the same process. Both economics and negotiating are based on the fact that each person places different values on different things. Everyone behaves economically in the sense that they always strive to negotiate the very best situation or result for themselves in each situation.

The Universal Law of Negotiating

Everything is negotiable. All prices and terms are set by someone. They can therefore be changed by someone. Prices are a best-guess estimate of what the customer will pay. The cost of manufacturing and marketing a particular product or service often has very little to do with the price that is put on it. Don't be intimidated by written prices, assume that they are written in pencil and can be easily erased and replaced with something more favorable to you. The key is to ask.

The Law of Futurity

The purpose of negotiation is to enter into an agreement such that both parties have their needs satisfied and are motivated to fulfill their agreements and enter into further negotiations with the same party in the future.

The Law of Win-Win or No Deal

In a successful negotiation, both parties should be fully satisfied with the result and feel that they have each "won" or no deal should be made at all. When you are determined to achieve a win-win solution to a negotiation, and you are open, receptive, and flexible in your discussions, you will often discover a third alternative that neither party had considered initially but that is superior to what either of you might have though of on your own.

The Law of Unlimited Possibilities

You can always get a better deal if you know how. You never need to settle for less or feel dissatisfied with the result of any negotiation. If you want a better deal, ask for it. You will be quite astonished at the better deals you will get by simply asking for a lower price if you're buying and asking for a higher price if you're selling.

The Law of Timing

Timing is everything in a negotiation. Whenever possible, you must plan strategically and use the timing of the negotiation to your advantage. If you are in a hurry to close a deal, your ability to negotiate well on your own behalf diminishes dramatically. The person who allows himself or herself to be rushed will bet the worst bargain. You resolve 80 percent of the vital issues of any negotiation in the last 20 percent of the time allocated for the negotiation.

The Law of Terms

The terms of payment can be more important than the price in a negotiation. You can agree to almost any price if you can decide the terms. It is important to never accept the first offer no matter how good it sounds. Act a little disappointed when you hear the first offer, and then ask for time to think about it. Realize that no matter how good the first offer is, it usually means that you can get an even better deal if you are patient.

Action Exercise

Whenever possible, talk to someone who has negotiated the same sort of deal with the same person. Find out what the other person is likely to want and what he or she has agreed to in the past. Forewarned is forearmed!

Huge Catfish

2009-08-10T01:40:00.001-07:00

Huge Catfish - Watch more funny videos here

Tommy Emmanuel - Angelina

2009-05-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

Tommy Emmanuel - Windy And Warm / Classical Gas

2009-05-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hydroponic Lettuce

2009-02-11T16:35:00.001-08:00

Escape from Suburbia returns to Willits CA

2009-02-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

Escape from Suburbia: Economy, Peak Oil, and Climate Change

2009-02-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Did the spike in gas prices burst the housing bubble?

2009-02-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

The End of Suburbia promo trailer

2009-02-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

An Accumulation of Riches

2009-02-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Little Things Mean A Lot

One of the greatest success principles of all is called the Law of Accumulation. This law says that everything great and worthwhile in human life is an accumulation of hundreds and sometimes thousands of tiny efforts and sacrifices that nobody ever sees or appreciates. It says that everything accumulates over time. That you have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile. It's like a snowball. A snowball starts very small, but it grows as it adds millions and millions of tiny snowflakes and continues to grow as it gathers momentum.

Learn What You Need To Learn

There are three areas where the law of accumulation is important. The first is in the area of knowledge. Your body of knowledge is a result of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small pieces of information.

Any person with a large knowledge base has spent thousands of hours building that knowledge base one piece at a time. And what you see when you meet the individual is an expert in his or her field, with that high level of knowledge that makes him very valuable in the marketplace.

Save Your Money

The second area where the Law of accumulation works is with regard to money. Every large fortune is an accumulation of hundreds and thousands of small amounts of money, and the place to start is to take any amount of money that you can right now and begin to save it. When you begin to save money, it sets up a force field of energy and it triggers thelaw of attraction. As a result you begin to attract to you even more bits of money to add to your savings.

Attract Riches Into Your Life

And I've spoken to many, many successful people and they've told me the same story. That as soon as you start to put savings aside, it starts to attract into your life and into your work all the money that you need to achieve your goals. The reason why most people retire poor is they never put the initial savings aside to start with.

Get The Experience You Need

The third area where the law of accumulation applies is in the area of experience. You'll find that successful people in any field are those who have far more experience in that field than the average. And there is nothing that replaces experience. Whether it's in business or entrepreneurship or management or parenting or selling or anything else. Many people do not take the risks that are necessary to move out of their comfort zone because they're afraid it won't work out.

Everything Counts

But the fact is that until you move out of the comfort zone and get the experience from making the mistakes, it's not possible for you to grow and become capable of earning the kind of money that you desire. Now here's the key to the law of accumulation. It says that everything counts. Everything that you do counts. The biggest mistake that people make is they think that only what they want to count, counts. That when you read a book, when you listen to an audio program, when you go to a course, when you go to bed early and you get up early and you work, it all counts. And it's all going on the plus side of your ledger.

Use Your Time Well

But when you watch television, waste time, hang out, fool around and so on, all of that counts, as well, and it's going on the negative side. A person who has a great life, by the law of accumulation, is a person who's accumulated far more credits on the credit side than debits on the debit side. And here's an important point. If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it's moving you away from your goals. Nothing is neutral. Everything that you're doing is either moving you toward the things that you want to accomplish in life, the person you want to be, the wealth you want to accumulate, or it's moving you away. Everything counts. The law of accumulation says that everything counts.

Action Exercises

First, begin today to build your knowledge base in the subject that can be most helpful to you in achieving financial independence. Whether it takes a week, a month or a year to become thoroughly knowledgeable, it doesn't matter. Just get started today.

Second, get as much experience as you can in your chosen field. Start a little earlier, work a little harder and stay a little later. Take risks and try every different way you can think of to achieve your goal. This experience is invaluable and it accumulates over time.

The Law of Abundance

2009-02-04T23:41:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

The Law of Abundance- there is ample money for everyone who knows how to acquire it and keep it. We live in an abundant universe in which there is sufficient money for all who really want it and are willing obey the laws governing its acquisition.

You Can Have All You Want

There is plenty of money available to you. There is no real shortage. You can have virtually all you really want and need. We live in a generous universe and we are surrounded on all sides by blessings and opportunities to acquire all we truly desire. Your attitude, of either abundance or scarcity toward money, will have a major impact on whether you become rich or not.

Make a Decision

The first corollary of the Law of Abundance says that, "People become wealthy because they decide to become wealthy."

They become wealthy because they believe they have the ability to become wealthy. Because they believe this completely, they act accordingly. They consistently take the necessary actions that turn their beliefs into realities. And you can always tell what your beliefs really are by looking at your actions. There is no other way.

The second corollary of this law says: "People are poor because they have not yet decided to become rich."

Examine Your Own Thinking

In the book, The Instant Millionaire, by Mark Fisher, the old millionaire asks the boy who has sought his advice about becoming a millionaire, "Why aren't you rich already?"

This is an important question to ask yourself. However you answer this question will reveal a lot about yourself. Your answers will expose your self-limiting beliefs, your doubts, your fears, your excuses, your rationalizations and your justifications.

Review Your Reasons

Why aren't you rich already? Write down all the reasons you can think of. Go over your answers one by one with someone who knows you well and ask them for their opinion. You may be surprised to find that your reasons are mostly excuses that you have fallen in love with.

Whatever your reasons or excuses, you can now get rid of them. The world is full of hundreds and thousands of people who have had far more difficulties to overcome than you could ever imagine, and they've gone on to be successful anyway. So can you.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately:

First, imagine that every experience you have ever had with money contained a special lesson that was designed just for you to help you to ultimately become financially independent. What are the most important lessons you have learned so far?

Second, analyze yourself honestly and determine your biggest block, your major self-limiting belief that holds you back from becoming more successful financially. Resolve to act from now on as if this block no longer exists.

Peak Oil - Politics, Geopolitics, and Choke Points

2009-01-02T17:39:00.001-08:00

Permaculture is IT!

2009-01-02T17:12:00.001-08:00

Two Rules for Business Start-ups

2009-01-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Entrepreneurship is the art of finding profitable solutions to problems. Every successful entrepreneur, every successful businessperson has been a person who has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution to it before somebody else did. Here are the five rules for entrepreneurship.

Find A Need And Fill It

First, find a need and fill it. Ross Perot, when he was working for IBM, saw that his customers who were buying IBM computers, needed help in processing their data. He went to IBM with this idea and they said they weren't interested, so he started his own business. He eventually sold it out for $2.8 billion dollars. He found a need and he filled it.

Find A Problem And Solve It

The second rule is to find a problem and solve it. A secretary working for a small company began mixing flour with nail varnish in order to white out the mistakes she was making in her typing. Pretty soon, her friends in the same office asked if she could make some for them. So she began mixing it on her kitchen table. Then, people in other offices started asking for it, and she eventually quit her business and worked full time creating what is today called Liquid Paper. A few years ago, she sold her company to Gillette Corporationfor 47 million dollars.

Look For Solutions

Find a problem and solve it. Find a problem that everybody's got and see if you can't come up with a solution for it. Find a way to supply a product or a service better, cheaper, faster or easier. Clemmons Wilson saw that there was a need for hotels that could accommodate families that were traveling, and he started Holiday Inns. And Holiday Inns has now become one of the most successful hotel chains in the world.

Focus On Your Customer

Here's the key to success in business. Become obsessed with your customer. Fixated on your customer. Think of the customer. Think of what the customer wants, what the customer needs. What the customer will pay for, what the customer's problems are. Thomas J. Watson, Senior, the founder of IBM, taught his people and built his company on this principle. See yourself as working for the customer. Once you've come up with a product or an idea, then start to invest your time, talent and energy instead of your money, to get started.

The Source of Most Great Fortunes

Remember this, most great fortunes in America were started with an idea and with personal efforts. Most great fortunes were started with the sale of personal services. This is called sweat equity. In other words, instead of cash equity, put in sweat equity. Put in the sweat of your brow to begin your business. You can learn valuable lessons operating on a small scale.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, find a need and fill it. Look around you and search for needs that people have for products or services that are not being met. One small idea is enough to start you on the way to business success.

Second, find a problem and solve it. Look around you for problems that you or other people have that are not yet being solved. Look for solutions that nobody has thought of and give them a try. One good solution could change the whole direction of your life.

Seedball Story

2008-12-29T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Law of Clarity

2008-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

by: Brian Tracy

Clarity accounts for probably 80% of success and happiness. Lack of clarity is probably more responsible for frustration and underachievement than any other single factor. That's why we say that "Success is goals, and all else is commentary." People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine. This is true everywhere and under all circumstances.

The Three Keys to High Achievement

You could even say that the three keys to high achievement are, "Clarity, Clarity, Clarity," with regard to your goals. Your success in life will be largely determined by how clear you are about what it is you really, really want.

Write and Rewrite Your Goals

The more you write and rewrite your goals and the more you think about them, the clearer you will become about them. The clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to do more and more of the things that are consistent with achieving them. Meanwhile, you will do fewer and fewer of the things that don't help to get the things you really want.

The Seven Step Process for Achieving Goals

Here, once more, is the simple, seven-step process that you can use to achieve your goals faster and easier than ever before.

First, decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Be specific!

Second, write it down, clearly and in detail;

Third, set a specific deadline. If it is a large goal, break it down into sub-deadlines and write them down in order;

Fourth, make a list of everything you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list;

Fifth, organize the items on your list into a plan by placing them in the proper sequence and priority;

Sixth, take action immediately on the most important thing you can do on your plan. This is very important!

Seventh, do something every day that moves you toward the attainment of one or more of your important goals. Maintain the momentum!

Join the Top 3%

Fewer than three percent of adults have written goals and plans that they work on every single day. When you sit down and write out your goals, you move yourself into the top 3% of people in our society. And you will soon start to get the same results that they do.

Review Your Goals Daily

Study and review your goals every day to be sure they are still your most important goals. You will find yourself adding goals to your list as time passes. You will also find yourself deleting goals that are no longer as important as you once thought. Whatever your goals are, plan them out thoroughly, on paper, and work on them every single day. This is the key to peak performance and maximum achievement.

Action Exercises

Here is how you can apply this law immediately:

First, make a list of ten goals that you would like to achieve in the coming year. Write them down in the present tense, as though a year has passed and you have already accomplished them.

Second, from your list of ten goals, ask yourself, "What one goal, if I were to accomplish it, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?" Whatever it is, put a circle around this goal and move it to a separate sheet of paper.

Third, practice the seven-step method described above on this goal. Set a deadline, make a plan, and put it into action and work on it every day. Make this goal your major definite purpose for the weeks and months ahead.

Get ready for some amazing changes in your life.

Is a Bigger House a Better House?

2008-12-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

Peak Oil - Time To Face Reality

2008-12-13T00:21:00.000-08:00

Part 1

Part 2

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

2008-12-13T00:06:00.000-08:00

Forest Gardening

2008-12-11T17:35:00.001-08:00

Part 1

Part 2

Forest Gardening

2008-12-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

Pioneering Permaculture in Cyprus

2008-12-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

Emily Markides came with Charles and Julia Yelton to Cyprus with the goal of introducing Permaculture design to the island. In two months they developed a four season garden for the residents at the Agia Skepi Detox Center.

Below is the article I wrote in the Cyprus Mail to go along with this video:

PERMACULTURE is an 'ethical' form of integrated design that ensures the survival of people and their environment by bringing together organic gardening, architecture, ecology, landscape, agroforestry, green economics and social networks.

The word permaculture was coined in the 1970s by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who merged the words "permanent agriculture" and "permanent culture". Permaculture design requires the detailed observation of natural systems and the recognition of universal patterns and principles. These 'ecologial truisms' can then be applied to all realms of human activity. In a time of severe water and oil shortages worldwide, this method of design is even more critical as governments scramble to find ways to satisfy the growing demand for scarce natural resources.

It is this sense of urgency that brought Emily Markides and Julia and Charles Yelton to Ayia Skepi, a drug detoxification centre at Filani. Dr. Markides is a native Greek Cypriot from Famagusta who now teaches courses on Building Sustainable Communities and Ecovillages at the University of Maine in the United States. In February, Dr. Markides arrived in Cyprus with her two permaculture colleagues from Australia, Julia and Charles Yelton, with a vision to introduce this sustainable method of agriculture to an island currently facing a severe water shortage.

The Ayia Skepi detoxification centre offered Markides and the Yeltons two acres of land on which, within two months, they designed and planted an "edible forest" comprised of more than 150 fruit trees and nearly 300 aromatic plants, along with climbing bushes and flowers. An edible forest is a home scale garden that produces food by mimicking forest ecosystems and ecological principles.

The process of creating the garden includes the following steps:
1. Locate the appropriate land plot
2. Draw the design
3. Stake the land
4. Dig swales and ponds: the swales are paths that retain water to prevent land erosion. Two ponds were constructed to attract pollinators such as butterflies, bees, and other insects. Rosemary was planted all around the ponds to repel snakes in response to a recommendation by the local priest of Ayios Heraklidios, Father Georgios.
5. Plant the fruit trees: cherry, plum, nectarine, apricot, peach, apple, quince, pear, citrus and many others.
6. Sheet mulch: Spread manure and eight layers of wet newspaper over the land and around the trees, followed by a bed of straw. This process prevents weeds from growing and maintains the moisture in the soil. The newspapers also draw the worms to the surface so that they can naturally till the soil. Each tree is encircled by rocks, which collect the morning dew and moisten the soil.
7. Once the trees are planted, they are intercropped with flowers, vegetables and aromatic plants such as lemon balm, lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil and many more. Intercropping is the agricultural practice of cultivating two or more crops in the same space at the same time. The point is to make use of resources that would otherwise not be utilised by a single crop.

In total, the three permaculturalists along with a number of local supporters have created a sustainable four-season garden, an edible forest that avoids the land-stripping commonly induced by the large-scale conventional agriculture industry. In addition to the main edible forest, the gardeners, along with the residents of Ayia Skepi, created additionally both an herb garden and a vegetable garden.

