I liked this one.
This one too (it is an advertisement for a web comic -- but one that fits ADR)
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
08/04/2010 -- funny comics
I liked this one.
This one too (it is an advertisement for a web comic -- but one that fits ADR)
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Class, politics and modern America, looking inward
I was reading a post at Mormon Matters that linked to the following:
That is a fascinating observation, that the Republicans and Democrats have become less different from each other as they have again become more strident.
I know, I should make a political point from this, but the truth is, my interest is in conflict resolution, and the most emotional conflicts are ones where the difference is not about methods or goals, but about control and power. One would expect that if the core governing members of a party are becoming more alike, that the dialogue would become more emotionally driven.
Emotionally driven clashes are a way to work backwards to what conflicts are about, though not an infallible one. I need to think more on the specific conflicts we have now, but the general rule is one that you can apply to your own life. If it applies to the United States is a different question, and not one I can answer.
in fact Republican and Democratic office holders and their retinues show a similar presumption to dominate and fewer differences in tastes, habits, opinions, and sources of income among one another than between both and the rest of the country. They think, look, and act as a class.
That is a fascinating observation, that the Republicans and Democrats have become less different from each other as they have again become more strident.
I know, I should make a political point from this, but the truth is, my interest is in conflict resolution, and the most emotional conflicts are ones where the difference is not about methods or goals, but about control and power. One would expect that if the core governing members of a party are becoming more alike, that the dialogue would become more emotionally driven.
Emotionally driven clashes are a way to work backwards to what conflicts are about, though not an infallible one. I need to think more on the specific conflicts we have now, but the general rule is one that you can apply to your own life. If it applies to the United States is a different question, and not one I can answer.
Win's camp recipes
Win wanted to put her camp recipes on-line so people who were asking for them could just download them.
They are now up at: http://adrr.com/recipe/
They are now up at: http://adrr.com/recipe/
Sunday, July 25, 2010
An interesting trend line analysis of a diet
http://www.astrocyte-design.com/shangri-la-diet/
I am quoting the core of the post below. Well worth a visit to the original (above) if you are interested in dieting or losing weight.
I am quoting the core of the post below. Well worth a visit to the original (above) if you are interested in dieting or losing weight.
The graph covers the 321-day period ending on July 6, 2010.
Two-month pre-diet baseline: Aug. 22 to Oct. 21, 2009 Shangri La diet: Oct. 22, 2009 to July 6, 2010 Weight immediately prior to start of diet (ten-day avg.): 222.4 lbs. (100.9 kg.) Weight as of July 6, 2010 (ten-day avg.): 193.6 lbs. (87.8 kg.) Total weight lost during this period: 28.8 lbs. (13.1 kg.) Average weight loss per week: 0.78 lbs. (0.35 kg.) / week SummaryI lost about 29 pounds / 13 kg. (as of July 6, 2010) by following a diet that was developed by psychologist Seth Roberts. Briefly, the Shangri La diet involves appetite suppression via the ingestion of flavorless calories in the form of oil and/or sugar water. The diet is described here and here, among other places.BackgroundI first heard of the Shangri La diet when I read this article in the New York Times back in September, 2005. The diet seemed so bizarre that the idea of it stuck with me—until, about four years later, I finally decided to try it.Being 5' 10" tall and weighing 222 lbs. (1.8 m / 100.7 kg.), I wanted to lose weight, and I was looking for a diet that would satisfy the following five criteria:
The Shangri La diet met all five criteria, so I tried it—to some success.
- It wouldn't require me to change the types of foods that I eat. I'm a vegan for ethical reasons, and I did not want to stray from that philosophy. (Note, for example, that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to eat a low-carbohydrate diet without consuming animal products.)
- The diet wouldn't depend on willpower, at least not heavily. Knowing myself, I would not be able to adhere to a diet that could be sustained only by exerting an iron will (which is, essentially, almost all diets).
- The diet did not have any obvious characteristics that might cause one to believe that it would be harmful to your health.
- The diet wouldn't require regular exercise. I've hated exercise my whole life, and I don't have time for it, anyway.
- The diet could be continued indefinitely.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Enabling comment moderation
I hate to do this, but the spam comments from Chinese child p-rn sites has gotten too heavy. I can't think of another solution, so I've now enabled comment moderation. My apologies to anyone whose comments get delayed.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Three Rules
I came up with my rules after reading about mission statements that work and those that don’t, and trying to communicate with small children, but wanting rules that would be ones that can follow-through as children become adults and my peers and friends.
My three rules are:
There are a number of different types of rules to give children.
