Impossible is Just a Word

Everyone, at some point of his or her life, has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn’t fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn’t dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?

Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations easily collect dust in our attic.

This is a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing.

But you know what? Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do this.

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble, bee no one has told it so. So fly it does.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list down things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list the things that that are ‘impossible for you to do.’

Now look at all the headers strive every day to accomplish the goals that are under things ‘you know you can do’. Check them when you are able to accomplish them. As you slowly are able to check all of your goals under that heading, try accomplishing the goals under the other header-the one that reads ‘you might be able to do.’

As of the items you wrote under things I could do are accomplished, you can move the goals that are under things that are ‘impossible for you to do’ to the list of things ‘you might be able to do.’

As you iterate through this process, you will find out that the goals you thought were impossible become easier to accomplish. And the impossible begin to seem possible after all.

You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic.

Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.

Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.

Ask any gym rat and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, “No pain, no gain”? That is as true as it can be.

So dream on, friend! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.

Remember Live Your Life By Choice Not By Chance….

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Happy as You Want to Be

Almost everyone have heard the hit single ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby Mcferiin’s simple message surely made a lot of people by telling them not to worry.

Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.

One of the better things ever said is - ‘The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change’, and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too would change.

Social networks or relationships are essential to happiness. People are different, accept people for who or what they are, avoid clashes, constant arguments, and let go of all kinds of resentments. If arguments seem unavoidable still try and make an effort to understand the situation and you might just get along with well with

Happiness is actually found in everyone, increasing it is a way to make a life more wonderful and also more healthy.

To be happy is relatively easy, just decide to be a happy person. Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. The choice is simple really, choose to be happy.

Happy as You Want to Be You can do this…..Being grateful is a great attitude.  We have so much to be thankful for. Thank the taxi driver for bringing you home safely, thank the cook for a wonderful dinner and thank the guy who cleans your windows. Also thank the mailman for bringing you your mails, thank the policeman for making your place safe and thank God for being alive.

News is stressful. Get less of it. Some people just can’t start their day without their daily dose of news. Try and think about it, 99% of the news we hear or read is bad news. Starting the day with bad news does not seem to be a sensible thing to do.

A religious connection is also recommended. Being part of a religious group with its singing, sacraments, chanting, prayers and meditations foster inner peace.

Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed  as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

Laugh and laugh heartily everyday.  Heard a good joke? Tell your friends or family about it. As they also say -’Laughter is the best medicine’.

Express your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate your actions. Try not to keep pent up anger of frustrations, this is bad for your health. Instead find ways of expressing them in a way that will not cause more injury or hurt to anyone.

Working hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. It gives a feeling of being competent in finishing our tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us, they give us a sense of value. Work on things that you feel worthy of your time.

Learning is a joyful exercise. Try and learn something new everyday.  Learning also makes us expand and broaden our horizons. And could also give us more opportunities in the future.

Run, jog, walk and do other things that your body was made for. Feel alive.

Avoid exposure to negative elements like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.

These are the few simple things you can do everyday to be happy.

And always remember the quote from Abraham Lincoln, he says that, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Live Your Life By Choice not by Chance.

So many people are talking doom and gloom with regards to 2009. Well here’s my take on it, things will be ok. We can easily get caught up in the media web of what ever they want us to believe.

Don’t get too concerned, just do all the things you can do in your power and everything will work out.

The sun is coming up tomorrow!!! Dream Big,be positive and expect the best.

Bring on 2009.

Learn To Be Courageous

Courage is also known as bravery. It is the ability to face fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. It is called ‘physical courage’ while facing physical challenges such as pain and hardship and ‘moral courage’ while enduring shame and discouragement.

The opposite of courage is fear. Courage makes your fear disappear. Courage is an important quality or character that you should have in order to face life’s many challenges.

Is it possible for all of us to have courage?

Well, yes. Courage also means overcoming fears. In that sense we all could learn to overcome most of our fears. You should develop courage in yourself first so that you could instill courage in others – your children, your family, your spouse and your staff at work. If you do not know what courage is and you do not have it, how could you teach others?

How do you overcome fears?

Learn to curb your fears - You should realize that everyone is afraid of something or the other. Courage does not mean absence of fear. Courage is control over your fear. A courageous person acts in spite of his fear to move forward.

Face your fears - Fears disappear the minute you stare at them. Your fear takes over you when you get scared and back away from a fearful situation. The fear looms over you and becomes more powerful. The only way you could develop courage is to be aware of your fear and confront it consciously and continuously. As you face each fear-inducing situation as a challenge your fears become weaker and you grow stronger.