It is important to note that permaculture is not only about gardening, but it also implies the utilisation of alternative sources of energy such as geothermal, solar-thermal, wind power, and waste treatment management. Ayia Skepi has already implemented a waste-water treatment system. Ideally, in the next few years, it will be able to harness energy from Cyprus' unlimited supply of sun, as well as wind and rain through all the above alternative technologies. However, this is possible only through the continued assistance of donors and other in-kind supporters, who have already generously supported Ayia Skepi and the creation of the edible forest.

Ayia Skepi proved to be the best place for the application of the principles of permaculture, as the construction and maintenance of the garden has been a viable therapeutic tool for the residents of the detoxification centre. Markides said the idea of introducing permaculture practices to Cyprus was part of a larger vision of hers to see the return of her hometown, Famagusta, to its legal inhabitants and the ultimate reconstruction of the city as a "green zone". She stressed that Famagusta has the potential to become a "model eco-peace city" for all of Europe whereby architects and designers rebuild what is now a derelict ghost town in a sustainable way in which economics, ecology and ethnic difference harmoniously co-exist.

According to the Ayia Skepi permaculturalists, this practice has the potential of addressing, mediating and resolving the pressing social and ecological crises that threaten Cyprus today.

Gaia Hypothesis

2008-12-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Stephen Miller, 1989
All quotes from James Lovelock, taken from The Ages of Gaia

This will serve as an introduction to the Gaia hypothesis;
It is a review (published in 1989) of James Lovelock's The Ages of Gaia

What is the hypothesis of Gaia ? Stated simply, the idea is that we may have discovered a living being bigger, more ancient, and more complex than anything from our wildest dreams. That being, called Gaia, is the Earth.

More precisely: that about one billion years after it's formation, our planet was occupied by a meta-life form which began an ongoing process of transforming this planet into its own substance. All the life forms of the planet are part of Gaia. In a way analogous to the myriad different cell colonies which make up our organs and bodies, the life forms of earth in their diversity coevolve and contribute interactively to produce and sustain the optimal conditions for the growth and prosperity not of themselves, but of the larger whole, Gaia. That the very makeup of the atmosphere, seas, and terrestrial crust is the result of radical interventions carried out by Gaia through the evolving diversity of living creatures.

Encountering the Earth from space, a witness would know immediately that the planet was alive. The atmosphere would give it away. The atmospheric compositions of our sister planets, venus and mars, are: 95-96% carbon dioxide, 3-4% nitrogen, with traces of oxygen, argon and methane. The earth's atmosphere at present is 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen with traces of carbon dioxide, methane and argon. The difference is Gaia, which transforms the outer layer of the planet into environments suitable to its further growth. For example, bacteria and photosynthetic algae began some 2.8 billions of years ago extracting the carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, setting the stage for larger and more energetic creatures powered by combustion, including, ultimately, ourselves.

That is how James Lovelock discovered Gaia; from outer space.In the 1960's, during the space race which followed the launching of Sputnik, he was asked by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Nasa to help design experiments to detect life on Mars.The Viking lander gathered and tested some Martian soil for life with no results. Lovelock had predicted as much, by analyzing the atmosphere of Mars: it is in a dead equilibrium. By contrast, the atmosphere of Earth is in a "far from equilib rium" state- meaning that there was some other complex process going on which maintained such an unlikely balance. It occurred to him that if the Viking lander had landed on the frozen waste of antarctica, it might not have found any trace of life on Earth either. But a sure giveaway would be a complete atmospheric analysis... which the Viking lander was not equipped to do. Lovelock's approach was not popular at Nasa because Nasa needed a good reason to land on Mars, and the best was to look for life. Viking found nothing on Mars, but Lovelock had seen the Earth from the perspective of an ET looking for evidence of life. And he began thinking that what he was seeing was not so much a planet adorned with diverse life forms, but a planet transfigured and transformed by a self-evolving and self-regulating living system.By the nature of its activity it seemed to qualify as a living being. He named that being Gaia, after the Greek goddess which drew the living world forth from Chaos.

"The name of the living planet, Gaia, is not a synonym for the biosphere-that part of the Earth where living things are seen normally to exist. Still less is Gaia the same as the biota, which is simply the collection of all individual living organisms. The biota and the biosphere taken together form a part but not all of Gaia. Just as the shell is part of the snail, so the rocks, the air, and the oceans are part of Gaia. Gaia, as we shall see, has continuity with the past back to the origins of life, and in the future as long as life persists. Gaia, as a total planetary being, has properties that are not necesarily discernable by just knowing individual species or populations of organisms living together... Specifically, the Gaia hypothesis says that the temperature,oxidation, state, acidity, and certain aspects of the rocks and waters are kept constant, and that this homeostasis is maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota."

Even the shifting of the tectonic plates, resulting in the changing shapes of the continents, may result from the massive limestone deposits left in the earth by bioforms eons ago.

"You may find it hard to swallow the notion that anything as large and apparently inanimate as the Earth is alive. Surely, you may say, the Earth is almost wholly rock, and nearly all incandescent with heat. The difficulty can be lessened if you let the image of a giant redwood tree enter your mind.The tree undoubtedly is alive, yet 99% of it is dead.The great tree is an ancient spire of dead wood,made of lignin and cellulose by the ancestors of the thin layer of living cells which constitute its bark. How like the Earth, and more so when we realize that many of the atoms of the rocks far down into the magma were once part of the ancestral life of which we all have come." The root question of Gaia's critics, and a central point in his theory concerns the difference between a planetary environment which might only be the aggregate result of myriad independent life forms coevolving and sharing the same host, and one which is ultimately created by life forms deployed, so to speak, to accomplish the purpose of the larger being. Is the idea of Gaia only a romantic and dramatized description of the terrestrial biosphere and its effects, or is there a planetary being, whose life cycle must be counted in the billions of years, which spawns these evolving life forms to suit the purpose of its being. Do our kidney cells ask each other these sorts of questions? While your white blood cells thrive and reproduce, going about their business,they are indisputably serving the life of the larger body which you use, though whatever consciousness they experience in their realm is certainly far from that which you, the larger being, the whole, experience.

Recent scientific work, such as in the field of complex systems, have begun to give us the impression that this opposition of terms, the larger caused by its constituents, or the costituents created by the larger, may be one of those oppositions which are the constructs of our own minds, and must be dropped if we are to understand the truth, which is neither the one nor the other, but more difficult to comprehend and more fascinating to behold. Perhaps there is awareness appropriate at every level.Perhaps that is a property of life.

And what might be the nature of its evolution, this planetary being called Gaia? Anthropocentrists to the last, we might assume that the production of the human species is a great step upward for Gaia, a sort of rapidly evolving brain tissue. Or that she prepares the earth as a cradle and crucible of consciousness evolving. Other analogies come to mind: are we part of her arsenal of interplanetary spores ?

And what might constitute a life cycle for such a being- might it be as strange as that of the slime mold ? What stage would Gaia be in now? Is our species part of her maturity or an incubation period ? Is Gaia herself somehow part of a larger living being, perhaps on a galactic scale ? If so how do the cells of this larger being remain in communication? Will we eventually be able to experience something of the awareness which Gaia has ?

Lovelock points out that Gaia, being ancient and resourceful enough to have carried out these successive changes of the planet in spite of asteroid collisions and other setbacks, is herself probably not endangered by the relatively momentary depradations of the human species, as it befouls and cripples the bio-dynamics of its environment. Rather,the danger is to the human race, not only from our own actions, but also by Gaia's reaction to them.

He adds the caveat however, that the passage of a bullet is also momentary, but the damage nontheless lethal, and that we are not in a position yet to say whether or not some sudden, human caused imbalance, at a critical juncture, might be catastrophic to Gaia.

Lovelock first exposed his idea in his 1979 book, Gaia, a New Look at Life on Earth. The science behind the hypothesis was still sketchy, and it provoked a storm of criticism. It also provoked a lot of research, and the resulting body of information has encouraged Lovelock to publish this second book, a more confident and complete exposition of the Gaia hypothesis.The Ages of Gaia is easily readable for the educated layperson, but includes plenty of scientific depth.

Those of us who consider ourselves to be somehow involved in the birthing of a new age, should discover Gaia as well. The idea of Gaia may facilitate the task of converting destructive human activities to constructive and cooperative behavior. It is an idea which deeply startles us, and in the process, may help us as a species to make the necessary jump to planetary awareness.

Clarify Your Values

2008-12-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Decide What You Stand For

What are your values? What do you stand for? What are the organizing principles of your life? What are your core beliefs? What virtues do you aspire to, and hold in high regard when you see them demonstrated by others? What will you not stand for? What would you sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? These are extremely important questions that are only asked by about three percent of the population, and that small minority tends to be the movers and shakers in every society.What are your values? What do you stand for? What are the organizing principles of your life? What are your core beliefs? What virtues do you aspire to, and hold in high regard when you see them demonstrated by others? What will you not stand for? What would you sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? These are extremely important questions that are only asked by about three percent of the population, and that small minority tends to be the movers and shakers in every society.

Write Out Your Key Values

When I first began this values clarification exercise some years ago, I wrote out a list of 163 qualities that I aspired to. I think I eventually came up with every virtue, value or positive descriptive adjective that referred to personality and character in the dictionary. And I agreed with all of them. I felt that they were all important and I wanted to incorporate every single one of them into my character.

Focus on Very Few Core Beliefs

But then reality sets in. I realized that it is very hard to learn even one new quality, or to change even one thing about myself, let alone dozens of things. So I scaled down my ambitions and began narrowing the values down to a small number that I could manage and work with. Once I had settled on about five core beliefs, I was then able to get to work on myself and start making some progress in character development.

Select Your Five Key Values

You should do the same. You should write down the five values that you feel are the most important for you to live by. Once you have those five values, you then organize them in order of priority. Which is the most important value in your hierarchy of values? Which would be second? Which would be third, and so on?

Learn to Make Better Decisions

Every choice or decision you make is based on your values. Whenever you decide between alternatives, you invariably choose the alternative that you value the most. Because you can only do one thing at a time, everything you do is a demonstration of what you consider to be the most important at that moment. Therefore, organizing your values in an order of priority is the starting point of personal strategic planning. It is only when you are clear about what you value, and in what order, that you are capable of planning and organizing the other activities of your life.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, clarify your core beliefs and your unifying principles. Write them down and compare your life today with the values that are really important to you. How are you doing?

Second, organize your values in order of their importance to you. Which of your values is most important? Which is second? And so on. Do your current choices reflect this order of values?

Growing food, growing energy

2008-12-07T16:50:00.000-08:00

Making way for bikes

2008-12-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

How much food can I grow around my house

2008-12-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

Broadening the Peak Oil Conversation

2008-12-05T15:35:00.001-08:00

Rebuilding Communities: Local Economic Development

2008-12-05T03:16:00.000-08:00

An Urban Developer Goes for the Green

2008-12-04T05:07:00.001-08:00

Economic Localization - A Community Rediscovering Itself

2008-12-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

Living Within the Natural Economy

2008-12-03T04:23:00.001-08:00

Money as Debt (5 of 5)

2008-12-02T15:31:00.002-08:00

Money as Debt (4 of 5)

2008-12-02T15:31:00.001-08:00

Money as Debt (3 of 5)

2008-12-02T15:30:00.001-08:00

Money as Debt (2 of 5)

2008-12-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Money as Debt (1 of 5)

2008-12-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Focus on Solutions

2008-11-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

The Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...? They used a pencil.

Moral : Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

The Efficiency Curve

2008-11-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

The more you discipline yourself to working non-stop on a single task, the more you move down the "Efficiency Curve." You get more and more high quality work done in less and less time.

Each time you stop working however, you break this cycle and move back up the curve to where every part of the task is more difficult and time consuming.

Self-Discipline Is the Key

Elbert Hubbard defined self-discipline as, "The ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."

In the final analysis, success in any area requires tons of discipline. Self-discipline, self-mastery and self-control are the basic building blocks of character and high performance.

The True Test of Willpower

Starting a high-priority task and persisting with that task until it is 100% complete is the true test of your character, your willpower and your resolve.

Persistence is actually self-discipline in action. The good news is that the more you discipline yourself to persist on a major task, the more you like and respect yourself, and the higher is your self-esteem.

And the more you like and respect yourself, the easier it is for you to discipline yourself to persist even more.

Build Your Self-Confidence

You eventually feel capable of setting and achieving any goal. You become the master of your own destiny. You place yourself on an ascending spiral of personal effectiveness on which your future is absolutely guaranteed.

And the key to all of this is for you to determine the most valuable and important thing you could possibly do at every single moment and then, "Eat That Frog!"

Action Exercises

Once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to persevere without diversion or distraction until it is 100% complete. See it as a "test" to determine whether you are the kind of person who can make a decision to complete something and then carry it out. Once you begin, refuse to stop until the job is finished.

Three Principles for Great Success

2008-11-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Get Better Results than Ever Before

There are several principles of military strategy that you can apply to your business, every single day. These can help you to think better and get better results than ever before.

Do the Unexpected

One really helpful military principle that can be applied to business is the Principle of Surprise. The principle of surprise says, "do the unexpected!" In sales and marketing, this means to be continually seeking ways to out-flank or upset your competition.

Do the Opposite of Before

Sometimes doing exactly the opposite of what you have been doing up till now can turn out to be the perfect solution. The natural tendency for a person, when they find themselves in a hole, is to dig deeper. In many cases, the solution is to go and dig somewhere else. Remember, the first law of holes is, "When you find yourself in one, stop digging."

Follow-up and Follow-Through

A second military principle that applies to business is the Principle of Exploitation. The principle of exploitation emphasizes the importance of follow-up and follow-through. In business, this means that, when you get an opportunity, you exploit it to the fullest extent possible. If you have a great promotional idea or product or service, you sell all you can. You take advantage of your idea or breakthrough and use every opportunity to capitalize on it.

Work Harmoniously With Others

The third principle of military strategy that applies to personal and corporate thinking is the Principle of Cooperation. In business, this is often called the principle of synergy. In military terms, this is often called the principle of "concerted action." In business terms, your ability to work effectively and harmoniously with other individuals and groups is more responsible for your success than any other quality.

Win the Cooperation of Key People

A key part of strategic thinking is for you to identify the individuals, groups and organizations whose cooperation you will require to achieve your goals. Make a list of them and then organize the list in order of importance. Then ask yourself, "How am I going to win their cooperation?"

Answer Everyone's Favorite Question

Everybody wants to know, "what's in it for me?" The effective executive is always looking for ways to help or assist others knowing that this is the only sure way to create within them a desire to help you to achieve your goals.

By doing the unexpected, by following up and following through, and by constantly looking for ways to get other people to cooperate with you, you will accomplish more in a shorter time than you might ever have imagined.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to apply these ideas in your business and in your work:

First, look at your job, especially the areas where you are experiencing frustration, and question whether or not there is a completely different way of approaching your problem or situation. Do the unexpected. Perhaps you should be doing exactly the opposite of what you are doing today. All success in business comes from surprising the competition in some way.

Second, identify the people, groups and organizations whose assistance you will need to achieve your goal. Continually look for ways to earn their support and cooperation by thinking in terms of what is in it for them.

The ABCDE Method for Setting Priorities

2008-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Your ability to plan and organize your work, in advance, so you are always working on your highest value tasks determines your success as much as any other factor.

The ABCDE Method for Priorities

The process of setting short-term priorities begins with a pad of paper and a pen. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by too many things to do and too little time in which to do them, sit down, take a deep breath, and list all those tasks you need to accomplish. Although there is never enough time to do everything, there is always enough time to do the most important things, and to stay with them until they are done right.

Setting Better Priorities

The best method for setting priorities on your list, once you have determined your major goals or objectives, is the A-B-C-D-E method. You place one of those letters in the margin before each of the tasks on your list before you begin.

"A" stands for "very important;" something you must do. There can be serious negative consequences if you don't do it.

"B" stands for "important;" something you should do. This is not as important as your 'A' tasks. There are only minor negative consequences if it is not completed.

"C" stands for things that are "nice to do;" but which are not as important as 'A' or 'B,' tasks. There are no negative consequences for not completing it.

"D" stands for "delegate." You can assign this task to someone else who can do the job instead of you.

"E" stands for "eliminate, whenever possible." You should eliminate every single activity you possibly can, to free up your time.

When you use the A-B-C-D-E method, you can very easily sort out what is important and unimportant. This then will focus your time and attention on those items on your list that are most essential for you to do.