First, guidance or mission statement rules. Those should be direct, action oriented, simple and clear. You have my three.
Second, safety/practice rules. Don’t talk to strangers. Look both ways before you cross the street. Take your medication daily. These are obviously circumstance driven (if you don’t have medication you are taking, then you don’t need a rule about taking it; if you are diabetic, food rules are much more strict and important).
Third, procedural rules. We often don’t have enough of those. My wife bought our youngest daughter a book about the rules of friendship. Suzette Haden Elgin has pointed out a number of times that in talking, you should limit yourself to three sentences and then stop (there are two kinds of conversationalists, those who will break in at three sentences, those who expect you to stop at three sentences so they can speak if you want to. If you stop at three sentences you will make both types comfortable). They are all things you need to know.
Fourth, boundary rules. Don’t call your eight year old friends after 10:00 p.m. to invite them over to play. Only twelve hours a day on the computer. Don’t leave the house without your clothes on. Dress in a way that does not bear false witness by the messages the clothing communicates about the community you belong to.
Sometimes a rule crosses several realms. I’ve never drunk alcohol, but I’ve had relatives with serious problems. I’d advise my children to avoid alcohol as a boundary measure (the WoW is a marker of our community), as a safety issue (a genetic prediliction to alcoholism is a risk), etc.
Some times a rule changes meaning over time. If your culture has wine that is 2% alcohol and that you mix 4-1 with water (so that the final drink is 20% wine, or less than .4% alcohol) your risk from alcohol is much less than a society that has (a) much more wine and (b) wine that is 11% alcohol. You have to drink about ten or more drinks of the primative wine flavored water to get about the same alcohol as a modern glass of wine.
My post I linked to above had to do with how there are different sets of rules that have come with the gospel at different times. Ours are different from those of other times.
Why rules are significant, how they are significant and when we are “better” than the general society that needs to follow those rules so we don’t have to, that is a huge question.
After all, at 2:00 a.m. at an open intersection where you can see for miles in every direction, how complete of a stop you come to might be different than at 2:00 p.m. with a hedge blocking your view.
Anyway, this is the applied version of the same thoughts I had at http://mormonmatters.org/2010/05/17/sets-meta-sets-and-an-incomplete-world/
My three rules are:
- Be honest
- Work hard
- Love others
There are a number of different types of rules to give children.
First, guidance or mission statement rules. Those should be direct, action oriented, simple and clear. You have my three.
Second, safety/practice rules. Don’t talk to strangers. Look both ways before you cross the street. Take your medication daily. These are obviously circumstance driven (if you don’t have medication you are taking, then you don’t need a rule about taking it; if you are diabetic, food rules are much more strict and important).
Third, procedural rules. We often don’t have enough of those. My wife bought our youngest daughter a book about the rules of friendship. Suzette Haden Elgin has pointed out a number of times that in talking, you should limit yourself to three sentences and then stop (there are two kinds of conversationalists, those who will break in at three sentences, those who expect you to stop at three sentences so they can speak if you want to. If you stop at three sentences you will make both types comfortable). They are all things you need to know.
Fourth, boundary rules. Don’t call your eight year old friends after 10:00 p.m. to invite them over to play. Only twelve hours a day on the computer. Don’t leave the house without your clothes on. Dress in a way that does not bear false witness by the messages the clothing communicates about the community you belong to.
Sometimes a rule crosses several realms. I’ve never drunk alcohol, but I’ve had relatives with serious problems. I’d advise my children to avoid alcohol as a boundary measure (the WoW is a marker of our community), as a safety issue (a genetic prediliction to alcoholism is a risk), etc.
Some times a rule changes meaning over time. If your culture has wine that is 2% alcohol and that you mix 4-1 with water (so that the final drink is 20% wine, or less than .4% alcohol) your risk from alcohol is much less than a society that has (a) much more wine and (b) wine that is 11% alcohol. You have to drink about ten or more drinks of the primative wine flavored water to get about the same alcohol as a modern glass of wine.
My post I linked to above had to do with how there are different sets of rules that have come with the gospel at different times. Ours are different from those of other times.
Why rules are significant, how they are significant and when we are “better” than the general society that needs to follow those rules so we don’t have to, that is a huge question.
After all, at 2:00 a.m. at an open intersection where you can see for miles in every direction, how complete of a stop you come to might be different than at 2:00 p.m. with a hedge blocking your view.
Anyway, this is the applied version of the same thoughts I had at http://mormonmatters.org/2010/05/17/sets-meta-sets-and-an-incomplete-world/
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Son, he said, with pity in his eyes ...
"Just how many coats of paint has that wall gone through?"
