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If you happened to watch the New Year’s Eve festivities from New York’s Times Square, you may have seen Mayor Michael Bloomberg being interviewed and heard him say, as far as he is concerned, the operative word for 2009 is “Optimism,” which according to Wikipedia, is an outlook on life such that one maintains a view of the world as a positive place.
I’m with him. It’s about time we had optimistic talk being spread over the airwaves. We’ve certainly had our fill of the other kind.
As with anything else, if we believe this and begin affirming it, we will make it so. It would be really great if the majority of people followed the sentiment of “Mayor Mike,” however, what’s even more important is that each of us affirm it for ourselves.
In truth we can only create our own experience, not the experience of others so, regardless of what the masses choose to do we can start seeing this coming year through a lens of optimism and act accordingly.
No one but you can create your life experience. Not the government, not your employer, not even your spouse. What occurs in your life is totally within your control and is a result of your thoughts, feelings and actions.
If you choose to join with me and Mayor Bloomberg and see this year optimistically, as a year of opportunity and positive expectations, you will, in fact, create your best year ever.
While optimism is a great outlook on life and a key ingredient for success, it’s not all there is. You’ll need a vision of what you want your life to become, specific and measurable goals, an action plan to follow and, hopefully, a mentor or coach to keep you on track.
If you have a coach, great. If not, now would be a good time to get one. Or, if you cannot afford a coach right now, “buddy up”with someone and hold each other accountable. Find someone you feel comfortable sharing your dreams and goals with and arrange to meet with them regularly. This is an important component for success. No one does it alone.
With all the change in the air and the general feelings of hope and possibility being expressed by people from all walks of life, it’s looking like 2009 is going to be a banner year.
As with everything else in nature, there’s an ebb and flow to our life. After last year, I think you’ll agree we’re all ready for the flow to begin. Bring it on!
If you really want to make 2009 your best year ever and are ready to play full out, check out my new tele-seminar program “Live Your Destiny 2009.”
Over the course of the next few days, I’ll be posting a series of articles specifically written to help you start your year off right. If you miss any, or if you’re new to personal development, you can always find the entire series in the “Starting Out” category.
By the way, if you are planning on working one-on-one with a coach, I have an opening. You can learn more here
You can grow your business by leverage your relationships with colleagues, suppliers, distributors and yes, even your competitors.
Several years ago I attended a demonstration at a local copier supplier. It was a huge success as a herd of people roamed throughout the building seeing live demos of the latest in office copiers.
While the local business hosted the event, their supplier provided the factory trained experts on hand to answer people’s questions.
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks have regular “trunk shows” and make-up events to attract customers, again with the expertise provided by the manufacturers.
Faith Popcorn pointed out in her landmark book The Popcorn Report published in 198?, people like entertainment while they shop.
Could your supplier help you create an event and fill your business with customers?
By the way, if you want to learn more about a huge untapped market, namely women, read Popcorn’s latest book Eveolution.
What about your colleagues? Could a carpet or home cleaning company team up with a caterer and offer a holiday special?
Might a lawyer, accountant and banker put together a free event for their business customers? What could you do to leverage your business?
Do you have underused equipment sitting around? Many local newspapers whose presses are only used for a few hours a day, will take on outside printing jobs. Your typical weekly paper is most likely being printed on a daily newspaper’s presses.
One smart auto repairperson I knew would rent out his extra repair bay to hobbyists who wanted to do their own work. Do you have additional capacity from your equipment that would be of interest to someone else?
Opportunities on the internet
I’ve saved the best for last. If there is one area that is underutilized by small businesses, it’s your website. Ninety percent or more of local business websites that I’ve visited are nothing more than online brochures. I call them Tombstones in Cyberspace.
Contrast this against the sites used by internet marketers. Internet marketers, people whose business profits entirely or in part online, engage the customer with an array of techniques designed to keep them coming back, refer them to friends and leave them wanting more.
The typical offline business gets little if any internet traffic, mainly because their sites have not been setup properly or not even optimized for search engines.
What is even sadder is that if someone does manage to stubble upon their site, they have no way to connect with the visitor and develop an ongoing relationship.
Other than SEO, the easiest thing that you can do is set up some sort of “capture mechanism.” A simple subscription box connected to an auto responder will enable you to begin building a database of your customers and potential customers.
As my friend Vic Johnson, a highly successful internet marketer of personal development information said, “He who has the biggest list, wins! Or, as every online marketer knows, the money is in the list.
Once you’ve started building your online database, you have the ability to contact your customers whenever you want and at virtually no cost.
If you can’t go into your business tomorrow morning at 7:30, create a special offer to jump start sales, and have it out to a list of several hundred or thousand customers by 9:00, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Go here if you want to learn how you can grow your offline business with online strategies.
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert Schwietzer
If we’re fortunate, there are people in our life who inspire us and rekindle our flame when we need it most.
The condition of the economy has little to do with your own success and well-being.
This is an important concept to grasp.
