Life is how we perceive it to be.
Our perception at any given moment is influenced by our attitudes.
A negative attitude breeds pessimism, resentment and hopelessness.
A positive mental attitude leaves a person feeling optimistic, grateful, happy and hopeful for the future.
Watch this video to learn how you can adjust your attitude to a positive one so you can begin enjoying a life with more opportunities and success.
As I was playing chess today it dawned on me that when I was analyzing my strategy and possible moves for my chess pieces I focused on how to best use each piece according to it’s power or strengths. In other words, I planned each moves according to what each game piece could do – not couldn’t do.
If you have ever played chess you understand there are limitations to each one of the pieces on the board and the key is to utilizes the power of each piece effectively to overcome and beat your opponent. If you limited your vision to what each piece could not do when planning your strategy, you would not get very far. In fact I can safely bet that you would lose the game. Read the rest of this entry »
January 1st brings in a new year and new hope and opportunity for many people. It has become the day to wipe off the old slate clean and start fresh and new. The sad fact is most “New Year’s Resolutions” are forgotten about within a few months after they were started. If you want proof of this, go into any health club during the second week of January and you will see the facility overcrowded with enthusiastic customers vowing to make this the year they make serious changes in their life as they exercise with determination of a healthier and brighter future. If you happen to visit the same health club every month afterwards, what you will notice (without fail) is that there will be significantly less customers within it’s walls as each month passes.
Though these people have their hearts in the right place when they set their resolutions, they were never shown the proper way to set and achieve goals so it is no surprise that many goals or resolutions never get fulfilled. I have listed 7 key steps to help you put together your own system for making this upcoming year your best year yet…the year you see through and accomplish your goals.
When moving forward into the unknown many people panic because they let their imagination create the worst case scenarios. 
Can you relate to this feeling? Why is that? If you look back on your life you can clearly see that you have handled every new situation that came your way. It might not have been easy and yet you handled it. So why is it that now that you have a new opportunity and a new challenge, you discount all the right you have done in the past and expect the worst?
I believe much of this mindset has to do with people’s fear of failure. We have been conditioned from an early age that failure is bad. You get punished and ridiculed for failing and all this feedback came from outside sources…people we looked up to like parents, teachers and friends. We looked to the outside for acceptance and over time we learned that it was less painful not to try something new than to risk failure and the disapproval that came with it.
It takes time and effort to break out of old patterns and limiting beliefs and the effort required is well worth the results you will receive. Read the rest of this entry »
Human beings are very interesting creatures in that many people are rarely satisfied with what they have and usually want what they don’t have. You may have heard the saying: The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” but is it really? Once you get on the other side of the fence to get a closer look, you realize that it is full of weeds and not as you expected. In the mean time, the lawn you left behind is not being tended to and is suffering as a result.
Is it wrong to want more? Is it wrong to want what you don’t have? Not if it is part of your goal or vision towards success and you have a plan to achieve it. These types of desires are healthy and are the driving force behind many entrepreneurs of today. It becomes unhealthy when you consistently put your focus on what you don’t have or what you haven’t accomplished instead of acknowledging the positive things in your life.
If you put the average person in a room of 100 people and 99 of them love him or her and 1 person despises and avoids this person, the typical thing that happens is this person will obsess over why the 1 person doesn’t like them. They will ignore the 99 in order to win over the 1 who does not like them. Instead of being happy and grateful for the wonderful people who adore them,instead they feel terrible because someone doesn’t like them. Does this sound silly? Well it happens every day. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week I received a phone call from someone posing as a police officer and telling me that they had a warrant out on one of my family members. 
They were looking for them and they could arrest him on the spot. I can assure you that was very nerve racking for a father to hear. My thoughts and emotions began to race.
A few months ago my son was involved in a car accident where he rear ended another vehicle. Thankfully no one was hurt. While filling out the police report, my son could not locate the insurance card for that vehicle and was given a ticket as a result. The police officer said he would be mailed the information that would provide him with the instructions on when and where his court date was. The court information was sent to a wrong address and so there was a warrant out on his arrest for failure to appear at court. My son actually did follow up, had a new court date set up and took care of the situation.
Back to the phone call.The caller said he needed to get in touch with my son to set up a new court date to avoid being arrested. I gave him my son’s phone number so this person could contact him because I was not aware the situation was fully resolved. When my son contacted him, he addressed himself as Sergeant _______ and my son gave him all his contact information and afterwards told him he should contact his village police because there was nothing he could really do. When contacting our local police department my son found his record to be clean and there was not any warrants out on him. We were all confused. Read the rest of this entry »
I remember this very clearly and I can’t believe it was 11 years ago. I was sitting in the bleachers watching my son’s (Christopher) Little League baseball game. He came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning with bases loaded and two outs. With the pitch and the crack of the bat, it was clear
what was about to happen. The baseball shot off of Chris’s bat bat like a rocket and sailed over the fence for a Grand Slam – Home Run! As Chris rounded the bases, every one stood up to give him a standing ovation and and I was so happy for him that I just couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat or dry my watery eyes. The thing that made this moment special was that Chris began playing baseball when he was 5 years old and like all young baseball players – they dream of hitting that long one out of the park. In this particular game it was not only Chris’s last at bat for that game, it was also his last at bat for his Little League career. Chris was in 8th grade and this was his last at bat and last game. It was also his very first Home Run and Grand Slam. Read the rest of this entry »
I know this sounds extreme and scary and it is true all the same. Your brain is in many ways, just like the other muscles in your body; the more you exercise it the stronger it will get. The more you stimulate your mind with challenges and knowledge, the sharper your thinking will become. Obstacles in your life are easily overcome with solutions because your brain has become accustomed to problem solving.
People who get stuck in life and are unable to find their way out are typically the same people who let their brains go inactive or run away from any challenges that come up for them. The more you avoid engaging your brain in problem solving, analytical thinking or knowledge gathering the weaker it will become and the more dependent you will become on others to lead you and to do your thinking for you. Read the rest of this entry »
Every Day people are faced with challenges in their lives and with each challenge comes an important decision to make. Should you face it or avoid it? Hit it head on or run like hell from it? You can answer these questions by asking yourself one more.
Do you want to grow and evolve as a person or do you want to be stuck right where you are?
By facing and working through the challenges that show up in your life, you will gain strength, courage and confidence which will prepare you for what lies ahead. By running from challenge and adversity you become a victim in life. You won’t grow as an individual and you will always blame outside circumstances for your problems. Like an exercise program where you build up strength only after doing consistent work on your physical body, each challenge we come to in our life is there to build our inner strength and to prepare us for bigger and better things down the road. Read the rest of this entry »
I just wanted to share a portion of my book with you. These few paragraphs explain how my life has changed over the years or better yet, how it finally began. The title of the book is “From Stinking To Thinking” and is in the process of being edited. My book is now available as a digital download at a special introductory investment of only $14.97. I have provided you with a link at the end of this article so you can get your copy today. I hope you enjoy it.
My wife and I were sitting in our family room, relaxing at the end of the day when a few books I have been reading that were laying on the coffee table caught my attention. These were books on the topics of motivation, personal development and leadership. Looking at these books, I began to smile and then the smile turned to laughter and Laurie asked me what I found so funny. I asked her, “five years ago would you have ever thought I would be reading books like these?” Laurie’s response was, “five years ago I didn’t think you knew how to read!” Read the rest of this entry »