Well, it was painted when we bought the house last year, painted bisque with the rest of the house, then light brown, which really worked, but needed some constrast.
"Yes, and you were in earlier this week matching and buying paint ..."
Ok, the pale blue-green, and the pale greener blue-green, the yellow, and the salmon, but this bolero red will be the last paint of coat.
The salesman looked at me. "Son, if you don't mind some advice ... " You will need to give it to my wife, I said with a twinkle, she is the one who has been doing all the painting. Suddenly he smiled. "Nevermind, you don't need any advice after all."
Ok, the furniture needs to be moved back, the paintings straightened out, but that is how the wall looks, you can see the original brown to the right (with the picture that was so bland with the bisque and just pops out with the light brown). The artwork is either some pictures by Suzette Haden Elgin or one by Rachel (our ten year old) that we really liked (depending on which of the three pictures on the now red wall you are looking at).
But I'm very pleased with how the house looks.
Truth and Treason movie trailer
Obviously I'm going to see this when it comes out. I've got the play in my bookshelf, had a photocopy of the Lawrence of Arabia play (and had the author as a guest once). Tom Rogers was an incredibly spiritual man.
There was a lot of concern about the play causing trouble in Eastern Europe; Communist readers theaters took it up for a while; it remains with us. I'd love to see the play undergo a revival now.
Margaret Young's comments
Sunstone article: http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/024-20-29.pdf
One of the survivors died, late last month. I saw a link to this trailer in an article about him.
God bless them all, may we draw courage from them.
There was a lot of concern about the play causing trouble in Eastern Europe; Communist readers theaters took it up for a while; it remains with us. I'd love to see the play undergo a revival now.
Margaret Young's comments
Sunstone article: http://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/024-20-29.pdf
One of the survivors died, late last month. I saw a link to this trailer in an article about him.
God bless them all, may we draw courage from them.
Friday, July 09, 2010
We can't all be Jeff Green
Not too long ago a person I knew well expressed trouble about an issue they had. It turned out their model was Jeff Green, who once sent out seventeen resumes and got thirty job offers. My response was "We can't all be Jeff Green."
My second was to discuss the thousands of hours of preparation he had put in, the years of effort, the attention to obtain crucial certifications and the breadth of knowledge he had at that point in time.
Which means if someone is willing to take the time, do the work, pray the price, they may not be able to be Jeff Green, but they can be like him in the ways that matter. The person I was talking to decided to try harder and smarter and to be like Jeff.
My second was to discuss the thousands of hours of preparation he had put in, the years of effort, the attention to obtain crucial certifications and the breadth of knowledge he had at that point in time.
Which means if someone is willing to take the time, do the work, pray the price, they may not be able to be Jeff Green, but they can be like him in the ways that matter. The person I was talking to decided to try harder and smarter and to be like Jeff.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Adversity, evil and metaphor
For a time I designed myth structures and commented on them, worked on heroquests, was published a little, have some credits. I worked on developing metaphors for evil and for adversity.
Saturday morning I came up with another one: tangled. In fiction and simulations things were "incomplete" with the emotions, patterns and motivations twisted. But too often, in real life, things are tangled.
Much of what we deal with, much of what afflicts us is tangled and misdirected. Not so much our evil self as our real self, only misguided, with cognitive shifts warped around the misdirection.
Loving ourselves is essential to unraveling these tangles that block and bind us. To allow self preservation to preserve us rather than harm us (as it does when it goes wrongly directed or focused) we have to accept it.
So, we acknowledge and accept what we currently are. Our strengths and our weaknesses, our inventory of what we are, how we have come together in a pattern of coping and survival that has flaws -- defects -- that make our lives unmanageable. Then, if we accept and love ourselves, we can look at how each defect interacts with our motives and lives, what it seeks.
At that point we can seek God's help to do what we can not do for ourselves, and untangle one more knotted area, unwinding, untangling and releasing. I had started thinking of tangled fishing line, but tangled muscle knots being massaged out also fits.
Stretching, trigger point release, massage -- all of these are efforts to restore a muscle that has knotted up by mistake to proper function. Releasing a muscle knot does not make you any less, it merely lets you do more with what you are, with less pain. But the muscle that is knotted up is not a part of you to reject or cut out of yourself, instead it is something that just needs release to function as a better part.
Anyway, that was my thought, my metaphor for the day.
Recently read books:
Also, just having been reminded of it in a thread I just read, an important book:
Saturday morning I came up with another one: tangled. In fiction and simulations things were "incomplete" with the emotions, patterns and motivations twisted. But too often, in real life, things are tangled.