We have a tendency to look at economic conditions as a way of explaining and justifying why we may not be where we want to be. In truth, one has little or nothing to do with the other.
Your ability to succeed is totally within your control and is a result of your own thoughts, words, feelings and actions.
Whatever direction the economy is moving in, whether in a downturn as it is at this time, or in an upward spiral, there are always opportunities for the individual who holds true to her vision to her ideal life.
It is this vision that will attract - through the powers of the universe - that which is vividly imagined, as Napoleon Hill would have said.
If you are watching the news and worrying about the current financial problems, while you are engaged in doing this, you are in a similar vibration and are likely to create a similar condition in your own life.
If you must stay informed about what is going on, fine. If you’re going to watch the news, do so without getting emotionally invested.
Just sit back and, as you watch, think to yourself, “that’s interesting.” It is possible to watch the news or read a newspaper and not be emotionally connected to it.
Feeling bad for the people affected by what’s taking place also puts you squarely in the same vibration. If you can do something to help, by all means, do it!
However, if not, get your attention back to your own ideal life’s vision and focus your attention on what you want in your life.
You may wish to see the other people having a better experience than they are having but, that’s about all you can do, because we each create our own reality and we can only control the circumstances in our own life.
It is crucial that in any circumstance, you’re able to “flip” your attention and therefore, your “point of attraction” to that which you desire and away from that which you do not.
Notice, I did not say to try and fix it or change it unless you can. Simply turn your attention away, toward whatever you do want.
The fastest way I know to shift your attention and, as a result, your vibration, is to make a list of what you are appreciating, what’s working or what you are grateful for in your life. This simple practice will immediately raise your vibration as a result of your change in what your putting your attention on.
It is important, especially in these challenging times, that we are watchful of our thoughts, words and actions. Keep your attention at what you desire and refuse to participate in discussions about what is wrong with our world. If you make a habit of doing this, pretty soon you will start seeing improvements in your own life.
There are several versions as to how long ago this time-saving technique got it’s start. One tells of a young man approaching Andrew Carnegie, the head of U.S. Steel, while another simply has a man talking to the C.E.O. of a big company some time in the distant past.
In one version the man was paid $100,000 for the idea on how to be more productive. Regardless of the accuracy of the stories, the technique remains valid and is one of the most effective, simplest productivity tools ever used.
Whether you use a sophisticated computer calendar program, a complex time management system, a leather-bound written day-planner or, as Mark McCormick, C.E.O. of the world’s largest sports management company, IMC, simply use a legal pad. The idea is the same.
List the five most important things you have to do and do nothing else until you complete them.
I realize that this sounds overly simple in our exceedingly complicated world, but before you dismiss it, try it out for two weeks.
This simple technique, which has been used by high-level executives, entrepreneurs and others, for more than fifty years works.
One of the keys is that by listing five items instead of ten or twenty, you are really focusing your energy on what is truly important. If you eliminate distractions and do only the five items on your list, you will be directing your energy in the most productive direction.
Rather than waste your valuable time doing busy work, you will be doing what really matters to your success.
Of course, if you complete your list early, write another one, or do other less important tasks.
In the last century, even in the last twenty or so years, business invested in equipment. After all, we were in the Industrial Age and our business equipment was our most valuable resource.
We upgraded and refurbished our equipment and machinery, built bigger and better manufacturing facilities and added new types of equipment as they became available. We then hired skilled individuals to operate and maintain our new equipment and protect our sizable investment.
Today we are living in the Information Age and your company’s most valuable assets are your people and their creativity. It stands to reason then, that investing in keeping them working at their highest, most creative, healthiest, most motivated levels of performance is a prudent investment and one that will pay for itself many times over.
If your employees have a clear vision of who they are and where they’re going, are highly self motivated, have clearly defined, written goals for their lives, are less stressed, are physically fit and healthy and are well balanced, happy individuals, your company will receive the highest return on your most valuable resources.
Study after study has confirmed that every dollar invested in employee training and seminars results in increased performance, higher morale, less turnover & absenteeism and an overall increase in the growth of the company.
Is your “machine” running smoothly or is it clunking along in dire need of an overhaul? The success of your company in today’s business environment is largely dependent upon your ability to hire, train, motivate and retain your twenty first century machinery — your people!
The other night I delivered my Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck seminar at New York City’s Learning Annex. As always it was a lot of fun. As a matter of fact, I am doing it again on April 24th, so if you’re in the area sign up and come and take the class with me.
At the end of the almost 3-hour program, one man came up to me and paid me the greatest compliment I could have asked for. He shook my hand and said “I want to thank you, you’ve got me thinking. I’ve been wanting to start my own business and now I am seeing ways I can do it.”
Those four words, “you’ve got me thinking” are what does it for me. That’s why I do what I do. We all want something or more of something in our lives and if I can get you thinking about ways to succeed, I’ve done my job.
My books, audio programs and live events are all designed to do just that, get you thinking. Once you start thinking about ways you can fulfill your desires and create the life you want, you’re on your way.