Just Say No

Once you can clearly determine the one or two things that you should be doing, above all others, just say no to all diversions and distractions and focus single-mindedly on accomplishing those priorities.

Much stress that you experience in your work life comes from working on low-priority tasks. The amazing discovery is that as soon as you start working on your highest-value activity, all your stress disappears. You feel a continuous stream of energy and enthusiasm. As you work toward the completion of something that is really important, you feel an increased sense of personal value and inner satisfaction. You experience a sensation of self-mastery and self-control. You feel calm, confident and capable.

Action Exercises

Here are three ideas that you can use, every day, to help you set priorities and to keep you working at your best:

First, take the time to be clear about your goals and objectives so that the priorities you set are moving you in the direction of something that is of real value to you.

Second, remember that what counts is not the amount of time that you put in overall; rather, it's the amount of time that you spend working on high-priority tasks.

Third, understand that the most important factor in setting priorities is your ability to make wise choices. You are always free to choose to engage in one activity or another.

Resolve today to set clear priorities in every area of your life, and always choose the activities that will assure you the greatest health, happiness and prosperity in the long term.

Get Customers to Sell For You

2008-11-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

By: Brian Tracy

Why People Buy

Fully 84 percent of sales in America take place as the result of word-of-mouth advertising. Some of the most important sales promotion sales activities are those that take place between customers and prospects, between friends and colleagues, in the form of advice and recommendations on what to buy, or not buy, and who to buy from.

Join the Top 10%

The only way that you can be among the top ten percent of salespeople in your industry is by having your existing customers selling for you on every occasion. Because of the importance of mega-credibility in selling, your customers must be happy to open doors to new customers for you wherever they go.

Never Prospect Again

All top salespeople eventually reach the point where they seldom have to prospect because their customers do much of their selling for them. When you live your life consistent with your personal and business mission statements, both fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, your sales career will soar, as will your sales results and your earnings.

Be Clear About Who You Are

One important point with regard to vision, values and mission statements: be gentle with yourself. It has taken you your whole life to become the person you are today. If you are like everyone else, you are not perfect. You have lots of room to grow and improve. There are many changes that you can make in your character and personality in the course of becoming the excellent human being that you aspire to. But change in your personality will not come easily, and it won't come overnight. You must be patient.

Persist Until Your Succeed

The reason that people grow and become better and better over the course of time, is because they persist gently in the direction of their goals and dreams. They don't expect overnight transformations. When they don't see results immediately, they don't get discouraged. They just keep on keeping on. And you must do the same.

Put Your Ideas Into Action

Once you have a clear idea of the person you want to be and the kind of life and career you want to create, just take the first step. Read your mission statements every day as you go about your activities, think of the different ways that you could practice the virtues and qualities that you are in the process of incorporating into your own personality.

Remember, it is only your actions with regard to other people that really demonstrate the kind of person you have become. And if you persist long enough, you will eventually shape yourself into the exact person that you have imagined.

Action Exercises

First, treat every customer as if he is going to be a great source of word-of-mouth advertising for you. Remember that every person knows about 300 other people.

Second, resolve to become better and better in your dealings with others but be gentle with yourself. Behave every day in every way the best you can be and you will be sure to get results.

Potato Chips - How it's made

2008-10-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

How It's Made - Potato Chips - Click here for funny video clips

Managing

2008-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

"The greatest manager has a knack for making ballplayers think they are better than they think they are." -- Reggie Jackson, Baseball Player

Third Eye

2008-10-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

The Third Eye - Celebrity bloopers here

Make Your Customers Feel Important

2008-10-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Listening is the Key

Listening builds self-esteem. It has been said that, "Rapt attention is the highest form of flattery." When you listen intently to another person and it is clear that you genuinely care about what that other person is saying, his or her self-esteem goes up. His or her feeling of personal value increases. He or she feels more worthwhile and important as a human being. You can actually make another person feel terrific about himself or herself by listening in a warm, genuine, caring way to everything he or she has to say.

Pay Close Attention

When a man and a woman go out for the first time, they spend an inordinate amount of time talking and listening to each other. They look into each other's eyes and hang on every word. They are each fascinated by the personality of the other. The more each listens to the other, the more positive and happy each of them feel and the stronger becomes the bonds of affection between them.

Focus 100% On the Other Person

The opposite of listening is ignoring. You always listen to that which you most value. You always ignore that which you devalue. The fastest way to turn a person off, to hurt their feelings and make them feel slighted and angry is to simply ignore what they are saying or interrupt them in the middle of a thought. Ignoring or interrupting is the equivalent of an emotional slap in the face. Men especially have to be careful about their natural desire to make a remark or an observation in the middle of a conversation. This can often cause the sales conversation to come to a grinding halt.

Action Exercises

First, take every opportunity to make the other person feel important by listening attentively to what he or she says.

Second, avoid interrupting the other person by slowing down and pausing for a few moments after he or she has stopped speaking.

The Foundation of Leadership

2008-10-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The most important quality of leadership, the one quality for which you want to be known, is extraordinary performance, with the goal of achieving extraordinary results. These results then serve as an inspiration to others to perform at equally exceptional levels. People ascribe leadership to those men and women who they feel can most enable them to achieve important goals or objectives.

Why People Respect You

We develop great perceptions of those men and women we can count on to help us achieve what is important to us. Men and women who make great sales, or who establish admirable sales records, develop influence in the minds and hearts of their coworkers and superiors. They are spoken about in the most positive way.

The Halo Effect

Men and women who are responsible for companies or departments that achieve high levels of profitability also develop charisma. They develop what is called the "halo effect." They are perceived by others to be extraordinary men and women who are capable of great things. Their shortcomings are often overlooked, while their strong points are overemphasized. They become charismatic.

The Source of Charisma

Charisma actually comes from working on yourself. It comes from liking and accepting yourself unconditionally as you do and say the specific things that develop within you a powerful, charismatic personality.

Be Determined and Purposeful

When you set clear goals and become determined and purposeful, backing those goals with unshakable self-confidence, you develop charisma. When you are enthusiastic and excited about what you are doing, when you are totally committed to achieving something worthwhile, you radiate charisma. When you take the time to study and become an expert at what you do, and then prepare thoroughly for any opportunity to use your knowledge, skill or experience, the perception that others have of you goes straight up.

Accept Complete Responsibility

When you take complete responsibility and accept ownership, without making excuses or blaming others, you experience a sense of control that leads to the personal power that is the foundation of charisma. When you look like a winner in every respect, when you have the kind of external image that others admire, you build your charisma. When you develop your character by setting high standards and then disciplining yourself to live consistent with the highest principles you know, you become the kind of person who is admired and respected everywhere. You become the kind of person who radiates charisma to others.

Focus on Results

Finally, when you concentrate your energies on achieving the results that you have been hired to accomplish, the results that others expect of you, you develop the reputation for performance and achievement that inevitably leads to the perception of charisma.

You can develop the kind of charisma that opens doors for you by going to work on yourself, consistently and persistently, and becoming the kind of person everyone can admire and look up to. That's what charisma is all about.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, ask yourself every day, "What is the one thing that I and only I can do, that if done well, will make a real difference to my company?" Whatever your answer, go to work on that.

Second, decide upon the most important results you can get for your company and make sure that you and everyone else is working on those results every hour of every day.

Action

2008-10-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” — Dale Carnegie, Author

Be A Negative Optimist

2008-08-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism. Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged. In addition, because of their unrealistically positive attitude, they are willing to persist much longer than the average person. Optimism is a wonderful quality as long as you have it under control.

Temper Your Optimism

In order to be successful in business, and in any activity where your money is involved, you must temper your optimism with negativism. You must be enthusiastic about the possible upside of the investment but you must be skeptical, critical, suspicious and demanding about all the different ways that your money can be lost.

Listen to Negative Viewpoints

Seek out and listen carefully to people who are negative toward your idea. Look for negative thinkers, because their viewpoints can be invaluable and save you a fortune in time and money. I have a friend who is a lawyer. And he recommends and gives advice to many people on investments. And what he does is this. When someone comes and they want to make an investment that he's unsure about, he says, all right, I want you to come to my office and I want you to sit behind my desk. And then I'm going to come in and I'm going to present this investment to you and I want you to critique this investment as if you were me.

Help Others to Evaluate Honestly

And he says that when his clients begin critiquing the investments they're thinking about going into, when they begin becoming negative thinkers about the investments, he says they are astonished at how bad the investments really are. He said he has saved his clients millions of dollars by forcing them to be negative thinkers about their own ideas, simply by switching roles and sitting in front of the desk while they sit behind the desk.

Keep Your Mind Open

But don't be overly influenced by negative thinkers. Just take their viewpoints into consideration. There's a famous story of Mary Hudson, who started off with 200 dollars in the middle of the Depression and leased a gas station that two men had gone broke running at two different occasions. And from that she built a company called Hudson Oil, which is now the biggest independent distributor of gas and oil in the United States. From a 200 dollar investment, even though everybody told her she would fail. So remember, listen to negative thinkers, but don't necessarily accept their advice.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to get these ideas into action.

First, view your idea as if you were an outside consultant. Ask, "What are all of the possible risks or flaws in this cause of action?"

Second, seek out the opinions of others. Listen without responding or defending. Thank them for their input. They may save you a lot of money.

How to Succeed in Business

2008-08-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Build Your Own Business

The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail.

Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Businesses Fail

And why is that? It's because they don't know how to succeed. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed

However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed. Now why should this be so? The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes the Difference

Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called "managerial incompetence". Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure.

First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.

Control Your Costs

The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these.

Put Luck On Your Side

You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT. Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.

Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

Consider the Consequences

2008-08-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something. The potential consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important it really is to you and to your company. This way of evaluating the significance of a task is how you determine what your next frog really is.

Long Time Perspective

Doctor Edward Banfield of Harvard University, after more than 50 years of research, concluded that "long-time perspective" is the most accurate single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in America. Long time perspective turns out to be more important than family background, education, race, intelligence, connections or virtually any other single factor in determining your success in life and at work.

Your attitude toward time, your "time horizon," has an enormous impact on your behavior and your choices. People who take the long view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought to the future.

Think About Your Future

Successful people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten and twenty years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long-term future that they desire.

In your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long-term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short-term.

Determine the Consequences

By definition, something that is important has long-term potential consequences. Something that is unimportant has few or no long-term potential consequences. Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?"

The clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what you do in the moment. With a clear long-term vision, you are much more capable of evaluating an activity in the present and to assure that it is consistent with where you truly want to end up.

Make It A Top Priority

If there is a task or activity with large potential positive consequences, make it a top priority and get started on it immediately. If there is something that can have large potential negative consequences if it is not done quickly and well, that becomes a top priority as well. Whatever your frog is, resolve to gulp it down first thing.

Keep Motivated

Motivation requires motive. The greater the positive potential impact that an action or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly, the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly.

Thinking continually about the potential consequences of your choices, decisions and behaviors is one of the very best ways to determine you true priorities in your work and personal life.

Action Exercises

Review your list of tasks, activities and projects regularly. Continually ask yourself, "Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?"

Whatever it is that can help you the most, set it as a goal, make a plan to achieve it and go to work on your plan immediately. Remember the wonderful words of Goethe, "Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!"

Consider the Consequences

2008-08-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Long Time Perspective

Think About Your Future

In your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long-term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short-term.

Determine the Consequences

Make It A Top Priority

Keep Motivated

Thinking continually about the potential consequences of your choices, decisions and behaviors is one of the very best ways to determine you true priorities in your work and personal life.

Action Exercises

Finding A New Business Idea

2008-08-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Look for Opportunities

How do you find a new product or service, recognizing that 80 percent or more will be new in five years? Here's a series of ideas. Number one, begin with yourself. Begin with your own talents, your abilities, your experience, knowledge, interest, background, education, and so on. Look carefully at your current work, your current business, your current position, or your current product or service. Seek for what is called your own acres of diamonds. Look under your own feet.

Look Into Yourself

Here's a question. What qualities account for your greatest successes in life so far? What personal qualities and abilities have gotten you to where you are? And how could you apply those qualities and abilities to starting and building a new business?

If you already have a company, ask what are your companies' talents, abilities, experience, knowledge, interest, background, and so on. What qualities and talents and abilities have enabled your company to succeed up to now? Where can you specialize? Where can you make a difference?

Identify What You Really Enjoy

Number two is look for a product or service about which you can really become enthusiastic. Sometimes people become wealthy by translating or transforming their hobbies into a business. You will be most successful doing something or marketing something that you really love.

Every product must have a champion. Every product or service must have someone in the business who really, really loves the product or service and is eager to get out and tell other people about it.

Improve On Something Else

Number three, look for something that is an improvement on an existing product or service, not something brand new. Look for something that's cheaper or better quality. Or that has additional features or functions. Look for something that's an improvement.

Remember improving an existing successful product or service is the fastest and surest way to build a successful business. An idea only needs to be ten percent new and better to capture substantial market share. Brand new products or services are very risky.

Be Willing to Work Hard

The fourth key to finding a new product or service is this. Don't look for easy money. Don't look for gimmicks or useless knickknacks. Don't look for get-rich-quick schemes or rewards without working, because they're aren't any.

More people have wasted more time and more life and more money trying to find quick ways to make easy money than you can possibly imagine. So be willing to put in a lot of hard work before you start making real money in a business.

Success Takes Time

It takes two years to break even in the average business. It takes four years to show a profit. It takes maybe eight to ten years before it starts to generate real cash flow. So you have to be patient. If you're impatient, what will happen is you'll end up setting yourself further back than you can imagine.

Action Exercises

First, be prepared to research a lot of business ideas before you make a final decision. The first 10% of time that you spend doing your homework will save you 90% of the effort in getting results later on.

Second, look for something that you can make an improvement upon rather than something brand new. You are surrounded by ideas and opportunities for improvement if you can just identify them.

Four Essentials for Happiness

2008-08-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

You may have a thousand different goals over the course of your lifetime, but they all will fall into one of four basic categories. Everything you do is an attempt to enhance the quality of your life in one or more of these areas.

The Key to Happiness

The first category is your desire for happy relationships. You want to love and be loved by others. You want to have a happy, harmonious home life. You want to get along well with the people around you, and you want to earn the respect of the people you respect. Your involvement in social and community affairs results from your desire to have happy interactions with others and to make a contribution to the society you live in.

Enjoy Your Work

The second category is your desire for interesting and challenging work. You want to make a good living, of course, but more than that, you want to really enjoy your occupation or profession. The very best times of your life are when you are completely absorbed in your work.

Become Financially Independent

The third category is your desire for financial independence. You want to be free from worries about money. You want to have enough money in the bank so that you can make decisions without counting your pennies. You want to achieve a certain financial state so that you can retire in comfort and never have to be concerned about whether or not you have enough money to support your lifestyle. Financial independence frees you from poverty and a need to depend upon others for your livelihood. If you save and invest regularly throughout your working life, you will eventually reach the point where you will never have to work again.

Enjoy Excellent Health

The fourth and final category is your desire for good health, to be free of pain and illness and to have a continuous flow of energy and feelings of well-being. In fact, your health is so central to your life that you take it for granted until something happens to disrupt it.

Peace of Mind is the Key

Peace of mind is essential for every one of these. The greater your peace of mind, the more relaxed and positive you are, the less stress you suffer, the better is your overall health.

The more peace of mind you have, the better are your relationships, the more optimistic, friendly and confident you are with everyone in your life. When you feel good about yourself on the inside, you do your work better and take more pride in it. You are a better boss and coworker. And the greater your overall peace of mind, the more likely you are to earn a good living, save regularly for the future and ultimately achieve financial independence.

Control Your Attention

Life is very much a study of attention. Whatever you dwell upon and think about grows and expands in your life. The more you pay attention to your relationships, the quality and quantity of your work, your finances and your health, the better they will become and the happier you will be.

Action Exercises

Here are three things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take time on a regular basis to think about what would make you really happy in each of the four areas.

Second, set specific, measurable goals for improvement in your relationships, your health, your work and your finances and write them down.

Third, resolve to do something every day to increase the quality of some area of your life - and then keep your resolution.

Customers for Life

2008-08-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Never Worry About Money Again

What is the purpose of a business? Every time I ask this question during a business seminar, the immediate answer that I get back is, "To make a profit."