Much of what we deal with, much of what afflicts us is tangled and misdirected. Not so much our evil self as our real self, only misguided, with cognitive shifts warped around the misdirection.
Loving ourselves is essential to unraveling these tangles that block and bind us. To allow self preservation to preserve us rather than harm us (as it does when it goes wrongly directed or focused) we have to accept it.
So, we acknowledge and accept what we currently are. Our strengths and our weaknesses, our inventory of what we are, how we have come together in a pattern of coping and survival that has flaws -- defects -- that make our lives unmanageable. Then, if we accept and love ourselves, we can look at how each defect interacts with our motives and lives, what it seeks.
At that point we can seek God's help to do what we can not do for ourselves, and untangle one more knotted area, unwinding, untangling and releasing. I had started thinking of tangled fishing line, but tangled muscle knots being massaged out also fits.
Stretching, trigger point release, massage -- all of these are efforts to restore a muscle that has knotted up by mistake to proper function. Releasing a muscle knot does not make you any less, it merely lets you do more with what you are, with less pain. But the muscle that is knotted up is not a part of you to reject or cut out of yourself, instead it is something that just needs release to function as a better part.
Anyway, that was my thought, my metaphor for the day.
so I just picked up the baby and told them to go back to bed, stating that he was only four days old and had not yet read the book
Recently read books:
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson (Paperback - Mar. 2008)
Buy new: $15.00 $10.20
And
The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse: How to Spot Moral Meltdowns in Companies... Before It's Too Late
And
Also, just having been reminded of it in a thread I just read, an important book:
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (Hardcover - Sept. 3, 2009)
Sunday, July 04, 2010
On the movie 8 (better, see Facing East)
Better than the movie, I would recommend Facing East as this report discusses.
However, because it is topical ...
For more, visit this review:
http://www.patheos.com/community/mormonportal/2010/06/28/
and his conclusion:
For comparison:
However, because it is topical ...
You would never know from 8 that many famous Mormons — Harry Reid, Steve Young, Bill Marriott — spoke out against Prop 8 publicly. There’s no hint that many faithful Mormons created activist groups and websites against Prop 8.
For more, visit this review:
http://www.patheos.com/community/mormonportal/2010/06/28/
Add these all together and you have a package designed not just to NOT attract faithful Mormons, but deliberately offend them. Even the Mormons who can (and should) consider the secondary theme of the film about charity and Christ-like behavior towards gays aren’t going to watch 8: The Mormon Proposition because they’ll hear about it being merely an anti-Mormon polemic.
And for the most part, they’d be right. Unfortunately, it seems the filmmakers of 8 think “tolerance” is something only other people need to do.
and his conclusion:
It’s really too bad that the important messages here are going to be lost. If I was asked by another Church member if they should see 8, I would say, honestly: “20 minutes of it should be required viewing for all Church members…and the other 60 minutes are an intellectually dishonest framing of a serious issue that is probably a waste of your time to watch.” You can decide for yourself how many members would end up seeking out the documentary based on that “recommendation”.
For comparison:
This time is differentTHE advertisement warns of speculative financial bubbles. It mocks a group of gullible Frenchmen seduced into a silly, 18th-century investment scheme, noting that the modern shareholder, armed with superior information, can avoid the pitfalls of the past. “How different the position of the investor today!” the ad enthuses.
Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times
It ran in The Saturday Evening Post on Sept. 14, 1929. A month later, the stock market crashed.
“Everyone wants to think they’re smarter than the poor souls in developing countries, and smarter than their predecessors,” says Carmen M. Reinhart, an economist at the University of Maryland. “They’re wrong. And we can prove it.”
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Taking a class in two months
I was thinking of how hard it would be to finish a class like statics (two hours of credit) in two months when I thought of a group of post-graduate students that finished a three hour class in two months. That meant six hours of lecture a week, projects and a comprehensive final.
http://adrr.com/smu/health/index.htm is a link to the class notes and other materials.
I was lucky enough that the group of mixed professionals (including M.D.s, hospital administrators and others) gave me a higher feedback rating than anyone else teaching in the program, and I survived putting the class together on about ten days notice. I was working full-time, down town in the city when I taught the class.
But the key point is that the students were also all working, 50-60 hours a week much like I was, in demanding jobs, and they all finished the class and earned As (admittedly, the projects were more important than the final, which was a test of concepts vs. application).
They read hundreds of pages of material, participated in class intelligently, completed projects and passed oral and well as written exams. Without significant prior academic exposure to the focus area of the class.
Think what they could have done if they were working fewer hours or had more preparation.
http://adrr.com/smu/health/index.htm is a link to the class notes and other materials.