Desensitize yourself to your fears - There is a technique called ‘Systematic desensitization’ which is used to treat phobias and other extreme or erroneous fears based on principles of behavior modification. In this technique you do a fearful act over and over until it has no more power over you. Your courage and confidence would grow more and more as you repeat the action several number of times. Finally your fear simply disappears once for all.

Your action plan in your efforts to overcome fear could include the following steps:

Define what courage is in your mind – it could be learning to drive, staying alone at home, going for a walk alone, swimming, etc. People are afraid of so many different things and what is simple to you may not be so for the other person.

Identify your fears – know your fears first.

Write down a list of all your fears - Be honest to yourself and do not be ashamed of admitting your fear of even the silliest thing in life.
Once your list is done, write down specific actions that you could possibly take in order to overcome those fears.

Prioritize your tasks.

Start taking action today.You are in the drivers seat.

Learn more here…

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Enhancing Creativity and Welcoming Change

Creativity is level of excellence associated with the ability to yield original works and ideas in any field. It is the power to build, produce, and construct extraordinary ideas fuelled by one’s imagination and resourcefulness. It has served a very important role in human civilization and has always been present in the heart and mind of every person. Being innate, creativity is something that only needs to be awakened to surface.

Learning how to defeat the hurdles that block creativity is not a tough thing to do. There are pretty basic ways to be more creative. But before you start racking your brain, first identify the barriers that you might meet along the way, so you can somehow be prepared for them.

Knowing the Potential Hurdles

Identifying the obstacles will make the task a lot easier to handle. While there are some of us whose creativity is easy to stir, there are those who needed a deeper prodding. Some of these obstacles include the inadequacy of time, the fear of prejudice, a lack of self-esteem, and fear of failure.

Dealing with time is not actually a big problem. Tickling your imagination to work only takes a while if you will it. The fear of tendentiousness is more considered to be normal. A little confidence and a sense of self-worth answers this problem.

In doing something creative, go beyond the rim of all the things that have always been familiar to you. Muster up the courage to get out of your comfort zone for a while. When you feel uncomfortable with what you just did, just continue doing it. A little tension in unfamiliar territory is normal, and, often, it is this very nervousness that will push your creative juices into action. Welcome change from time to time.

Remember that creativity is not only for people with superior intellect. The need to be an expert is not necessary. The products of your creativity may display themselves in many ways and might not always be tangible. If doubt comes and hinders your ability to be creative, remind yourself everything that you have been doing is a part of your imagination and a part of you.

Once you have already dealt with these issues, you may now start to try some ways to definitely enhance your creativity.

Bringing In Some Backup

There are many interventions you can adopt. Begin with the right frame of mind. Probe into the field you’re interested in and explore everything that triggers your imagination. The next thing you need to do is to nourish your dreams. Focus on your experiences and do not dismiss the small details. Don’t waste what you may already been discovering by ignoring it. Ask yourself the following questions: “What if?”, “What else?” and “How else?”

Remember that being creative is like dreaming consciously. Through it, you are able to manipulate your thoughts.

The secret to creativity is the knowledge that it is exactly the opposite of consideration. Considering our thoughts means creativity is trimmed and even stopped. Do not limit your ideas and remember that thinking is not just for artistic and writing professions, and for people who are highly-intellectual — it is for everybody and anybody.

Authentic creativity does not exist. No individual can create life. All we do is to remake and rearrange things around us. If you want enhance your creativity, do not wait for an inspiration and start exploring. Creativity is not all about creation; it’s all about reorganization. Think ingeniously, brainstorm, and try to practice tickling your imagination.

You are in charge of your life…remember that!

www.selfimageimprovement.com

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Terrific Tips to a Better Brain

Do you ever stop to think how hard your brain works for you every Day? Most of us do not consider the importance of our brain while we focus on the rest of our body. Your brain is the most essential organ and yet it is the organ least cared for. You need not study hard or become a bookworm to boost your mental faculties. Just a few smart tricks, techniques, habits, changes in diet, lifestyle and behavior could energize your grey matter and get the best results from your brain.

Here are a few tips to tend proper care for your brain:

1. Physical exercise strengthens your brain, too. Exercise benefits your brain cells. The blood vessels inside your brain dilate and increase blood flow when you engage in regular exercise. Exercise helps to excrete toxins and allows oxygen and other nutrients to flow into your brain strengthening your brain cells.

2. Start your day with a healthy breakfast. Skipping breakfast affects your brainpower and performance at home, school or work.