The Real Purpose of A Business

But this answer is wrong. The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. If a business successfully creates and keeps customers in a cost-effective way, it will make a profit while continuing to survive and thrive. If, for any reason, a business fails to attract or sustain a sufficient number of customers, it will experience losses. Too many losses will lead to the demise of the enterprise.

Why Businesses Fail

According to Dun and Bradstreet, the single, most important reason for the failure of businesses in America is lack of sales. And, of course, this refers to resales as well as initial sales.

So your company's job is to create and keep a customer, and your job is exactly the same. Remember, no matter what your official title is, you are a salesperson for yourself and your company. And the best way to increase your value as a salesperson is to build your customer base.

The Key to Competitive Advantage

Differentiation refers to your ability to separate yourself and your product or service from that of your competitors. And it is the key to building and maintaining a competitive advantage. This is the advantage that you and your company have over your competitors in the same marketplace - the unique and special benefits that no one else can give your customer.

Select Your Customers Carefully

When you begin to think about acquiring and keeping customers for life, you need to think about the particular types of customers for whom your competitive advantage is so important that they would be poorly served by using anyone else's product. You need to then emphasize again and again that the special features and benefits you offer are so important that they should not even think of going somewhere else. If, for any reason, you fail to do this, you may lose the customer and all the work you've done in building that relationship in the first place.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, determine exactly what your current positioning is today with your customers. How do they think about you and what do they say? How could you improve your positioning?

Second, determine your exact competitive advantage, your area of superiority in what you do. How can you increase in your area of excellence and then convey it better to your customers?

Seven Simple Steps to Small Business Success

2008-08-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Many businesspeople achieve their greatest successes in unexpected areas. They begin a business and then they find that it isn't as profitable as they had anticipated, so they change direction, using their experience and their momentum, and strike paydirt in something else. The most important thing is to begin. To take action. To move forward one step at a time, learning and growing as you go. There is enough information available in virtually every field for you to become knowledgeable enough to achieve success. But action is necessary.

The Two Parts of Success

Success author Orison Swett Marden once wrote, the first part of success is get-to-it-ivness. The second part is stick-to-it-iveness. Every business beginning requires an act of faith and courage, a bold leap into the unknown. Only one in ten people who want to start their own businesses ever develop enough courage to begin and enough persistence to continue. Get-to-it-iveness. And stick-to-it-iveness. The fear of failure, more than anything else, holds people back. It paralyzes action. And it makes failure inevitable.

Begin With a Dream

Fortunately, even if you know nothing about business, you can begin with a dream, a castle in the air, and then build a foundation under it.

Seven Simple Steps

The starting point of many great fortunes has been these seven simple steps. Number one, set a goal and back it with a burning desire. Number two, begin accumulating capital with a regular savings program. Nothing else is possible without this. You cannot move forward until you start a savings program.

Use Your Current Job As A Springboard

Number three, use your current job as a springboard to later success. Learn while you earn. Take the long view. Number four, experiment in business on a limited scale so you can learn the key abilities necessary for success. Number five, search for problems, needs unmet, products or services you can supply of good quality at reasonable prices.

Read Everything You Can Find

Number six, read everything you can find on your chosen field. Remain flexible. Be willing to change your mind if you get different information. And number seven, implement your plans with courage and persistence. Have complete faith in your ability to succeed and never, never give up.

Action Exercises

Now, here are two actions you can take immediately to start moving toward entrepreneurial success:

First, set a goal, make a plan and then launch your plan. Get started. Do something. Begin on a small scale with limited risk and investment but get going!

Second, resolve that, no matter what happens, you will never, never give up until you are successful. Before you accomplish anything worthwhile, you will have to pass the persistence test. And the test will come far sooner than you imagine.

Unlocking Your Creativity

2008-08-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Creative thinking can be stimulated by two things; intensely desired goals and pressing problems. Your creative capacities need something to hone in on and your job is to provide it.

A Continual Stimulus for Ideas

Intensely desired goals, clearly defined with detailed plans for their accomplishment act as a continual stimulus for ideas to achieve them.

Visualize Your Goals

To trigger your imagination, write out a clear description of your ideal end result or goal. Be clear about the goal, be flexible about the process. Think about it, visualize it as realized over and over. Project your mind forward to the picture of the realized goal and then look back to the present.

Define Your Goals Clearly

Think on paper. Make a plan and then work on the plan, updating it, changing it, adding to it as you think of new ways to work toward the goal. The more clearly defined and keenly desired your goals, the more of your natural creativity will be released for goal attainment.

The Proper Approach to Problems

The second stimulant to creativity is pressing problems. The key to idea generation when you face a problem is to approach the problem confidently, expectantly, with the attitude that there exists a logical, practical solution just waiting to be found.

The most creative people have a relaxed attitude of confident expectancy that causes their minds to function in original and imaginative ways.

Diagnose Your Problems Accurately

Define your problems clearly in writing. Accurate diagnosis is half the cure. Sometimes you will find that you are dealing with a "cluster problem," one that is made up of several smaller problems. Your job is to sort them out and then go to work on each one separately.

Break Up the Clusters

In many cluster problems, there is a core issue surrounded by a lot of symptoms. Creative thinking requires that you separate the core issue, and then focus on resolving that before worrying about the smaller problems.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to stimulate your creativity.

First, be absolutely clear about your goal. Write it down and make a plan to achieve it. Think of different ways you could accomplish it.

Second, define your problems clearly and then make a list of all the possible solutions to your problem. Take action on at least one idea immediately.

Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

2008-07-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Have Everything At Hand

One of the best ways for you to overcome procrastination and get more things done faster is for you to have everything you need at hand before you begin. When you are fully prepared, you are like a cocked gun or an archer with an arrow pulled back taut in the bow. You just need one small mental push to get started on your highest value tasks.

Clear Your Workspace

Begin by clearing off your desk or workspace so that you only have one task in front of you. If necessary, put everything on the floor or on the table behind you. Gather all the information, reports, details, papers, and work materials that you will require to complete the job. Have them at hand so you can reach them without getting up or moving. Be sure that you have all writing materials, computer disks, access codes, email addresses and everything else you need to start and continue working until the job is done.

Master your time and master your life!

Wouldn't you like to have more time available to get more done? To make more money and have more time to spend doing the things you like, and being with the people that make you happy?

Make It Comfortable

Set up your work area so that it is comfortable, attractive and conducive to working for long periods. Especially, make sure that you have a comfortable chair that supports your back and allows your feet to sit flat on the floor.

The most productive people take the time to create a work area where they enjoy spending time. The cleaner and neater your work area before you begin, the easier it is for you to get started and keep going.

Assume The Position

When you sit down, with everything in front of you, ready to go, assume the body language of high performance. Sit up straight, sit forward and away from the back of the chair. Carry yourself as though you were an efficient, effective high performing personality. Then, pick up the first item and say to yourself, "Let's get to work!" and plunge in. And once you've started, keep going until the job is finished.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at the office. Ask yourself, "What kind of a person works in an environment like that?"

Second, resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient and ready to get going each time you sit down to work.

Earn the Respect of Others

2008-07-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The Most Important Measure of Success

Being respected by others is very important to each of us. A survey done by the Gallup organization found that the most prominent living Americans rated the respect of others as the most important measure of success in life. They worked very hard to earn the respect of their parents, the respect of their spouses and children, the respect of their peers and colleagues, and the respect of mankind at large.

Why You Respect Yourself

It seems that we truly respect ourselves only when we feel that we are respected by others, and we will go to great lengths to earn and keep that respect. When we feel that someone respects us for who we are and what we have accomplished, we tend to be more open to that person's influence.

Two Things You Can Do

We can do two things to put ourselves in a position to be respected by others. The first is to develop our knowledge of our field. The more people perceive you know about your subject, the more they will respect you. The highest-paid people in almost every field are those who know more than the average people. They are recognized as experts, and they develop what is called "expert power." Because of their superior knowledge, they are looked up to and listened to, and they are much more capable of influencing others to act in a particular way than they would be if their knowledge level were just average.

Develop Your Expertise

Another way to put ourselves in a position of being respected by others is to develop your expertise. Expertise is closely tied to knowledge, but it is a little different. Expertise is the ability to do, the ability to perform well in your chosen field. Men and women with expertise are those who practice over and over in whatever they do until they become known far and wide as the very best in their field.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, study your field in detail. Dedicate at least one hour per day to reading, listening to audio programs, studying to become more and more knowledgeable about what you do.

Second, continually upgrade your knowledge and skills in your field. Identify your weakest important skill and go to work on that.

Knowledge and know-how are the keys to the 21st century.

Don't Lose Money

2008-07-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Throughout the history of American enterprise, you've heard the words, "work hard and save your money." Work hard and save your money. It is the oldest rule for success in America. It's so important, as a matter of fact, that W. Clement Stone once said, "if you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you."

Saving Is a Discipline

Why is it that saving money is so important? Because saving money is a discipline and any discipline affects all other disciplines in your life. If you do not have the discipline to refrain from spending all the money that you earn, then you are not qualified to become wealthy and if you do become wealthy, you'll not be capable of holding on to it.

The Law of Attraction

A principle with regard to saving your money is the law of attraction. The law of attraction is activated by saved money. Even one dollar saved will start to attract more money. Here's what I suggest that you do. If you're really serious about your future, go down and open a savings account. Put as much money as you can into it, even if it's only ten dollars. And then begin to collect little bits of money, and every week go down and put something into that account.

Attract More Money Into Your Life

You will find that the more you put in that account, the more you will attract from sources that you cannot now predict. But if you do not begin the savings process, if you don't begin putting something away towards your financial independence, then nothing will happen to you. The law of attraction just simply won't work.

Invest Your Money Conservatively

Once you begin to accumulate money, here's another rule. Invest the money conservatively. Marvin Davis, self-made billionaire, was asked by Forbes Magazine, "How do you account for your financial success?" And he said, "Well, I have two rules for financial investing." He said, "Rule number one is, don't lose money." He said, whenever I'm tempted, whenever I see an opportunity to invest where there's a possibility I could lose it all, I just simply refrain from putting the money in. Rule number two is, whenever I get tempted, I refer back to rule number one. Don't lose money.

Get Rich Slowly

George Classon says, in The Richest Man In Babylon, that the key is to accumulate your funds and then invest them very conservatively. One of the characteristics of self-made millionaires, one of the characteristics of old money in America is that it's very cautiously, conservatively and prudently invested.

Don't try to get rich quickly. Concentrate rather on getting rich slowly. If all you do is save ten percent of your earnings, put it away, and let it accumulate at compound interest, that alone will make you wealthy.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to apply these lessons to your financial life:

First, open a separate savings and investing account today. From this day forward, put every single dollar you can spare into this account and resolve to never touch it or spend it for any reason.

Second, whenever you consider any investment of your savings, remember the rule, "Don't lose money!" It is better to keep the money working at a low rate of interest than to take the chance of losing it. Be careful. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Unlocking Your Creativity

2008-07-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Creative thinking can be stimulated by two things; intensely desired goals and pressing problems. Your creative capacities need something to hone in on and your job is to provide it.

A Continual Stimulus for Ideas

Intensely desired goals, clearly defined with detailed plans for their accomplishment act as a continual stimulus for ideas to achieve them.

Visualize Your Goals

Define Your Goals Clearly

The Proper Approach to Problems

The most creative people have a relaxed attitude of confident expectancy that causes their minds to function in original and imaginative ways.

Diagnose Your Problems Accurately

Break Up the Clusters

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to stimulate your creativity.

First, be absolutely clear about your goal. Write it down and make a plan to achieve it. Think of different ways you could accomplish it.

Second, define your problems clearly and then make a list of all the possible solutions to your problem. Take action on at least one idea immediately.

Top 10 Principles of Solid Web Design

2008-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

By Craig Campbell

1 - Content, Content, Content This rule, above all others, must always be remembered. Even with a solid aesthetic design, poor content (or poorly displayed content) will drive users away.

2 - Remember Your Audience If your website design doesn’t appeal to your intended audience, then no matter how good YOU think it looks, you’re going to have problems.

3 - Design the Flow of Information Before you begin designing the look and feel of your website, it’s always best to design the flow of information between pages.

4 - The Rule of Thirds From photography to graphic design to web design, the “rule of thirds” has always persisted as a good guideline for appealing layout and design. In this video, Craig explains the rule of thirds and how it applies to web design.

5 - Plan Your Color Scheme The colors you choose for your design should not be haphazardly chosen. Colors evoke meaning and emotion, and carefully-planned color scheme can set the entire mood for your website.

6 - Use Contrast Whether your talking about color choices, font choices, text size, or layout options, it’s important to use contrast in order to make the right things stand out.

7 - Use Appropriate Typography In this video, Craig discusses typography options when designing for the web. Even though font choices are somewhat limited when creating HTML websites, there are still things that can be done to enhance your web copy.

8 - Use Negative Space In a solid design, negative space, or white space, can be just as important as any other design choices you make. Without good use of negative space, a website can quickly become too cluttered.

9 - Use Texture When Appropriate We’ve all seen websites with that aged, antique feel to them. Sometimes your designs can benefit from adding a little texture like this.

10 - Be Consistent Nothing will confuse a user more than inconsistency. In this video, Craig discusses the importance of maintaining a consistent look, feel, and message throughout the entire website.

Programming Yourself for Success

2008-07-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Your mission statement is always written in the present tense, as though you have already become the person that you have described. It is always positive rather than negative. And it is always personal.

Program Yourself Correctly

Your subconscious mind can only accept your mission statement as a set of commands when you phrase it in the present, positive and personal tenses. "I am an exceptional salesperson," is a perfect example. After every sales call, you should quickly reread your mission statement and ask yourself if your recent behavior was more like the person you want to be, or less? As a top sales performer, you are always comparing your sales activities against a high standard and adjusting your activities upward. You're continually striving to be better. Every day in every way, you are deliberately working to become more like the ideal person you have envisioned.

Determine Your Mission Statement

Your goal is that, a year from today, when one of your customers has lunch with one of your prospects, and your prospect asks your customer to describe you in detail as a salesperson, your customer will recite your business mission statement voluntarily. The way you have treated your customer will have been so exemplary that your customer will describe you in the most glowing of terms.

Compare Yourself Against Yourself

Once you have developed a mission statement like this, you can read it, review it, edit it, and upgrade it regularly. You can add additional qualities to it and more clearly define the qualities you've already listed. It becomes your personal credo, your philosophy of life, your statement of beliefs and a guide to your behavior in all your interactions with others. Each day, you can evaluate your behaviors and compare them against the standard that you have set in this statement.

Shape Your Own Personality

Over time, a remarkable thing will happen. As you read and review your personal mission statement, you will find yourself, almost unconsciously, shaping your words and conforming your behaviors so that you are more and more like the ideal person you have defined. People will notice the change in you almost immediately. Over time, you will find that you are actually creating within yourself the kind of character and personality that you most admire in others. You will have become the molder and the shaper of your own personal destiny. After you have applied the ABC Method to your list, you will now be completely organized and ready to get more important things done faster.

Action Exercises

First, imagine that one of your customers was going to meet with one of your prospects. What would you want him to say about you? How could you behave with your customer to assure that he says these things?

Second, talk to yourself positively all the time. Feed your mind with positive messages that describe your goals and the person you want to be.

Single Handle Every Task

2008-07-22T04:42:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Eat that frog! Every bit of planning, prioritizing and organizing comes down to this simple concept.

Your ability to select your most important task, to begin it and then to concentrate on it single mindedly until it is complete is the key to high levels of performance and personal productivity.

The Requirement for Every Great Achievement

Every great achievement of mankind has been preceded by a long period of hard, concentrated work until the job was done. Single handling requires that once you begin, you keep working at the task, without diversion or distraction, until the job is 100% complete. You keep urging yourself onward by repeating the words "Back to work!" over and over whenever you are tempted to stop or do something else.

Reduce Your Time By 50%

By concentrating single mindedly on your most important task, you can reduce the time required to complete it by 50% or more.

It has been estimated that the tendency to start and stop a task, to pick it up, put it down and come back to it can increase the time necessary to complete the task by as much as 500%.

Each time you return to the task, you have to familiarize yourself with where you were when you stopped and what you still have to do. You have to overcome inertia and get yourself going again. You have to develop momentum and get into a productive work rhythm.

Develop Energy and Enthusiasm

But when you prepare thoroughly and then begin, refusing to stop or turn aside until the job is done, you develop energy, enthusiasm and motivation. You get better and better and more productive. You work faster and more effectively.