I was lucky enough that the group of mixed professionals (including M.D.s, hospital administrators and others) gave me a higher feedback rating than anyone else teaching in the program, and I survived putting the class together on about ten days notice. I was working full-time, down town in the city when I taught the class.
But the key point is that the students were also all working, 50-60 hours a week much like I was, in demanding jobs, and they all finished the class and earned As (admittedly, the projects were more important than the final, which was a test of concepts vs. application).
They read hundreds of pages of material, participated in class intelligently, completed projects and passed oral and well as written exams. Without significant prior academic exposure to the focus area of the class.
Think what they could have done if they were working fewer hours or had more preparation.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Misc links
Dave Berry in Japan:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mmd9cE9YOrcC&lpg=PA50&ots=kLQZAJiLOK&dq=%22dave%20barry%20does%20japan%22%20%22vice%20president%22&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false
Tuba charm bracelets:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=tuba+charm&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CdzHufuQTTOSnOIuugATnu7y-CgAAAKoEBU_Q45tp&fp=4defc8a0deb73daa
Shamus plays LOTR on-line:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/shamusplays/7667-Shamus-Plays-LOTRO-Part-21
Steven R. Boyett has a sequel to Ariel out, about twenty years later, and answers questions about it on his forum:
http://steveboy.com/forum/
Comment and suggest a link.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mmd9cE9YOrcC&lpg=PA50&ots=kLQZAJiLOK&dq=%22dave%20barry%20does%20japan%22%20%22vice%20president%22&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false
Tuba charm bracelets:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=tuba+charm&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CdzHufuQTTOSnOIuugATnu7y-CgAAAKoEBU_Q45tp&fp=4defc8a0deb73daa
Shamus plays LOTR on-line:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/shamusplays/7667-Shamus-Plays-LOTRO-Part-21
Steven R. Boyett has a sequel to Ariel out, about twenty years later, and answers questions about it on his forum:
http://steveboy.com/forum/
Comment and suggest a link.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Grief
- It is not a contest.
- You don't control it, but you can survive it.
- Loss is not personal. "Why me" often has no answer
Friday, June 04, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
No Excuses -- Brian Tracy
Every-so-often I get review books. Some I really like (I know, everyone I bought copies of Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else can remember my thoughts on that book), others I give to other reviewers who sometimes can't believe their luck to get a copy of the book I thought was a step below trash. (True story about one book).
I liked No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy enough that I caught myself doing the hesitate and rewrite the review again.
There was once a kid whose artist parents believed in "free range" raising of their kids -- the one time the truant officer caught up with them they sold the kid into indentured servitude to a street magician for a year to get their pre-teen son out of going to school. When he was twelve, he and a neighbor kid taught themselves to read by breaking into a neighbor's house and stealing books (which they returned so as not to get caught) and then reading them as they herded goats.
When I knew him (as my client) he was almost thirty -- but he was starting to study engineering at Duke. His sister started from scratch, taught herself to read, went to college, and got an MBA at age 28.
There are people who start from nothing and create themselves.
Which brings me to a manual laborer named Brian Tracy, in a dead end job, no education, no skills, just hands and a back. Who woke up one day and rebuilt himself from scratch. Then, after a number of things (and making a lot of money) he wrote this book on how to rebuild yourself from scratch.
Most of those books are either too simple or too complex, and they are not "tangible" -- they don't connect the dots and the steps. This book does. Each chapter discusses and approaches a set of principles. Each chapter ends with checklists and action exercises. You can work through what he has to say a step at a time, a bite at a time (as a secretary of mine once said "I'm not doing this one day at a time, I'm doing this one hour at a time" -- and she found success in remaking her life).
What Rhadi Ferguson is to Judo and "chump repellent" (taking people from third class competitors to the Olympics -- so he is not hot air, but real results) Brian Tracy is to remaking your life.
The essay of his I posted, and the one below, are good, but they don't do the book justice.
I can recommend this book to a lot of people, though I'll probably end up buying more copies of it to give away. A down side to reviewing books (maybe I can get a credit from the guys who send me review copies towards buying more copies of them?).
The following is used with permission:
The occupation you select, the job you take, and the key steps in your career are largely determined by the people you meet and talk to at those critical decision points in your life. In fact, at every crossroad in your life there is usually someone standing there pointing you in one direction or another.
According to the law of probabilities, the greater number of people you know who can help you at any given time, the more likely it is that you will know the right person at the right time and in the place to give you the help you need to move ahead more rapidly in your life. The more people you know, the more doors of opportunity will be open to you and the more sound advice you will get in making the important decisions that shape your life.