3. Kick-start your brain in the morning so that it wakes up and is all ready when you start your morning. Why don’t you start off your day with a crossword puzzle or sudoku from your morning newspaper? Your brain needs these teasers to be more efficient during the fist few lazy hours in the mornings.

4. Research backs up the support in favor of omega-3 fatty acids. Fish is the best brain food. Omega 3 fish oil is not just healthy brain food for babies. It’s also an essential brain food for children, adolescents and adults. The EPA and DHA in fish oil seems prevent dementia.

5. Here is a trick to remember something important for the next day – read and review over the matter needed for the next day before you go to sleep the previous night. While you sleep your brain does its sorting and filing for you and stores it for you. When you think about it the next day your brain supplies this information fresh out of its memory cells.

6. Did you ever get stuck with a small detail when your brain just stops and you experience a mental block? Try darting your eyes from side to side. You would be amazed at the results! What is the reason behind this? Everyone has a left and right hemisphere in the brain. They communicate constantly on a daily basis throughout your thinking process. Sometimes when this communication link or connection gets weaker for some reason you may experience a memory lapse. Darting your eyes helps to strengthen this connection to jerk your memory and bring back into focus that little detail you had forgotten all along. All it takes is 5 to 10 seconds to jolt your brain. Try it.

7. Good sleep, music, busy life and plenty of water are also factors that help in building your brainpower.

It is possible to boost your brainpower at any age. Try these strategies and you would start praising your brainpower in as little as two weeks!

www.selfimageimprovement.com

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Practical Steps for Professional Growth Development

Professional growth is essential for everyone. Your quality and status of life depends on you position in your profession and financial income. Your professional growth plan would lead you to the position and income you desire so as to fulfill the dreams of your life.

Your professional growth development depends upon these factors: Your ambition, your drive, your abilities and your interests.

You should have a clear-cut idea about these factors so that your path towards your future becomes clearer to you. Your professional growth plans need not be complicated but you could write down simple but detailed plans so that you could eventually achieve them in time.

Here are a few tips to map out your professional growth plan:

1. Take responsibility and be in charge of your professional growth - Do not rely on others to map out your career plans. If you have a mentor or a manager to support do not hesitate to take advantage of it. But otherwise you would be better off scheduling and planning your own growth in order to reach the top.

2. Write a list of different ways you want to grow - If you would like to stay on with the current employer and plan to grow with the company you could look for skills you need to beef up. Check you performance reviews, feedback from management and peers, any appreciation letters, awards, etc. These are some inputs that could reveal your strengths and weakness. Whether you plan to change careers or go up the ladder in the same career find someone who has treaded the path before you and ask them for advice. Focus on one or two areas on improving at one time. Learn to grow slowly and steadily so that you could win the race.

3. Explore your options open before you, to learn and grow - Research your scope and options open before you. Check around the various educational opportunities, training opportunities, etc. that would help you to grow personally and professionally. Time management, leadership development and team building skills, etc. are essential for corporate promotions. Your social skills also develop along these lines.

4. Identify suitable options that fit your needs and learning style - Each one of us is unique. We all learn in different ways at different pace. Once you explore the learning options before you, consider the methods that best suit you –

Do you like interacting with others? Do you prefer to listen to classroom lectures? Are you a self-learner who learns by reading books? Are you a self-motivator? Do you have time needed to attend regular classes? How much could you spend on these programs? Does your company support your interests by paying for them? These are important points to explore.

Do not procrastinate and get started - The biggest and the most common barrier to development is procrastination. We all plan and talk about our plans. But only a few stick to their plans and start off at the planned time in a planned manner. What good is it if you just plan and do not take steps to execute your plans? If you do not start, you would never succeed in your professional growth development. So start now. I know people say its hard to change, but what are the alternatives….

I just came across a great program on the internet, I love it, check it out.

www.successuniversityworld.com/specialoffer

4 Tips to Empower Yourself!

We all face hardships at some point in our lives. Some of us own responsibility and get on with our lives while most of us blame others. When you own responsibility for yourself you empower yourself. You are the cause and your life experiences are the results in your life. You determine the direction of your life. You are in control of your life.
If you are not able to explain why your life is as it is, you are probably giving your power away to someone else, are you? Most of us tend to blame something else or someone else or our fate for all bad experiences in our life such as abusive childhood, loss of a loved one or broken relationships. When you are not in control of yourself or your life that means you are powerless. Blaming is a disempowering emotion.