Too many people spend their time looking at their problems and making excuses for why they can’t have what they want.
But by using the mind God gave you and shifting your attention to possibility thinking, you can start asking yourself more empowering questions.
It’s like the story Robert Kiyosaki told in Rich Dad, Poor Dad about how his “poor dad” would say “We can’t afford it!” (Something I heard a lot growing up.) While “rich dad” would ask “How can I afford it?”
What could you do to move in the direction of your dreams? What would it take to get you to start thinking?
“Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.”
Herbert A. Otto, Psychologist
The other day a young waitress I know said to me, “Jim, I don’t want to get it wrong and look stupid.”
While she was referring to my breakfast order, her statement got me thinking about how many times we avoid doing something because it might make us look foolish or “stupid.”
The aspiring speaker who avoids getting in front of an audience because she wants to get it perfect first, or the would-be author who doesn’t allow anyone to see his writing for fear of people may think he’s dumb.
The man or women who is afraid to ask that “special person” out on a date because they may say “no” and then they’ll feel rejected. Here is a news flash; they’re not going out with you now, so you have nothing to lose!
Often in life, the very thing that you want most is just on the other side of your willingness to look a little foolish. You may need to be willing to take some calculated risk, move out of your comfort zone and become uncomfortable.
Being a professional speaker for over a decade, I can tell you without reservation, that in the beginning I felt and probably looked foolish.
Fortunately, I didn’t let it stop me. My desire to share ideas with people enabled me to overcome any fears that I had and risk looking stupid, dumb or just plain silly.
I read something in the book The Secret, that like many of the ideas in the book, is quite profound.
By the way if you don’t have a copy of this powerful book, I suggest you get one. Better yet, get the book and the movie and maybe even the audio.
If you’ve read any of my books, the ideas from the secret will seem familiar to you. However, it’s a beautifully written book with powerful ideas and suggestions from some of the top people in the personal development field.
The line that struck me was “When you want to attract something, make sure your actions do not contradict what you are asking for.” This is one of those ideas that, on the surface seem obvious but, when explored deeper, are quite profound.
How many of us experience a desire and then act “out of alignment” with what we say that we want?
For example, are you one of those people who, while you want more money, says things like, “I can’t afford that!” Saying things that are not in alignment with what you desire will prevent your good from coming to you.
Remember we attract what we think about and speak about. If you go through life looking at things that you like and are saying “I can’t afford that.” You never will.
Do you desire health but look in the mirror everyday and notice how overweight you are? Again, you can not attract what you want by noticing what you do not want. The more you notice your being overweight, the harder it will be to lose the weight and become healthier.
Instead, when you look in the mirror, notice those things that you do like about yourself and are proud of. Start affirming that you are becoming more and more fit each day. Start seeing yourself at your ideal weight.
Do you want a loving, passionate relationship but spend your days noticing all the things about your partner that bother you? As the line in the TV commercial once said, “You can’t get there from here.” Start noticing what you do like and appreciate about your loved one and watch your relationship change.
Remember the law of attraction is always working in your life and does not judge. If you say you want one thing, but then behave in a manner that is out of alignment with that, you’re consistent behavior and what you steadily tell yourself and are “expecting” will be the dominant vibration. And this vibration that will resonate with and attract a similar vibration.
Your job is to keep your dominant vibration, your point of focus, on what you want. The more you do this, the more you will see your vision taking hold and the more your life will change for the better.
A key principal here is to keep reaching for the thought that feels better. Spend more time thinking about and affirming what you do want and less time (or no time at all) focused on what you don’t want or don’t yet have. Your vision will manifest. Just hold true to your desires.
Several years ago I wrote an article titled “Use the good dishes,” about how we tend to save our good dishes and silverware for company and I suggested that you use them for yourself once in a while. You deserve the best too.
Something else we tend to do is wear our valuable jewelry and good clothing only on special occasions. Why? What are you saving them for?
Since I live in a rural area and work at home most of the time, I look for opportunities to dress up and believe that jewelry and such, are only “bling” and should be used instead of buried away in a drawer.
When I lived in New York City it used to amuse me that there were people who kept their silverware in a safety-deposit box at the bank and would go there to take it out for dinner parties and bring it back the next day. In my opinion if you have to do this, you don’t own your possessions, they own you.
I’ve always liked what my wise uncle George once said, “If it doesn’t have a heartbeat, it’s not important.”
Don’t get me wrong, I like having nice things but I also use them, whether it’s the good dishes or a valuable watch.
As a matter of fact, if you start wearing your good clothes and jewelry, you will start to feel abundant and, as a result of the law of attraction, you will begin to attract more abundance to you.
Something I learned from Dr. Dennis Waitley many years ago that helped me raise my own self-image and, in turn my life style, was when he suggested, “Look and dress your best at all times.”
Doing this will make you feel better about yourself and that feeling will keep you in alignment for attracting what you want. So go ahead, wear your good jewelry to the supermarket.
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