Dr. David McLelland of Harvard did a 25-year research study into the factors that contribute most to success. He found that, holding constant for age, education, occupation and opportunities, the single most important factor in career success is your "reference group." Your reference group is made up of the people with whom you habitually associate and identify. These are the people you live with, work with and interact with outside of your work. You identify with these people and consider yourself to be one of them. They consider you one of them as well.
When you develop a positive reference group, you begin to become a member of the in-crowd at your level of business. The starting point in this process is to develop a deliberate and systematic approach to networking throughout your career.
People like to do business with people they know. They like to socialize and interact with people with whom they are familiar. And they like to recommend people they trust. Fully 85% of the best jobs in America are filled as the result of a third party recommendation. The best networkers are never unemployed for very long.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they begin networking is scattering their time and energy indiscriminately and spending their time with people who can be of no help at all. Even if they attend organization meetings, they often end up associating with people who are neither particularly ambitious or well-connected.
When you network, you must be perfectly selfish. You want to become all you can over the course of your career. You want to rise as far as you can. Any success you could ever desire will require the active involvement and help of lots of other people. Your job is to focus your energies and attention on meeting the people who can help you and the only way you can do this is by staying away from the people who cannot help you at all.
When you network, your aim is to meet people who are going places in their lives. You want to meet people who are ahead of you in their careers and in their organizations. You want to meet people you can look up to with pride. You want to meet people who can be friends, guides and mentors. You want to think ahead and meet people who can help you move into your ideal future more readily. For this reason, you must sort people into categories: helpful vs. non-helpful, ambitious vs. non-ambitious, going somewhere vs. going nowhere. Remember, your choice of a reference group in your networking will determine the success of the process.
You begin your networking process at your place of work. Look around and identify the top people in your organization. Make these people your role models and pattern yourself after them. One of the best ways to start networking is to go to someone you admire and ask for his or her advice. Don't be a pest. Don't tie up several hours of their time. Initially you should ask for only a few minutes and you should have two or three specific questions. When you talk to a successful person, ask questions like, "What do you think is the most important quality or attribute that has contributed to your success?" and, "What one piece of advice would you give to someone like me who wants to be as successful as you some day?" You could also ask, "Can you recommend a particular book, tape, or training program that would help me move along more rapidly in my career?"
There is a law of incremental commitment in networking. It says that people become committed to helping you, or associating with you, little by little over time. In some cases the chemistry won't be right and the person with whom you would like to network will really not be interested in networking with you. Don't take this personally. People get into, or out of, networking for a thousand reasons. However, if there is good chemistry, if you like the person and the person likes you, be patient and bide your time. Don't rush or hurry, just let the networking relationship unfold without over-eagerness on your part. If you try to go too fast, you will scare people away.
Instead of asking your superiors for more money, ask for more responsibility. Tell your boss that you are determined to be extremely valuable to the organization and that you are willing to work extra hours in order to make a more important contribution.
There is nothing so impressive to a boss as an employee who continually volunteers for more responsibility. Many people have the unfortunate goal of doing as little as possible for as much money as possible. But not the winners. The winners realize that if all you do is what you're being paid for today, you can never be paid any more in the future. The person who continually volunteers for extra assignments and does more than is expected gains the respect, esteem and support of his or her boss.
Whenever you do something nice or helpful for others, they feel a sense of obligation. They feel like they owe you one. They have a deep subconscious need to pay you back until they no longer feel obligated to you. The more things you do for people without expectation of return, the more they feel obligated to help you when the time comes.
We have moved from the age of the go-getter to the age of the go-giver. A go-giver is a person who practices the law of sowing and reaping. He or she is always looking for opportunities to sow, knowing that reaping is not the result of chance. You will find that successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?"
The surprising thing is that the more of yourself you give away with no direct expectation of return, the more good things come back to you in the most unexpected ways. In fact, it seems that the help we get in life almost invariably comes from people whom we have not helped directly. Rather, it comes from others who have been influenced by people whom we have helped directly. Therefore, since you can't control where your help or assistance is coming from, you must establish a blanket policy of giving with complete confidence that it will come back to you in the most wonderful ways.
Whatever your job or occupation, there are trade and industry associations, business associations and service clubs that you can join. Excellent networkers are among the best known and most respected people in the community. To reach that status, they followed a simple formula. They carefully identified the clubs and associations whose members they can help and support and who can help and support them in return. And then they joined and participated.
When you look at the various organizations you should join, you should select no more than two or three. Target the ones with the people that can be the most helpful to you. When you join, your strategy should be to look at the various committees of the organization. Volunteer for the committee that engages in the activities that are most important to the organization, such as governmental affairs or fundraising. Then get fully involved in your chosen responsibilities.