Never Waste Time

The truth is that once you have decided on your number one task, anything else that you do other than that is a relative waste of time. Any other activity is just not as valuable or as important as this job, based on your own priorities.

Action Exercises

Eat That Frog! Take action! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately.

Increasing Your Value

2008-07-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Your goal is to organize your life in such a way that you enjoy a good income, a high standard of living, and that you are the master of your economic destiny rather than a victim of changing economic times.

Contribution is the Key

Your job is an opportunity to contribute a value to your company in excess of your cost. In its simplest terms, your job is as secure as your ability to render value in excess of what it costs to keep you on the payroll. If you want to earn more money at your current job, you have to increase your value, your contribution to the enterprise.

Add Value Every Day

If you want to get a new job, you have to find a way to contribute value to that enterprise. If you want any kind of job security, you must continually work at maintaining and increasing your value in the competitive marketplace.

And here's a key point. Your education, knowledge, skills and experience all are investments in your ability to contribute a value for which you can be paid. But they are like any other investments. They are highly speculative.

Knowledge and Education Are Sunk Costs

Once you have learned a subject or developed a skill, it is a sunk cost. It is time and money spent that you cannot get back. No employer in the marketplace has any obligation to pay you for it, unless he can use your skill to produce a product or service that people are ready to buy, today.

Prepare For Your Next Job

Whatever job you are doing, you should be preparing for your next job. And the key question is always: Where are the customers? Which businesses and industries are growing in this economy, and which ones are declining?

Where is the Future?

I continually meet people who ask me how they can increase their income when their entire industry is shrinking. I tell them that there are jobs with futures and there are jobs without futures, and they need to get into a field that is expanding, not contracting.

Never Be Without A Job

There are three forms of unemployment in America: voluntary, involuntary, and frictional. Voluntary employment exists when a person decides not to work for a certain period of time, or not to accept a particular type of job, hoping that something better will come along. Involuntary unemployment exists when a person is willing and able to work but cannot find a job anywhere. Frictional unemployment is the natural level; this includes the approximately 4 or 5 percent of the working population who are between jobs at any given time.

Three Keys to Lifelong Employment

However, there are always jobs for the creative minority. You never have to be unemployed if you will do one of three things: change the work that you are offering to do, change the place where you are offering to work, or change the amount that you are asking for your services. You should consider one or more of these three strategies whenever you are dissatisfied with your current work situation.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, look around you at your current job and find ways to create added value every day. There's always something more you can do.

Second, identify the kind of work you want to be doing in the future and then make a plan to develop the knowledge and skills you will require to do it well.

One Thing You Can't Hide

2008-07-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

One of the most important traits of all motivators at work is consideration. Employees report that the best managers they ever had were people who cared about them as people and as friends. These managers took the time to ask them questions about their lives, and to listen patiently while they talked about the dilemmas and problems and situations in their families. The more that the employees felt that the boss liked them and respected them, the more empowered and motivated they felt.

Caring is the Key

The flip side of this motivator is the de-motivating feeling that the boss doesn't care. This is almost invariably expressed in a lack of recognition, a lack of approval, a lack of appreciation and a general failure to pay attention to the employee over time.

Spend Time Listening

Remember, the amount of time that you spend talking to and listening to an employee is a signal to that employee that he or she is important to you and to the company. This is why the very best bosses spend a lot of time walking around and chatting with their employees. They sit with them for lunch and coffee. They invite their comments and encourage open discussion and disagreements about work. They create an environment where people feel that the work belongs to them as well as to the company. In that environment, employees feel good about themselves and more fully committed to doing the job and doing it well.

Become A Positive Person

To empower and motivate your customers, your suppliers, your bankers and so on, you simply need to be a genuine, positive and cheerful person. You develop a positive mental attitude. You be the kind of person from whom, "never is heard a discouraging word." You are easygoing, genial, friendly, patient, tolerant and open minded. You make people feel comfortable being around you.

Emotions Determine Everything

Remember, everyone is primarily emotional. Everything that people do, or refrain from doing, is triggered by their deeper emotions. Your job is to connect with their higher and more positive emotions so they feel so good about you they want to help you and please you in some way.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, get out of your office and go among your friends and coworkers. Ask them about their personal lives and concerns, and then listen carefully to the answer.

Second, resolve to be a genuinely positive person under all circumstances. Be the kind of person people feel happy being around and working for.

How Brainwashing Works

2008-07-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

From How Stuff Works

Is brainwashing a system that produces similar results across cultures and personality types, or does it hinge primarily on the target's susceptibility to influence?

... How Brainwashing Works

How Web 3.0 Will Work

2008-07-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

From How Stuff Works

Web 3.0 isn't even a reality yet, and it's already creating a stir. How can a computer browser act like a personal assistant? And when can you expect to see this new version of the Web?

How Web 3.0 Will Work

Renewable Energy Islands

2008-07-16T06:48:00.001-07:00

Principles of Environmental Science
By William P. Cunnigham and Mary Ann Cunningham

Denmark has substantial oil and gas supplies under the North Sea, but the Danes have chosen to wean themselves away from dependence on fossil fuels. Currently the world leader in renewable energy, Denmark now gets 20 percent of its power from solar, wind, and biomass. Some parts of this small, progressive country have moved even further toward sustainability. One of the most inspiring examples of these efforts are the small islands of Samsø and Ærø, which now get 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources.

Samsø and Ærø lie between the larger island of Zealand (home to Copenhagen) and the Jutland Peninsula. The islands are mostly agricultural. Together, they have an area of about 200 km2 (77 mi2) and a population of about 12,000 people. In 1997, Samsø and Ærø were chosen in national competition to be renewable energy demonstration projects. The first step in energy independence is conservation. Denmark uses roughly half as much energy per person as the United States, although by most measures the Danes have a higher standard of living than most Americans. Danish energy conservation is achieved with high-efficiency appliances, superior building insulation, high-mileage vehicles, and other energy-saving measures. Most homes are clustered in small villages, both to save agricultural land and to facilitate district heating. Living closely together also makes having a private automobile less necessary.

Some 30 large wind generators provide 100 percent of Samsø and Ærø’s electricity. Two-thirds of these windmills are located offshore, and are publicly owned. The 11 onshore wind turbines are mostly privately owned, but a share of the profits is used to finance other energy projects. Space heating accounts for about one-third of the energy consumption on the islands. District heating systems provide most of this energy. Several large solar collector arrays supply about half the hot water for space heating and household use. Biomass-based (straw, wood chips, maure) systems supply the remainder of the island’s heating needs. Some of this biomass comes from energy crops (fast-growing elephant grass and hybrid poplars, for example, are grown on marginal farmland), while the rest comes from agricultural waste. Biodiesel (primarily from rapeseed oil) fuels farm tractors and ferries, while most passenger vehicles are electric.

Geothermal pumps supplement the solar water heaters, and in one village a recently closed landfill produces methane that is used to run a small electric generator. Nuclear fuel is considered an unacceptable option in Denmark and doesn’t feature in current energy plans. Samsø and Ærø have won numerous prizes and awards for their pioneering conversion to renewable energy. Over the past 20 years, as a result of other projects like those on Samsø and Ærø, both Denmark’s fossil fuel consumption and their greenhouse gas emissions have remained constant. All of us could learn from their example.

Many countries, both in Europe and elsewhere in the world, are turning to renewable energy to reduce their dependence on environmentally damaging and politically unstable fossil fuels.

Bioremediation

2008-07-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Principles of Environmental Science
By William P. Cunningham and Mary Ann Cunningham

If travelers from another solar system were to visit our lovely, cool, blue planet, they might call it Aqua rather than Terra because of its outstanding feature: the abundance of streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans of liquid water. Our planet is the only place we know where water exists as a liquid in any appreciable quantity. Water covers nearly three-fourths of the earth’s surface and moves around constantly through evaporation, precipitation, and runoff that distribute nutrients, replenish fresh water supplies, and shape the land. Water makes up to 60 to 70 percent of the weight of most living organisms. It fills cells, giving form and support to tissues. Among water’s unique, almost magical qualities, are the following:

Water molecules are polar, that is, they have a slight positive charge on one side and a slight negative charge on the other side. Therefore, water readily dissolves polar or ionic substances, including sugars and nutrients, and carries materials to and from cells.
Water is the only inorganic liquid that exists under normal conditions at temperatures suitable for life. Most substances exist as either a solid or a gas, with only a very narrow liquid temperature range. Organisms synthesize organic compounds such as oils and alcohols that remain liquid at ambient temperatures and are therefore extremely valuable to life, but the original and predominant liquid in nature is water.
Water molecules are cohesive, tending to stick together tenaciously. You have experienced this property if you have ever done a belly flop off of a diving board. Water has the highest surface tension of any common, natural liquid. Water also adheres to surfaces. As a result, water is subject to capillary action: it can be drawn into small channels. Without capillary action, movement of water and nutrients into groundwater reservoirs and through living organisms might not be possible.
Water is unique in that it expands when it crystallizes. Most substances shrink as they change from liquid to solid. Ice floats because it is less dense than liquid water. When temperatures fall below freezing, the surface layers of lakes, rivers, and oceans cool faster and freeze before deeper water. Floating ice then insulates underlying layers, keeping most water bodies liquid (and aquatic organisms alive) throughout the winter in most places. Without this feature, many aquatic systems would freeze solid in winter.
Water has a high heat of vaporization, using a great deal of heat to convert from liquid to vapor. Consequently, evaporating water is an effective way for organisms to shed excess heat. Many animals pant or sweat to moisten evaporative cooling surfaces. Why do you feel less comfortable on a hot, humid day than on a hot, dry day? Because the water vapor-laden air inhibits the rate of evaporation from your skin, thereby impairing your ability to shed heat.
Water also has a high specific heat; that is, a great deal of heat is absorbed before it changes temperature. The slow response of water to temperature change helps moderate global temperatures, keeping the environment warm in winter and cool in summer. This effect is especially noticeable near the ocean, but it is important globally.

All these properties make water a unique and vitally important component of the ecological cycles that move materials and energy and make life on earth possible.

Bill Gates: Eleven Things You Will Not Learn in School...

2008-07-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

Emailed by KBGunn

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger fl ipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Modern Politics

2008-07-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

I think the modern political constitutions are more democratic and demand open politics. That is the future and is running with the tide.

Everywhere the old political parties, and the establishment is trying to stand against an inevitable future. They will cause their own demise.

In the USA though many seem not to understand this yet GWBush is destroying the economy, to get rid of the two party cozy club isn't strong. So the USA will continue to decline and stagnate until the public get the message and demand change.

In India, in contrast, there is quite a demand for change. That's a good sign. The demand will grow. Eventually the political desire to protect the status quo won't be able to hold onto the past. Change will come.

Entrepinoys focus on opportunity

2008-07-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurs focus on opportunity, while employees focus on money, people and time. For example, a person who thinks like an employee will say, "I can't do it because I don't have the money." A person who thinks like an entrepreneur will say, "Let's tie up the deal and find the money later."
Whenever you say "I can't" that means you are at the boundary between what you can and can't do. When you ask yourself "How can I do something?" you open your mind to new ideas and expand the possibilities of your life.
So the next time you hear yourself saying "I can't" or "That's impossible," remember that you are thinking like an employee and need to begin thinking like an entrepreneur.
So instead of fancy business plans, in depth market research reports, and weeks of researching at the library, the authors present a simple but overlooked solution. If you have an idea, just start calling 10 potential target customers and run the idea by them. Ask for their feedback, what features would they want, what price point does this solve a relevant problem they are facing? By the end of 10 interviews your idea will have morphed into an opportunity that the market is truly looking for.
Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. It's what the owner does, says and how the owners traits come through in every aspect of the business. It's the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. It's how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.

How to stay young

2008-07-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

Emailed by KBGunn

We can't stop growing old physically, but we can help ourselves keep young, healthy attitude. Here's how...

How to stay young

Enjoy the simple things in life.
Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. This gives you a great aerobic workout. Become known for your hearty laugh.
Keep company with only cheerful people. Grouches will just drag you down.
Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, etc. Let your home be your refuge.
Keep learning. Keep your brain active by learning new things -- like more about computer, crafts, gardening, etc. An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
Don't take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next town, a foreign country, but leave the guilt behind.
Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, seek help.
Throw out nonessential numbers -- like age, weight, height.
Let the tears fall. Grieve when you need to but endure and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
At every opportunity, tell the people you love that you love them. They need to hear it as much as you need to say it!

Just a few helpful suggestions to help you keep a happier, healthier, and more youthful perspective on life! --Anonymous

NOTES ON MIND POWER

2008-07-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

.... That's what MIND POWER is, a daily calling out to your destiny, so that it may find you sooner than later. The key is to be SPECIFIC in your requests, say it OUT LOUD like an announcement, and say it EVERY SINGLE DAY, and BELIEVE it in your heart (even on the days when you feel down and negative).

"Don't think of results, just do."

What? Don't think of results? But results are what I want. Yes, but it is the thinking of results, the watching and waiting and anticipating them that distracts us from the practice. JUST DO. Do what? Do the exercises. Concern yourself only with the practice. Think only of doing the exercises daily. If you can focus on the practice and the daily doing of your exercises, results always follow.

In my classes I often express this truth in a slightly different way. Those who have been my students know that I emphasize time and time again the importance of "not constantly looking over your shoulder." What does that mean? It means that it is counterproductive to be asking yourself daily "Has it happened yet?" "Am I getting results?" Now MIND POWER is result oriented, and you must know whether what you are doing is producing results, but you don't need to monitor it daily, or even weekly. Once a month is more than enough to examine your results. So each day you don't monitor results, you monitor only whether or not you're doing your exercises. Your only concern is "Have I done my MIND POWER exercises today?" If you have, fine. If not -- do them immediately. No procrastination. Set up a MIND POWER program and commit to it and do it daily.

Exercises

Week 1

5 minutes visualizing goal

5 minutes seeding goal

5 minutes affirming goal

10 minutes on subconscious exercises for guidance

5 minutes acknowledging your strengths

Week 2

5 minutes visualizing goal

5 minutes seeding goal

5 minutes affirming goal

5 minutes contemplating the importance of success

5 minutes on self-image

5 minutes acknowledging your strengths

Week 3

5 minutes visualizing goal

5 minutes imprinting new beliefs

10 minutes contemplating your personal power to create

5 minutes of affirmations

* * *

"It takes courage to do what you want. Other people have lots of plans for you." --Joseph Campbell

* * *

What causes internal disharmony?

Anger, guilt, fear, worry, self-doubt, disrespect for yourself and others -- these undesirable attitudes cause us untold problems and difficulties. We should always be on guard against slipping into these states of consciousness. For not only do these cause us harm, but in a very real way they affect the consciousness of the entire planet ... Each of us adds or diminishes to the whole of consciousness by the way in which we think. Our strength adds strength. Our weakness weakens the whole. Our inner harmony or disharmony has an effect, just as a pebble dropped into a pond causes ripples throughout the entire pond. We are always affecting the whole by how and what we think.

* * *

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." -- Alvin Toffler

* * *

Charles Darwin's "survival of the fittest" is as appropriate today as it has always been. However, let me first clear up a common misunderstanding of what he meant by "survival of the fittest." Darwin did not mean "fittest" in the sense of the strongest or most domineering, as is commonly thought. He meant that the best possible fit between organism and environment is the one that survives and succeeds. And the organism that fits best is the one that is most capable adapting and using its strength to meet the challenges presented to it.

If we are then to be the fittest in today's rapidly changing marketplace, we need to rethink our present situation carefully and begin equipping ourselves with new talents and skills. In the 21st century, the fittest will be those who can adapt and change, those who can obtain the information they need and learn skills quickly as required.

Knowledge is indeed power and, in these times, even more so. Thomas Spencer, a behavioral psychologist, has said, "The average worker of today will probably have to relearn his job five different times in his career." And he could be underestimating it significantly. Marshall McLuhan put it another way: "The future of work now consists of learning a living than earning a living."

The Definition of Happiness

2008-07-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

By Bryan Tracy

Happiness has been defines as, "The progressive achievement of a worthy ideal, or goal." When you are working progressively, step-by-step toward something that is important to you, you generate withing yourself a continuous feeling of success and achievement.

You feel more positive and motivated. You feel more in control of your own life. You feel happier and more fulfilled. You feel like a winner, and you soon develop the psychological momentum that enables you to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you move toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.