If you think by blaming others for your life you are getting away from problems you are completely wrong. Your life problems would stay the same and recur again and again as long as you make someone else responsible for your life. You give others power to control you and your life. So your life problems would tend to stay the way they are until you take back your power and claim full responsibility for your emotions, actions and life as a whole.

True empowerment is taking responsibility for your life so that you are free to do whatever you want to do and be anything you choose to be.

Here are 4 tips to empower you:

1) Make your own choices - Life is full of choices and you have the freedom to choose. You learn only through trial and error. Be bold and accept the outcome of your decisions. If your choice is correct, be happy. If not do not blame yourself or others. Instead, analyze where you went wrong and correct yourself. The next time around, you may be able to make the right choices.

2) Practice deep breathing - If you make it a habit to practice deep breathing throughout the day, you would have clarity in your thoughts. You feel more relaxed to think clearly and make good judgments of your situations.

3) Feel grateful - Gratitude is something we never show for many things we enjoy in our life. Instead of cursing your problems look around you and realize how blessed you are to have nature bestow you good health, sunshine, food, good relationships, fresh air, etc. When you feel grateful for these things you are convinced that life is not bad at all.

4) Develop mental awareness - Observe your thoughts. Are they good or bad? Are they positive or negative? If your thoughts are positive it is good. You could act on them with positive results. What if you have negative thoughts? You could still control them if you are aware of them. Empower yourself by being aware of your good and bad thoughts.

When you deal with your own pains and pleasures you are the controller of your life. Just know that no one else could take away your power to control your life and events because you are the master of your destiny.

Live your Life by Choice not by Chance.

www.selfimageimprovement.com

Four Smart Ways to Overcome Challenges

What is life without challenges and problems? Everyone faces challenges in life, regardless of age, gender, economic status, etc. Right from a young age up to a ripe old age everyone faces challenge almost everyday in life. The bigger your life’s goal, the greater is your challenge. Facing and overcoming problems require some amount of maturity, understanding and some strategy.

Here are four tips to face your challenges in life:

1. Learn to forget the problem and focus only on solutions – Well, forgetting the problem does not certainly make it disappear! But if you temporarily take your mind off the problem you would save yourself from unwanted anxiety. Unwanted stress would only lead to wasting your energy. You could instead spend that energy on looking for ways to solve the problem. Majority of us just freeze when we are faced with challenging situations. Instead, if we could immediately look for solutions the problem may clear easily. This is not easy but with some self-awareness and positive attitude you would learn to find your way through problems. When you are challenged with a problem the next time, first set aside your emotions, understand the problem and search for a solution right away.

2. Get help by reaching out to friends and family: Sometimes when you just let go of your ego and shame and ask for help you would be surprised at the way people receive you with love and concern. What are family and friends for? These days support groups are available online and in the community for almost every problem. You have support groups for addictions, seniors, single parents, parenting, marriage, education, health and religion… just about anything. When you have a problem do not think you are all alone. When you get in touch with these support groups you would realize that you are not the only one being tested by life’s challenges. You would share each other’s experiences and shoulder each other’s problems through these support groups. You could search for support groups in the Internet or call an expert, look in the newspapers, magazines, talk to people, etc. Support groups give a lot of strength and courage to fight your challenges.

3. Act now! - ‘Now’ is the best time to take on your challenges. Many people think and think and think and talk about it all the while but they would not move an inch towards a solution. What good is that? When you see a challenge, take action immediately. You would waste precious time if you wait around or wait for someone else to start dealing with your issues. Build self-confidence and resilience and start to fight your problems and you would have overcome your challenge before it settles down on you! The faster you act, the speedier the problem gets solved.

4. Practice patience and Perseverance - Nobody is a born professional at solving problems. Each time a problem challenges you it is a new experience. You could act wise by learning to be patient and persistent and practice perseverance in order to study your pattern of problems. This is a good way to draw your strategies and act accordingly. Soon you would be a master at dealing with your challenges.

Live your life by Choice, not by Chance.

www.selfimageimprovement.com

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Life Mapping: A Vision of Success

Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route.

Origin: Who you are

A map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior highschool student.” It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human dignity.

Destination: A vision of who you want to be

“Who do want to be?” this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Continuing Jean’s story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in serving her fellowmen.

Vehicle: Your Mission

A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Bases on Jean’s self-assessment, she decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict-areas.

Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude

Food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to gain along the way. This two-fold assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something she wanted to change.

Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives

Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your measures of success. These measures must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master’s degree is two years. Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor’s degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the age of 35.

Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes

The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.