You will find that the members of the key committees are usually key players in the business community as well. By joining the committee, you create an opportunity to interact with them in a completely voluntary and non-threatening way. You give them a chance to see what you can really do, outside the work environment. And you contribute to the committee as a peer, not as an employee or subordinate.
Remember, in any committee 20% of the people do 80% of the work. In any association, fully 80% of the members never volunteer for anything. All they do is attend the meetings and then go home. But this is not for you. You are determined to make your mark and you do this by jumping wholeheartedly into voluntary activities that move the association ahead. And the key people will be watching and evaluating you. The more favorable attention you attract, the more people will be willing to help you when you need them.
Networking fulfills one of your deepest subconscious needs -- getting to know people and being known by them. It fulfills your need for social interaction and for the establishing of friendly relationships. It broadens your perspective and opens doors of opportunities for you. It increases the number of people who know and respect you. It makes you feel more in control of your career. And it can be one of the most exciting and fulfilling experiences of your life.
© 2009 Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
I liked No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy enough that I caught myself doing the hesitate and rewrite the review again.
There was once a kid whose artist parents believed in "free range" raising of their kids -- the one time the truant officer caught up with them they sold the kid into indentured servitude to a street magician for a year to get their pre-teen son out of going to school. When he was twelve, he and a neighbor kid taught themselves to read by breaking into a neighbor's house and stealing books (which they returned so as not to get caught) and then reading them as they herded goats.
When I knew him (as my client) he was almost thirty -- but he was starting to study engineering at Duke. His sister started from scratch, taught herself to read, went to college, and got an MBA at age 28.
There are people who start from nothing and create themselves.
Which brings me to a manual laborer named Brian Tracy, in a dead end job, no education, no skills, just hands and a back. Who woke up one day and rebuilt himself from scratch. Then, after a number of things (and making a lot of money) he wrote this book on how to rebuild yourself from scratch.
Most of those books are either too simple or too complex, and they are not "tangible" -- they don't connect the dots and the steps. This book does. Each chapter discusses and approaches a set of principles. Each chapter ends with checklists and action exercises. You can work through what he has to say a step at a time, a bite at a time (as a secretary of mine once said "I'm not doing this one day at a time, I'm doing this one hour at a time" -- and she found success in remaking her life).
What Rhadi Ferguson is to Judo and "chump repellent" (taking people from third class competitors to the Olympics -- so he is not hot air, but real results) Brian Tracy is to remaking your life.
The essay of his I posted, and the one below, are good, but they don't do the book justice.
I can recommend this book to a lot of people, though I'll probably end up buying more copies of it to give away. A down side to reviewing books (maybe I can get a credit from the guys who send me review copies towards buying more copies of them?).
The following is used with permission:
Building Your Network
By Brian Tracy,
Author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
The occupation you select, the job you take, and the key steps in your career are largely determined by the people you meet and talk to at those critical decision points in your life. In fact, at every crossroad in your life there is usually someone standing there pointing you in one direction or another.
According to the law of probabilities, the greater number of people you know who can help you at any given time, the more likely it is that you will know the right person at the right time and in the place to give you the help you need to move ahead more rapidly in your life. The more people you know, the more doors of opportunity will be open to you and the more sound advice you will get in making the important decisions that shape your life.
Dr. David McLelland of Harvard did a 25-year research study into the factors that contribute most to success. He found that, holding constant for age, education, occupation and opportunities, the single most important factor in career success is your "reference group." Your reference group is made up of the people with whom you habitually associate and identify. These are the people you live with, work with and interact with outside of your work. You identify with these people and consider yourself to be one of them. They consider you one of them as well.
When you develop a positive reference group, you begin to become a member of the in-crowd at your level of business. The starting point in this process is to develop a deliberate and systematic approach to networking throughout your career.
People like to do business with people they know. They like to socialize and interact with people with whom they are familiar. And they like to recommend people they trust. Fully 85% of the best jobs in America are filled as the result of a third party recommendation. The best networkers are never unemployed for very long.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they begin networking is scattering their time and energy indiscriminately and spending their time with people who can be of no help at all. Even if they attend organization meetings, they often end up associating with people who are neither particularly ambitious or well-connected.
When you network, you must be perfectly selfish. You want to become all you can over the course of your career. You want to rise as far as you can. Any success you could ever desire will require the active involvement and help of lots of other people. Your job is to focus your energies and attention on meeting the people who can help you and the only way you can do this is by staying away from the people who cannot help you at all.