Seven tips for taking charge of your financial destiny

2008-07-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

by Christian Howard

When you change your mind about something, you change your experience of it. If there is any room for growth in your finances right now or you have a desire to grow your business, then it is time to "grow your mind" by expanding your thinking. By creating a mindset for wealth, you begin a revolution in your experience of life. Here are seven tips for taking charge of your financial destiny:

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CURRENT SITUATION. Realize that you are where you are due to the sum of your actions, as well as your non-actions. To the extent that you blame your financial situation on the economy or any other external circumstances, you give up your power to shape things exactly the way you want. Let go of any reasons or excuses, and instead focus on the results you are committed to producing now.
REALIZE THAT IT'S ALL YOU! Regardless of the state of the economy there are always people who do well financially. So what separates the people who do well in any circumstances from those who do not? Their thinking. Your financial circumstances are a reflection of your thought patterns, perceptions, and beliefs. Some people, complain that "it takes money to make money. I don't have any so I never will." But successful entrepreneurs realize that money is created by good ideas. One great idea can practically become your license to print money.
UNDERSTAND THAT HAVING MONEY REQUIRES FOCUS ON MONEY. Many people have been taught to think that they should not focus on, or care about, money. In many circles it is even considered taboo to talk about it. In life you get what you focus on, you either pay attention, or you pay with pain. When you don't pay attention to your finances, your habits of spending, saving, investing, working or handling money, then you pay with pain. Begin to pay more attention to every aspect of financial well-being and you can start to powerfully navigate your financial future.
RECONDITION YOUR FINANCIAL PLEASURE CENTERS. People who live their lives without much money have often been conditioned from youth to associate pleasure with spending. Those who do have money have been conditioned to associate pleasure to saving and investing. They actually link pain to spending. That thought pattern results in accruing wealth. Change your internal associations and you can change your behaviors to ones that result in financial security. Multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett has said that it's easier to make money than it is to spend it.
INCREASE YOUR FINANCIAL VOCABULARY. Your language determines what concepts are available to you. This is a surprising concept to some people but think about it -- if you don't understand the terms of the stock market or the language of real estate, how can you make educated investments? 'Increasing your financial vocabulary will expand your thinking, and therefore open you up to new possibilities and money-making opportunities. You can increase your financial vocabulary by reading financial magazines, newspapers and annual reports.
UTILIZE WINNING FINANCIAL STRATEGIES. There are effective financial strategies and ineffective financial strategies. One effective financial strategy is to reorganize the value of money and measure financial expenditures based on return on investment. By measuring financial expenditures vs opportunity cost, or the cost of not investing the money elsewhere, you may find that you begin to curb unnecessary or wasteful spending.
FIND A FINANCIAL MENTOR. Who you are today is to a large extent based upon who you modeled when you were growing up, however, it is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. If you feel that your finances still have room for growth, study someone who has the kind of success you desire and model the specific behaviors and beliefs that got them there. This is one of the most powerful actions you can take to immediately close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

YOUR DECISIONS DETERMINE YOUR DESTINY. Taking charge of your financial destiny can be as simple as making the decision to put each of these tips into practice. Commit to even one of these tips and I promise you, you will become aware of just how much power you really do possess to achieve your financial goals ... in spite of what anyone says about "economic conditions."

Twenty truths to remember

2008-07-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Faith is the ability not panic.
If you worry, you didn't pray. If you pray, don't worry.
As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
Do the math. Count your blessings.
God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
Dear God. I have a problem. It's me.
Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
Laugh everyday, it's like inner jogging.
The most important things in your home are people.
Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
We do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.
Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it's just hearsay.
It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure faith it when you're done.
Surviving and living your life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you're seeking require courage and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle -- it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

-Emailed by KBGunn

Strategic Thinking

2008-07-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The Quality of Thoughtfulness

The ability to think and plan strategically is perhaps the most important single skill of the effective executive. In a longitudinal study of leaders who, in retrospect, made the best and most effective decisions, the single quality that stood out from all others was the quality of "thoughtfulness."

Thoughtfulness may be defined as a careful concern for the secondary consequences of each decision and each action. This is the essence of strategic thinking.

Your Most Powerful Tool

The most powerful tool that you as an executive have to bring to bear on your work is your mind - your thinking ability. Everything you do that sharpens and hones your ability to think with greater clarity before acting, will benefit you and help you to move upward and onward more rapidly in your career.

Use a Two Pronged Approach

The best way to approach strategic thinking is two pronged. This means to work simultaneously on the personal and the corporate.

Increase Your "Return On Energy"

In personal terms, strategic planning is an exercise in increasing "return on energy." Your greatest single asset is your earning ability. And your earning ability is nothing more than the total of the mental, emotional and physical energies that you can apply toward getting valuable results for yourself and your company.

Anything that you can do to increase your return on energy invested will increase your overall levels of effectiveness and contribution in every area of your life, especially, and most importantly in your work.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to increase your return on equity and your return on energy.

First, think about everything that you are doing in terms of its financial return to your organization. What are the things that you do that yield the highest return on equity? Whatever they are, do more of them.

Second, think in personal terms about the things you do that give you the highest return on energy. Where do you contribute the greatest value and achieve the greatest satisfaction? Whatever they are, do more of these things.

Increase Your Three Types of Energy

2008-07-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Most successful people can be characterized as having very high levels of energy. Since energy is the fuel with which everything is achieved, there seems to be a direct relationship between energy levels and levels of accomplishment. It is hard to imagine a tired, burned-out person achieving much in life. On the other hand, energetic, positive, forward-moving individuals seem to get and enjoy far more of the things life has to offer than does the average person.

Physical Energy is Basic

We have been led to believe that there is basically one kind of energy. We supposedly replenish this energy by sleeping at night, and during the day, we use it up again. It is as though we are machines powered by batteries, and each night we recharge our batteries for seven or eight hours. However, there are some problems with this view of energy. The biggest problem is that it does not deal with the fact that there are actually three different kinds of energy, each of which is necessary for maximum performance.

The three main forms are physical energy, emotional energy, and mental energy. Each of these energies is different, but they are interrelated, and they depend on each other.

The Sweat of Your Brow

Physical energy is raw energy, coarse energy, bulk energy, what we call "meat-and-potatoes" energy. Your physical energy is what you use to do physical labor. It is the primary energy applied by men and women who earn their livings by the sweat of their brow.

The Source of Enthusiasm

The second form of energy is emotional energy. This is the energy of enthusiasm and excitement. This is the energy that lends sparkle to the life of an individual. This is the energy that is necessary for feeling love, happiness, and joy. Largely, it is your emotional energy that makes life enjoyable for you. In fact, almost everything you say and do is determined in some way by an emotion, either positive or negative.

The Requirement for Creativity

Mental energy is the energy of creativity, of problem solving and decision making. You use mental energy to make sales, write reports and proposals, plan your day and your week, and learn new subjects. Your level of mental energy is a major determinant of the quality of your life.

Conserve Your Best Energies

The reason why most people fail to realize their potential in life and work is because they burn up their energy at the emotional level, or the physical level; therefore, they have very little energy left over for mental activities. Most people burn up their emotional energy through the expression of negative emotions. Negative emotions are like a fire that burns up their energy so quickly that they have very little left with which to think positively and constructively. In fact, one five-minute uncontrolled outburst of anger can burn up as much energy as an average person would use in eight hours of work.

Your job is to think continually about how you can stay calm and positive, and work smoothly and efficient, so you can have more mental energy to do the things that are most important to you in life.

Action Exercises

Here are three things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, take time to identify the different ways that you either use up or deplete your levels of physical, emotional and mental energy. How could you improve in each area?

Second, be sure to get plenty of healthful, nutritious food so you can keep your physical energy at high levels. This is the key to all other energies.

Third, look for ways to conserve your emotional energies by being more relaxed and optimistic in the face of daily problems and disappointments.

The more energy you have, the happier and more productive you will be.

Manifesting what you want

2008-06-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

--Eva Gregory, www.LeadingEdgeCoaching.com

What does it mean to manifest? What was the first thing that popped into your mind? Was it to create, to come, to be, to bring to reality? Close. The definition is: ' clearly apparent to the sight or understanding!' Did you know that an infinite number of things are manifested every day? That's right. Each thought, each vibration, each feeling or belief manifests a response. Be it positive or negative, good or bad.

One of the most powerful things about manifestation is that what comes in your life began with a thought, feeling or action by You. Compelling, isn't it? The wonderful person you met, the great new job with full benefits, or the perfect house with all of that closet space and the finished basement, all began with your thoughts. Did you pat yourself on the back? Go ahead. Please give credit where it is due! On the other hand, the lack of funds, break-up, and business standstill are also of your making. How does one harness this powerful tool to create the things that aren't? The answer is by becoming more in tune with your thoughts, feelings, situations, and actions. The more aware you are of where your thoughts are wandering to, the more control you will have over what is being manifested.

Ben is one of a growing number of work from home dads. It is his responsibility to take care of two children under the age of four each day, while running his successful web design business. Is it challenging? Absolutely but Ben has managed quite nicely by making manifestation work for him. His sons used to pick the most inopportune time to make noise, wreak havoc, and well ... act like toddlers! But now this rarely occurs because Ben takes the time throughout his day to focus his thoughts on what actions he would like to see occur: quiet play, easy nap-time routines, and uneventful meals, and it works! No longer does Ben have to hide in the bathroom to take important business calls. He has effectively managed to create the work environment that he needs.

Manifestation requires time, patience and practice. It can be difficult to change bad habits and train yourself to think differently, but also rewarding when the effort is made. So begin manifesting the things that you want by making that mental shift. Start small if you have to, but start today. Focus on what you want instead of what you don't have, always keeping your eyes on the goal. Remember to look for and appreciate what is manifesting (going back to the definition, the things you request will show up clearly and in plain sight), you jhust have to identify them as what you asked for, so be careful what you ask for. Also remember to show gratitude as your dreams and desires appear. Remember attraction, the more gratitude (positive energy) that is shown the more positive energy that will flow back to you. With all of this positive imagery and energy, success will abound.

So start using these tips now. You'll be manifesting a great deal more of what you want. I guarantee that you will be impressed by the fruits of your effort.

--Eva Gregory, www.LeadingEdgeCoaching.com

Moving Upward and Onward

2008-06-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Don't Sell Yourself Short

It's not what you have but what you do with what you have that will determine your success or failure. Abraham Maslow, the great psychologist said that the story of the human race is the story of people selling themselves short. He said people have a tendency to settle for far less from life than they are truly capable of. Many people are spinning their wheels in careers where they should be moving rapidly onward and upward. Here's how you can put your career on the fast track.

Choose Your Parents Carefully

Someone once said that the key to success was to choose your parents carefully. That may be partially true but it is even more important to choose your job or career with great care. The choice of a job or occupation for which you are ideally suited comes before anything else. If you try to work at something you don't enjoy or don't believe in, you'll never be happy, and you'll never be successful.

Be the Best At What You Do

Which leads us to the next point. If you want to reach the stars in your career, you have to become excellent at what you do. You have to pay any price, go any distance, spend any amount of time necessary to "be the best." Extraordinary rewards only go for extraordinary performance; average rewards for average performance; below average rewards, insecurity and failure for below average performance. And here's a vital key, you are being paid today exactly what you're worth - no more, no less. If you want to earn more, you must increase your worth, your value to others.

The Key to Motivation

The reason why choosing the right career, why doing what you love to do is so important, is because unless you really care about your work, you will never be motivated to persist at it until you become excellent. And until you become excellent at what you're doing, you can't move ahead.

The Key to Peak Performance

The antidote to these fears is the development of courage, character and self-esteem. The opposite of fear is actually love, self-love and self-respect. Acting with courage in a fearful situation is simply a technique that boosts our regard for ourselves to such a degree that our fears subside and lose their ability to effect our behavior and our decisions.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to be more successful in your career.

First, set high standards for yourself and recognize that anything that someone else has achieved, you can probably achieve as well. There are no limits.

Second, select one key skill area that is important in your job and resolve to become absolutely excellent in that area. Start today to get better and better.

Dietary Fiber

2008-06-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

In addition to carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins, there are other things in our food that are important. One of them is fiber.

The importance of fiber in the diet is often ignored or overlooked until the mid-1970s. Since then, several studies have been published that have the public excited.

First, it was noted that people in the developed countries are much more likely to get cancer of the colon than are those in underdeveloped nations. Also, people in the developed countries eat diets rich in higly processed, low-fiber foods, while those in more "primitive" areas eat high-fiber diets. High-fiber diets lead to frequent and robust bowel movements. Cellulose molecules have lots of -OH groups. These readily form hydrogen bonds to water molecules. Cellulose therefore absorbs a lot of water, leading to softer stools. Low-fiber diets result in less frequent bowel action with high retention times for feces in the colon.

Bacteria act upon the materials in the colon. (Indeed, bacteria, both living and dead, make up about one-third of the dry weight of feces.) With a high-fiber diet, the materials seldom remain in the colon for more than 1 day. With low-fiber diet, the retention time can be as long as 3 days, allowing for prolonged bacterial activity that produces a high level of mutagenic chemicals. Chemicals that are mutagenic often are also carcinogenic. Thus, a possible chemical link between low-fiber diets and cancer of the colon has been established.

Source: Chemistry for Changing Times. Published 1995. Chapter 16, Section 16.6. Author: John W. Hill and Doris K. Kolb.

Starting Small

2008-06-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

How and why you can start your own business with little or no money by using sweat equity.

Everyone Starts Off Broke

I used to feel sorry for myself because I came from a limited background and I had no money. Then I found that nobody has any money. Everyone starts off broke. In fact, most successful people go broke or nearly broke several times during their lives. Don't let this hold you back.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Transformational leaders empower others by keeping them "in the know," by keeping them fully informed on everything that effects their jobs. People want and need to feel that they are "insiders," that they are aware of everything that is going on. There is nothing so demoralizing to a staff member than to be kept in the dark about their work and what is going on in the company.

Roll Up Your Sleeves

Remember this, though. Leaders are always willing to do what is called dog work. They're willing to render humble service. They're willing to roll up their sleeves and plunge in. They never think of themselves as being too good for a job. There are an enormous number of people who are presented with second income opportunities who turn them down because they think that they're too good to do something like that. But the people who are thinking that they are too good are the people who retire poor. You'll find that leaders of all organizations are always willing to roll up their sleeves and to get in there.

Action Exercises

Now, here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action immediately:

First, remember that buying and selling things is the essence of all business. Look for opportunities to buy and sell things on your own account. Visit garage sales or hold a garage sale of your own. Visit swap meets and negotiate with people with things for sale. Make it a game to learn these skills.

Second, start in a small business of some kind. Look for a second income or multi level marketing opportunity where you can buy and sell on a small scale. Many people become wealthy starting off with virtually nothing in this way.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

2008-06-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

16: Be joyful always;
17: pray continually;
18: give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19: Do not put out the Spirit's fire,
20: do not treat prophecies with contempt.
21: Test everything. Hold on to what is good.
22: Avoid every kind of evil.

2008-06-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Focus

The sharper it is, the sharper you are.

Rabbits

If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. -- Anonymous

Focus required

What does I take to have the focus required to be a truly effective leader? The keys are priorities and concentration. A leader who knows his priorities but lacks concentration knows what to do but never gets it done. If he has concentration but no priorities, he has excellence without progress. But when he harnesses both, he has the potential to achieve great things.

Focusing time and energy

I frequently meet people in leadership positions who seem to major in minor things. That just doesn't make sense… the important question is, How should you focus your time and energy? Use these guidelines to help you.

Focus 70% on strengths
Focus 25% on new things
Focus 5% on areas of weakness

Focus 70% on Strengths

Effective leaders who reach their potential spend more time focusing on what they do well than on what they do wrong. Leadership expert Peter Drucker notes, "The great mystery isn't that people do things badly but few occasionally do a few things well. The only thing universal is incompetence. Strength is always specific!

Nobody ever commented, for example, "that the great violinist Jescha Heifetz probably couldn't play the trumpet very well." To be successful, focus on strengths and develop them. That's where you should pour your time, energy and resources.

Focus 25% on New Things

Growth equals change. If you want to get better, you have to keep changing and improving. That means stepping out into new areas. Gwynn modeled that several years ago after he had a conversation with Ted Williams. The old pro suggested that learning to hit inside pitches would make Gwynn a better player. Gwynn, who preferred outside balls, worked on it, and his average went up significantly. If you dedicate time to new things related to areas of strength then you'll grow as a leader. Don't forget, in leadership, if you're through growing, you're through.

"If you dedicate time to new things related to areas of strength, then you'll grow as a leader. Don't forget, in leadership, if you're through growing, you're through." -- John C. Maxwell

Focus 5% on Areas of Weakness

Nobody can entirely avoid working in areas of weakness. The key is to minimize it as much as possible and leaders can do it by delegating. For example, I delegate detail work to others. A team of people at the INJOY Group handles all the logistics of my conferences. That way when I'm there, I stick to the things I do best, such as actual speaking.

Improving your focus

To improve your focus, do the following:

Shift to strengths Staff your weaknesses Create an edge

Shift to Strengths

Make a list of 3 or 4 things you do well in your job. What percentage of your time do you spend doing them? What percentage of your resources is dedicated to these areas of strength? Devise a plan to make changes, allowing you dedicate 70 percent of your time to your strengths. If you can't, it may be time to reassess your job or career.

Staff Your Weaknesses

Identify 3 or 4 activities necessary for your job that you don't do well. Determine how you can delegate the jobs to others. Will it require hiring staff? Can you partner with a coworker to share responsibilities? Develop a plan.

Create an Edge

Now that you've looked at priorities, think about concentration. What would it take for you to go to the next level in your main area of strength? What new tools do you need? Rethink how you do things and be willing to make sacrifices. Time and money spent to take you to the next level are the best investment you can make.

Divided focus always works against you

Experienced animal trainers take a stool with them when they step into a cage with a lion. Why stool? It tames a lion better than anything -- except maybe a tranquilizer gun. When the trainer holds the stool with the legs extended toward the lion's face, the animal tries to focus on all four legs at once. And that paralyzes him. Divided focus always works against you.

The Principle of the Objective

2008-06-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Learn from the Lessons of History

The concepts of military strategy have been studied and written about for more than 4,000 years, going back to the early works of General Sun-Tzu in China more than 2,000 years BC. These principles of strategy that have been developed and perfected over the centuries have direct applications and implications for strategic thinking, both personally and corporately.

Decide In Advance What You Want

The most important military principle is the Principle of the Objective. This principle requires that you decide in advance exactly what it is that you are trying to accomplish. What exactly is your objective? In my experience, fully 80% of all problems in personal and corporate life come from a lack of clarity with regard to objectives and goals.

Clarity Is Critical

Clarity of objective precedes all other elements in strategic thinking. Here are some questions that you can use over and over again to focus and clarify your objectives. The first question is, "What am I trying to do?" The second question is, "How am I trying to do it?" The third question is, "What are my assumptions?" And the fourth question is, "What if my assumptions were wrong?"

Question Your Assumptions

Having the courage to ask these questions, and to question your assumptions, both spoken and unspoken, is a key mark of the superior person. Sometimes individuals avoid questioning their assumptions for fear that they will have to change their minds or do something other than what they started out to do. However, false assumptions lie at the root of almost every failure. The only way that you can root out these wrong assumptions is by carefully analyzing them and discussing them, and then by demanding proof or evidence that these assumptions are still valid.

Project Forward In Your Mind

Another method for clarifying your objectives is for you to project forward and look backward. In other words, imagine that you have already achieved the objective that you are working toward. Project yourself forward in your mind and then look back to the present day, to the present moment. What do you see? What changes could you make looking back from this imaginary perspective of hindsight? This is a key peak performance thinking technique.

Determine Why You Want It

The final part of clarifying your objectives revolves around your identifying the reasons why you want to achieve this objective in the first place. Why is it important? Is it still as important as when you started off? Is this objective more important than any other objective that you could be working on? It is essential that you be clear about the answers to these questions.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to apply the principle of the objective to your personal and business life:

First, take out a piece of paper and answer the question: "What am I trying to do?" What are your goals? What are your objectives? Why are you doing what you are doing in the first place? Is this the very best use of your time and energy?

Second, question your assumptions. What things are you assuming are true about yourself, the people around you and the situation? What if one of these assumptions turned out to be false? What changes would you have to make if you found that your most cherished assumptions were not based on reality, or were contradicted by facts?

Everyone is Important

2008-06-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Everyone has critical skills and knowledge that are important to many other people in the company.

Use Better Titles for Each Person

Some years ago, when I started in business, the job of the receptionist was to answer the telephone and direct the callers to the appropriate people. Today, however, her job is far more complicated and, therefore, more important. Since she is the first contact that most customers have with our business, her personality and temperament are extremely important.

Think About Your Customers

The prospective client who telephones begins forming an impression of us the instant that the telephone is answered. Then, because our companies are doing so many things, she must tactfully ascertain exactly how the caller may be best served and who is the best person in the company to direct the telephone call to.

One Person Can Make the Difference

In many cases, there are requests for further information, and follow-up telephone calls go through our front-office manager. Her ability to handle these calls effectively, to direct calls to the right people, to take accurate messages, and to act as the core person in a network of communications makes her job so important that it is essential that she sit in on all staff meetings and be aware of everything that is going on.

Keep Yourself Informed

Your job in your company also requires that you know a lot about what is going on everywhere else, as well as being thoroughly conversant with what you do. And the fastest and most accurate way of keeping current with what is going on is to develop and maintain a network of contacts, an informal team of people within your workplace who keep you informed and who you keep informed in turn.

Encourage Participation and Involvement

The old methods of command and control now exist only at the old-line companies, many of which are fighting for their very survival. Today, men and women want a high degree of participation and involvement in their work. They want an opportunity to discuss and thoroughly understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. People are no longer satisfied to be cogs in a big machine. They want to have an integral role in achieving goals that they participated in setting in the first place.

Build a Top Team

Being a team player is no longer something that is optional. Today, it is mandatory. If you want to achieve anything of consequence, you will need the help and cooperation of lots of people. Your main objective is to structure everything you do in such a way that, because you are constantly cooperating and working well with others, they are continually open to helping you achieve your goals.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, recognize that every person in the company is essential to the smooth functioning of the organization. Take time regularly to discuss their jobs with them and understand what they do.

Second, identify the things that you do that can really affect the work of others. Then, look for ways to do your job so that you help others in every way possible.

Trust Your Intuition

2008-06-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

The Essence of Business Success

The essence of a successful business is really quite simple. It is your ability to offer a product or service that people will pay for at a price sufficiently above your costs, ideally three or four or five times your cost, thereby giving you a profit that enables you to buy and to offer more products and services.

Add Value in Some Way

The key to a successful business is to add value by bringing the product or service from another place to where you're selling it, or by creating the product or service and selling it at a price higher than your total cost of production. You become wealthy by either selling a few products or services at high prices, or by selling many products or services at lower prices with smaller profits.

The Best Strategy of All

The best strategy, of course, is to aim to sell a larger volume with a smaller profit on each item. Most great fortunes in America have been made selling large quantities of products over a wide area, thereby broadening the market and reducing your dependency on just a few customers.

Go From the Known to the Unknown

Early in my business career, I learned another key rule for business success and it's simply this. Start off in an established field and only experiment with new products or services out of your profits from your established business.

Success Leaves Tracks: Follow Them

One reason many entrepreneurs fail is that they have grandiose ideas of being the first into the market with a brand new, untried, unproven product. Don't you fall into this trap. As you begin to magnetize your mind with visual images of wealth and success, as you begin looking everywhere for profitable ideas, you will begin to attract into your life the people and opportunities you need to achieve your goals. I've learned from long experience that you must learn to trust your intuition, your gut feeling concerning any business decision.

Flood Your Mind With Ideas

Read every publication, explore every opportunity. Remain open to all ideas. But in the final analysis, trust yourself. Trust your inner voice to tell you the right thing to do. All great businesspeople become great by listening to their inner guide. It will never fail to lead you to your highest good and heaven help the person who refuses to listen to it.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to start a successful business by trusting your intuition before you make a final decision:

First, always remember that the key to success in business is your ability to add value to your customers by providing them with something they want and need at a price that enables you to make a profit. Keep your thinking focused on the benefit that your customer will enjoy from what you are offering.

Second, get all the information you possibly can. Speak to as many people as possible. And finally, sit down quietly by yourself and listen to your intuition before you make the final decision. This is the best investment of all.

Slice and Dice the Task

2008-06-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Why You Procrastinate

A major reason for procrastinating on big, important tasks is that they appear so large and formidable when you first approach them. One technique that you can use to cut a big task down to size is the "Salami slice" method of getting work done. With this method, you lay out the task in detail and then resolve to do just one slice of the job for the time being, like eating a roll of salami, one slice at a time. Or like eating one piece of a frog at a time.

Do One Small Part to Start

Psychologically, you will find it easier to do a single, small piece of a large project than to start on the whole job. Often, once you have started and completed a single part of the job, you will feel like doing just one more "slice." Soon, you will find yourself working through the job one part at a time, and before you know it, the job will be completed.

Just Get Started

Once you start working, you develop a sense of forward momentum and a feeling of accomplishment. You become energized and excited. You feel yourself internally motivated and propelled to keep going until the task is complete.

Action Exercises

Now, here are two actions you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, select one big important task and lay it out in front of you.

Second, select one part of the task and do it immediately.

Getting to the future

2008-06-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Getting to the future is essentially a two-step process: improving the present while creating the future. Neither step takes precedence over the other. Both are critical.

Self-evident as this argument may be, the fact is that it's seldom applied in practice. Many leaders like to believe they keep things in balance, but in reality most put much more energy into preserving what they have than creating that which they don't have. Present pressures always seem to win out over future considerations. Thus, most organizational transformation agendas are more about improving the present than they are about creating the future. As yesteryear's "mass" markets continue to decompose into ever smaller market niches, it is becoming increasingly apparent that tomorrow's market leaders will be those who are able to continually differentiate themselves. Costs, quality, and speed will become prerequisites for survival. Success will become increasingly tied to innovation and creativity. Rather than looking at them through a single lens, managers must begin looking at them through bifocal lenses -- they must become skilled at scanning the horizon for new opportunities, while keeping their eyes on the road they are presently on.

Difficult as it may be, developing bifocal vision is only one of the challenges facing today's leaders. Another is the need to find a balance between the opposing interests of the company's different stakeholders. Shareholders seek a quick return on their investment, employees want security and increased benefits, and customers want your product or service to be high quality but low price. Trying to keep everyone happy at all times is impossible. It's a matter of sustaining a healthy tension between the different constituencies, taking care never to let things get skewed too far in any one direction. This is not easily accomplished, yet by recognizing the pressures built into the system, by using information technology to build bridges and destroy walls, and by building a sense of community around a shared vision and set of values, trust between these different stakeholders can flourish and all things become possible.

Ruud Koedijk Member, Executive Committee KPMG Chairman, KPMG Europe Jon Madonna Chairman KPMG International

The Key to Charisma

2008-06-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

There is a close association between personal charisma and success in life. Probably 85 percent of your success and happiness will come from your relationships and interactions with others. The more positively others respond to you, the easier it will be for you to get the things you want.

The Law of Attraction

In essence, when we discuss charisma, we are talking about the law of attraction. This law has been stated in many different ways down through the centuries, but it basically says that you inevitably attract into your life the people and circumstances that harmonize with your dominant thoughts.

You Are A Living Magnet

In a sense, you are a living magnet, and you are constantly radiating thought waves, like a radio station radiates sound waves, that are picked up by other people. Your thoughts, intensified by your emotions, as radio waves are intensified by electric impulses, go out from you and are picked up by anyone who is tuned in to a similar wavelength. You then attract into your life people, ideas, opportunities, resources, circumstances and anything else that is consistent with your dominant frame of mind.

The law of attraction also explains how you can build up your levels of charisma so that you can have a greater and more positive impact on the people whose cooperation, support and affection you desire.

Perception is Everything

The critical thing to remember about charisma is that it is largely based on perception. It is based on what people think about you. It is not so much reality as it is what people perceive you to be. For example, one person can create charisma in another person by speaking in glowing terms about that person to a third party. If you believe that you are about to meet an outstanding and important person, that person will tend to have charisma for you.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

One of the most charismatic people in the world was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. In a physical sense, she was a quiet, elderly, frail woman in poor health, and she wore a modest nun's habit. She might have been ignored by a person passing her on the street, were it not for the tremendous charisma she developed and for the fact that her appearance was so well-known to so many people as a result.

How Would You Feel?

If someone told you that he was going to introduce you to a brilliant, self-made millionaire who was very quiet and unassuming about his success, you would almost naturally imbue that person with charisma, and in his presence, you would not act the same as you would if you had been told nothing at all. Charisma begins largely in the mind of the beholder.

Lasting charisma depends more upon the person you really are than upon just the things you do.

Continually look for ways to improve other's perceptions of you so that you can be more influential with them. Be a living magnet.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, be clear about the messages you are sending and the perceptions you are creating in others. Are these perceptions consistent with the impressions you want to make?

Second, see yourself and imagine yourself every day as an important powerful and charming person. Treat others as you would if you were already strong, famous and influential.

Fake it until you make it!

Evaluating A Business

2008-05-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Do Your Homework

The best time to do your market research is in advance. Here are some key ideas to help you make the right choice before you invest in a product, a service or a business.

Bootstrap Your Way To Success

One of the best ways to build a business is to start off on a bootstrap. This means that you start off with very little mo ney and you grow your business with the mo ney that you ear n in the business, rather than outside financing, borr owing, l oans from friends and so on.

Ask The Right Questions

The first thing to do is to research all competitors for the product or service and ask this: "Why would someone switch to buy from me?" If there's already a similar product or service in the market, why would someone leave a product or service that they're comfortable with for your product or service that they don't know anything about? Is your product or service better, or is your idea cheaper or of higher quality? And can you convince enough customers of this to stay in business?

Look For The Fatal Flaw

The second way to do fast, cheap market research is to be suspicious. Be wary. Develop a cyn ical, pessimistic attitude and accept nothing on faith. Look for the fatal flaw. Whenever I've done consulting for a corporation, especially when they've asked me to research an investment, I always look for the fatal flaw. I always look for the one thing that's wrong with this investment that could cost my client a lot of mo ney. And do you know something? In 99 out of 100 cases, I find the fatal flaw. I find something in a contract or a mor tgage agreement or something in the way the land is laid out or the way the distribution arrangements are designed.

Find Out Why It's For Sale

I often find something that is fatal, something that if it were not caught, would lead to the failure of the business. When you're thinking of getting into somebody else's business or if somebody else is trying to sell you an existing business, look for the reason. There's always a fatal flaw when someone is trying to sell you a successful mo ney -making opportunity. If you can't find the fatal flaw, only then should you go ahead with it.

Don't Lose Mo ney

The third thing that you can do when considering a business that is for sale is find out why it's being sold. Very few people will try to sell you a successful business. Usually people who are selling a business are selling it because they're losing mo ney on it. Many people say they're selling a business because they want to concentrate on something else. No. The reason they're selling the business is that they're losing mo ney on it. And you must find out why a person would sell a successful business.

Think Long Term

Finally, number four, look at the business before you go into it as though you were going to be in it for 20 years. The long-term perspective sharpens short-term decision-making. If you look at any business venture, any product or service, as though you were going to be doing this 20 years from now, you'll find that you'll make much better decisions.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, look for the fatal flaw in any investment that someone tells you is a good idea. Look for a critical weakness that could cause the business to fail.

Second, think about being in this business, or selling this product or service, for the next 20 years. When you think long-term about business decisions, you make much better decisions in the short-term.

The Indispensable Quality

2008-05-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

By: Brian Tracy

Dare to Go Forward

Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues because upon it, all others depend." Courage is the chief distinguishing characteristic of the true leader. It is almost always visible in the leader's words and actions. It is absolutely indispensable to success, happiness and the ability to motivate other people to be the best they can be.

Follow Through On Your Vision

In a way, it is easy to develop a big vision for yourself and for the person you want to be. It is easy to commit yourself to living with complete integrity. But it requires incredible courage to follow through on your vision and on your commitments. You see, as soon as you set a high goal or standard for yourself, you will run into all kinds of difficulties and setbacks.

Refuse to Compromise

You will be surrounded by temptations to compromise your values and your vision. You will feel an almost irresistible urge to "get along by going along." Your desire to earn the respect and cooperation of others can easily lead to the abandonment of your principles, and here is where courage comes in.

Stick to Your Principles

Courage combined with integrity is the foundation of character. The first form of courage is your ability to stick to your principles, to stand for what you believe in and to refuse to budge unless you feel right about the alternative. Courage is also the ability to step out in faith, to launch out into the unknown and then to face the inevitable doubt and uncertainty that accompany every new venture.

Avoid Your Comfort Zone

Most people are seduced by the lure of the comfort zone. This can be likened to going out of a warm house on a cold, windy morning. The average person, when he feels the storm swirling outside his comfort zone, rushes back inside where it's nice and warm. But not the true leader. The true leader has the courage to step away from the familiar and comfortable and to face the unknown with no guarantees of success. It is this ability to "boldly go where no man has gone before" that distinguishes you as a leader from the average person. This is the example that you must set if you are to rise above the average. It is this example that inspires and motivates other people to rise above their previous levels of accomplishment as well.

The Attack of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, was one of the most superb leaders of all time. He became king at the age of 19, when his father, Philip II, was assassinated. In the next 11 years, he conquered much of the known world, leading his armies against numerically superior forces.

Lead the Action

Yet, when he was at the height of his power, the master of the known world, the greatest ruler in history to that date, he would still draw his sword at the beginning of a battle and lead his men forward into the conflict. He insisted on leading by example. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome. The sight of Alexander charging forward so excited and motivated his soldiers that no force on earth could stand before them.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, set big goals for yourself and force yourself out of the comfort zone by acting boldly - even when there is no guarantee of success. Go boldly where no one has ever gone before.

Second, resolve to act quickly and decisively when you are confronted with a difficult or dangerous situation. Dare to go forward. Practice audacity in all things. Acting with courage builds your courage and confidence higher and higher.

What is Gene Technology?

2008-05-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Gene technology is a term that refers to a whole range of techniques for genetic analysis that depend on the direct manipulation of DNA, the material substance of heredity.

The use of gene technology in biomedicine, agriculture, food production and processing is an issue that has evoked strong public interest and concern. The debate has focused on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food, their safety and potential impact on the environment. The public better accepts medical and industrial uses of gene technology.

Most people think of gene technology as adding genes from other life forms to plants and animals. While this is certainly part of it, the technology is broader than that, and has many more uses.

Gene technology is developing at a rapid rate and it will continue to revolutionise basic biological research and development. It provides the potential to improve our health, create a safer and more secure food supply, generate greater prosperity and attain a more sustainable environment.

Gene technology is already providing new ways of preventing, treating and curing human and animal diseases; it is helping farmers improve agricultural production with less impact on the environment; and in the near future, it will allow better food products to be available to consumers at reduced cost.

The technology has given us vital new products like human insulin for diabetes, interferon and other drugs for treating certain cancers, and vaccines against diseases like hepatitis B. Millions of human lives are protected by gene technology every day.

What are genes?

Genes are made from a chemical called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that is common to all forms of life on Earth. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body uses food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.

DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. A genome is the entire DNA in an organism, including its genes. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.

The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order is called DNA sequence and variations in sequence underlie all of life’s genetic diversity. DNA sequence is the database determining how the cell is to make proteins and what functions the proteins can perform.

Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from non-human genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology, and insights from the genes of a bacterium, worm or bee might contribute to new solutions for the wheat farmer.

What is gene technology?

Gene technology consists of tools and techniques that scientists can use to study, identify or modify the genes of living organisms.

Techniques and tools

Genetic modification

Over 20 years ago it was discovered that genes, and parts of genes, could be extracted from DNA using protein "scissors" then copied, or cloned.

The gene could then be equipped with genetic "switches" to turn it up or down and inserted back into a living organism.This is the basis of genetic modification. It allows the sequences of genes to be determined.

Transferring single genes between different plants and animals, turning existing genes up or down, or removing a gene from its original position and placing it in a new position in the same organism are all referred to as genetic modification (GM). The terms genetic engineering (GE) or genetic manipulation also mean the same thing.

Plants, animals or microbes which have a new gene inserted into them are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or transgenics. The modified gene belongs to the new host but its sequence is altered for example, on the basis of specific information gleaned from studies of other organisms.

DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing is the process of determining the exact order of the chemical building blocks (bases) that make up DNA. It is a laboratory procedure that involves first breaking down the DNA into short pieces, followed by separating the individual fragments using a technique called gel electrophoresis. A bar code pattern of the DNA pieces is produced which can then be read by computer.

An enormous volume of information on the genetics of organisms is being generated using this technique and is providing computer experts with a great challenge in handling the data.

Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP), which began in 1990, was a 13-year international project involving Australia. Its goal was to discover the approximate 50,000 genes that make up the human genome, make them accessible for further biological study and to determine the complete sequence of the 3 billion DNA subunits.

Knowledge gained through this research will allow scientists and doctors of the future to prevent or treat most diseases at the level of genes.

While it is now common to screen infants for inherited genetic diseases, further understanding of the human genome will allow doctors to determine a person’s chances of developing particular diseases later in life. They will then be able to give advice or treatment to prevent, slow or cure those diseases.

Cloning technology

A "clone" is a copy of a plant, animal, microorganism or gene derived from a single common ancestor gene, cell or organism. Identical twins are natural clones from the one fertilized egg. A plant cutting is a clone of the original plant.

Some confusion arises because the word clone is also applied to genes. A gene is said to be cloned when its sequence is multiplied many times in a common laboratory procedure. The cloning of a gene is a step in determining its sequence and initiating many types of experiments to understand its function and biology.

The possibility of human cloning, raised when Scottish scientists at the Roslin Institute created the much-celebrated sheep "Dolly" in 1996, aroused worldwide interest and concern because of its scientific and ethical implications.

Dolly was produced by injecting a nucleus from a mammary cell into an egg cell without a nucleus and raising an animal from that egg by treating it as a fertilized egg. Dolly was therefore a genetic clone of the animal from which the nucleus was taken. The important difference from identical twins is that the donor was a mature sheep and could even be made the mother of the clone.

Cloning of animals and plants can be used to develop more efficient ways to produce superior breeds of animals. Cloning also enables genes to be added (such as those for human proteins) to produce animals that can generate hormones and other pharmaceuticals in milk, eggs or other products.

The governments of many nations involved in gene technology have banned the cloning and genetic modification of human individuals. However, cloning technology may soon be available for human benefit to produce whole organs or special tissues from single cells for transplant to humans. It should be possible to use cells from the patient’s own body and correct genetic defects before growing the tissue for transplant back into the donor. This is called therapeutic cloning.

Gene marker technology

DNA probes in diagnosis

Scientists can use gene technology to locate and analyze single genes in a chain of many thousands. They can make gene probes that recognize DNA sequences associated with genetic diseases. The diagnostic tests involve analyzing minute tissue samples collected from adults, or taken from embryos.

This information can assist parents and doctors to reduce the incidence of crippling genetic defects, and treat other disorders much better.

Forensic DNA fingerprinting

No two individuals have the same genetic makeup, a fact that is now being used by forensic scientists to identify individuals from cell samples left at a crime site.

"Forensic DNA fingerprinting" involves taking a blood or tissue sample from a person and using one of a number of gene technologies to generate patterns of DNA fragments separated by size. Those patterns look something like a long bar code and are dependent on the exact sequences in the sample. A match between the genetic fingerprint from the crime sample and the suspect has been admissible evidence for a number of years.

DNA markers in breeding

For centuries plants and animals have been selectively cross-bred for desirable traits such as size, enhanced quality and pest resistance.

Scientists can now use DNA information to identify desirable traits in organisms. These DNA markers are helping breeders to select superior strains of plants or types of animals for commercial production.

The technique is similar to the forensic DNA fingerprint but where a particular DNA bar is known to be associated with a specific superior trait. By using these markers superior animals or plants can be identified easily and early and these individuals selected for further breeding to improve the herd or crop.

CSIRO research on gene markers includes:

markers in cattle for carcass weight, fat content, colour, meat tenderness and leanness. This information assists breeders to select superior types of animals.

in fish farming, markers are helping breeders of super prawns select for desirable traits like size and colour, disease resistance and environmental suitability.

in crop breeding, markers are being used to combine genes for disease resistance and quality characteristics, such as higher yield and bread making properties in wheat.

Most animals, plants and fish are still bred in the same way they have been for over 2000 years — but gene technology means that breeders can now pick the best parents with greater precision.

Transgenics

Because DNA is the same in all-living things, researchers have found it possible to use genetic information derived from one organism in the modification of the genes of another. It is possible to modify the physical characteristics in precise ways.

The term 'transgenics' often used to describe transferring genes between species, but in reality the process is a sharing of genetic knowledge for specific outcomes. In practice, the modified gene often has some of the gene sequences and signals from the host with some sequence information provided by the donor. Gene transfers typically involve the exact modification of one gene while leaving the other 50,000 genes unaffected.

Over the last 25 years, researchers have learned how to make precise genetic changes by identifying and transferring individual genes to produce a desired characteristic.

Scientists can insert new genes into an organism to add a particular trait not found in that organism. The new organism is then tested over several generations before researchers know whether the modified organism has all the intended benefits.

Methods for inserting a gene into an animal or plant include:

microinjecting into an animal egg using a fine tube
using harmless viruses to carry genes into a host
inserting DNA into plant cells on gold or tungsten particles
using Agrobacterium, a bacterium thatnaturally transfers DNA into plants.

Genes are being introduced into plants to produce:

resistance to insect attack or microbial damage, so reducing pesticide sprays and natural carcinogenic aflatoxins (mould toxins)
tolerance to benign herbicides, so weeds can be controlled and erosion minimised through minimum tillage farming
higher quality protein and enhanced vitamin or iron levels
healthier vegetable oils and starches.

Genes are being inserted into animals to make them:

produce more meat and less fat
grow faster
produce more meat or milk for the same amount of feed
become more resistant to disease and parasites.

Because the techniques used to transfer genes sometimes have a low success rate, before a gene is transferred, another gene — called a "selectable marker gene" - is sometimes attached to the target gene to let researchers know whether the new gene is present or not.

Scientists often use genes for antibiotic-resistance as selectable markers to show if plants have taken up a new gene. This practice allows only the genetically modified cells to grow in a special culture that contains the specific antibiotic. The antibiotics are used only in the laboratory and are of no medical significance. The antibiotic resistance genes employed are already widely distributed through the natural environment, such that their presence in the plant is of no environmental consequence.

Nevertheless, because of public concerns about antibiotic-resistance genes, researchers have developed ways to remove these gene markers from plants before they are released commercially. New types of marker genes have also been developed, such as those permitting growth in the laboratory on unusual sugars.

Gene silencing

A gene that is producing undesirable characteristics in an organism can be turned down or switched off. One way this can be achieved is by inserting a second copy of the gene, or a fragment of the gene, back to front. Other ways include RNAi and "gene shears", which cause the gene message molecule to destroy itself. This cancels the effect of the undesirable gene.

Gene silencing is being used to:

protect plants from viruses
alter the colour of ornamental flowers
delay ripening of tomatoes and peaches so they reach the consumer in better condition
remove allergens (proteins that cause allergies) from peanuts, soybeans and wheat
stop undesirable browning in potatoes and raw sugar.

Gene therapy

Many human and animal diseases have now been traced to their host being born with faulty genes that produce defective proteins. These diseases include sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis, the blood clotting disorder haemophilia and Down’s syndrome.

Modern medicine and surgery have made great strides in treating patients with genetic diseases. Scientists are now exploring the use of gene therapy to attack these diseases at their source — by correcting faulty genes.

Gene therapy holds great promise for treating disease by replacing or changing a very small part of the overall genetic program of carefully selected cells, perhaps permanently, producing a cure.

It aims to restore the healthy function of cells by replacing or correcting the defective gene. Gene therapy can be used to replace an abnormal gene with a normal one, to insert a missing gene, to switch off rogue genes that may cause cancers and to stop viruses multiplying within cells. The modified cells and genes are not passed onto children.

Certain technical obstacles are yet to be overcome if gene therapy is to deliver the expected benefits to treat human disease. Among the obstacles is the lack of a delivery system, or vector, that can safely and efficiently shuttle beneficial genes into the cells of patients — and ensure they work.

Even the most advanced cell therapy techniques are still at the experimental stage in clinical trials. Further research is needed to develop safe, reliable gene therapy techniques.

Herbal Medicine or Medicinal Plants for Animals

2008-05-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

Cost is one of the factors that reduces our profits with regards to our business. And one of the cost that burdens farmers are medicines for their farm animals and pets. Since the medicines for animals are out of reach for most poor farmers and most rural places in the Philippines don’t have adequate supplies of veterinary medicines, the list below can be of help using folkloric medicines.

The following have been tried and found helpful for the following animal ailments such as:

Intestinal Worms

Lagundi - crush ½ to 1 kilo leaves

- mix with 2 to 3 spoons of sugar

- give the mixture to the animal

Ipil-ipil - pulverize half a glass of dried seeds

- mix with about ½ or 3/4 glass of water

- give to the infected animal but not on a pregnant animal.

Cadris - wash and crush about ½ to 1 kilo leaves } give to the animal

Amargoso leaves - crush ½ to 1 kilo leaves

- give the juice 1 to 3 times.

Bunga - pulverize 8-10 young bunga, put in a glass of water and give to the animal.

External Parasites (Lice)

1. Kakawate - wash and crush the fresh leaves

- apply on the affected part once or twice a day for one week.

2. Acapulco - do as in kakawate, but apply 2 times a day for 2 weeks.

Diarrhea

Loose bowel movement in animals may be due to microbes, worms, contaminated food or a combination of these. The signs are fever, watery discharge, and loss of appetite. Because of loss of water, salt and nourishment in the body, it is necessary to give first aid to the animal. A good cure is young coconut juice with brown sugar and salt.

To arrest the discharge, give concoction of cogon roots, guava or caimito leaves.

1. Caimito — boil ½ kilo leaves in 3 glasses of water until the amount is reduced to a glass. Cool and give to the animal two hours a day for 2 days.

2. Banana – feed the animal with fresh leaves 2 times a day for four days or until the animal has recovered.

Wounds

1. Carrot — clean the carrot, scrape, and mix with dried tobacco leaves. Apply on the wound once a day or every other day.

2. Eggplant — pound eggplant leaves, apply on the wound once or twice daily for one week.

You can also visit this site Filipino Herbs Healing Wonders for other uses of medicinal plants.

Source: PCARRD Monitor Feb 1990

Biodiesel PDF Resources

2008-05-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

The Mcgyan™ Process - A Simple Continuous Reactor

2008-05-06T05:50:00.000-07:00

April 2, 2008 |

The process is termed the Mcgyan process after the names of the inventors (McNeff, Gyberg and Yan). The process performs a catalytic conversion of triglycerides and free fatty acids into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMES); in other words into biodiesel. In addition to the environmental advantages of producing a biofuel that replaces conventional fossil fuels (fossil fuels have detrimental effects on the environment since they release sequestered carbon compounds and other pollutants into the atmosphere, whereas bio-based fuels such as biodiesel are more environmentally friendly since their use recycles carbon through renewable biomass and because they burn cleaner than petroleum fuels), this new process offers several advantages over current biodiesel production methods.

This is a general operational schematic of the Mcgyan™ reactor. Oil or tallow feedstocks and alcohol are converted into biodiesel. Once through the reactor, the excess alcohol is separated out and recycled back into the continuous process.

Wiki on Bio-Fuel

2008-05-06T05:24:00.000-07:00

Wiki on Biofuel

Biofuel (if cultivated, then also called agrofuel or agrifuel) can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel created by biological material, most commonly plants. This distinguishes it from fossil fuel, which is derived from long dead biological material. Biofuel is championed in America by Democrats.

Biofuel can be theoretically produced from any (biological) carbon source. The most common by far is photosynthetic plants that capture solar energy. Many different plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacture.

Biofuels are used globally. Biofuel industries are expanding in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The most common use for biofuels is automotive transport. Increased demand for biofuels, particularly in America and Europe has led to deforestation and food shortages. This is increasingly making biofuels into a political issue throughout the world. Locations such as Indonesia are subject to deforestation and the accompanying displacement of indigenous peoples. In some areas use of pesticides for biofuel crops are disrupting clean water supplies.

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