When you network, your aim is to meet people who are going places in their lives. You want to meet people who are ahead of you in their careers and in their organizations. You want to meet people you can look up to with pride. You want to meet people who can be friends, guides and mentors. You want to think ahead and meet people who can help you move into your ideal future more readily. For this reason, you must sort people into categories: helpful vs. non-helpful, ambitious vs. non-ambitious, going somewhere vs. going nowhere. Remember, your choice of a reference group in your networking will determine the success of the process.
You begin your networking process at your place of work. Look around and identify the top people in your organization. Make these people your role models and pattern yourself after them. One of the best ways to start networking is to go to someone you admire and ask for his or her advice. Don't be a pest. Don't tie up several hours of their time. Initially you should ask for only a few minutes and you should have two or three specific questions. When you talk to a successful person, ask questions like, "What do you think is the most important quality or attribute that has contributed to your success?" and, "What one piece of advice would you give to someone like me who wants to be as successful as you some day?" You could also ask, "Can you recommend a particular book, tape, or training program that would help me move along more rapidly in my career?"
There is a law of incremental commitment in networking. It says that people become committed to helping you, or associating with you, little by little over time. In some cases the chemistry won't be right and the person with whom you would like to network will really not be interested in networking with you. Don't take this personally. People get into, or out of, networking for a thousand reasons. However, if there is good chemistry, if you like the person and the person likes you, be patient and bide your time. Don't rush or hurry, just let the networking relationship unfold without over-eagerness on your part. If you try to go too fast, you will scare people away.
Instead of asking your superiors for more money, ask for more responsibility. Tell your boss that you are determined to be extremely valuable to the organization and that you are willing to work extra hours in order to make a more important contribution.
There is nothing so impressive to a boss as an employee who continually volunteers for more responsibility. Many people have the unfortunate goal of doing as little as possible for as much money as possible. But not the winners. The winners realize that if all you do is what you're being paid for today, you can never be paid any more in the future. The person who continually volunteers for extra assignments and does more than is expected gains the respect, esteem and support of his or her boss.
Whenever you do something nice or helpful for others, they feel a sense of obligation. They feel like they owe you one. They have a deep subconscious need to pay you back until they no longer feel obligated to you. The more things you do for people without expectation of return, the more they feel obligated to help you when the time comes.
We have moved from the age of the go-getter to the age of the go-giver. A go-giver is a person who practices the law of sowing and reaping. He or she is always looking for opportunities to sow, knowing that reaping is not the result of chance. You will find that successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?"
The surprising thing is that the more of yourself you give away with no direct expectation of return, the more good things come back to you in the most unexpected ways. In fact, it seems that the help we get in life almost invariably comes from people whom we have not helped directly. Rather, it comes from others who have been influenced by people whom we have helped directly. Therefore, since you can't control where your help or assistance is coming from, you must establish a blanket policy of giving with complete confidence that it will come back to you in the most wonderful ways.
Whatever your job or occupation, there are trade and industry associations, business associations and service clubs that you can join. Excellent networkers are among the best known and most respected people in the community. To reach that status, they followed a simple formula. They carefully identified the clubs and associations whose members they can help and support and who can help and support them in return. And then they joined and participated.
When you look at the various organizations you should join, you should select no more than two or three. Target the ones with the people that can be the most helpful to you. When you join, your strategy should be to look at the various committees of the organization. Volunteer for the committee that engages in the activities that are most important to the organization, such as governmental affairs or fundraising. Then get fully involved in your chosen responsibilities.
You will find that the members of the key committees are usually key players in the business community as well. By joining the committee, you create an opportunity to interact with them in a completely voluntary and non-threatening way. You give them a chance to see what you can really do, outside the work environment. And you contribute to the committee as a peer, not as an employee or subordinate.
Remember, in any committee 20% of the people do 80% of the work. In any association, fully 80% of the members never volunteer for anything. All they do is attend the meetings and then go home. But this is not for you. You are determined to make your mark and you do this by jumping wholeheartedly into voluntary activities that move the association ahead. And the key people will be watching and evaluating you. The more favorable attention you attract, the more people will be willing to help you when you need them.
Networking fulfills one of your deepest subconscious needs -- getting to know people and being known by them. It fulfills your need for social interaction and for the establishing of friendly relationships. It broadens your perspective and opens doors of opportunities for you. It increases the number of people who know and respect you. It makes you feel more in control of your career. And it can be one of the most exciting and fulfilling experiences of your life.
© 2009 Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
Author Bio
Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline, was born in eastern Canada in 1944 and grew up in California. After dropping out of high school, he traveled and worked his way around the world, eventually visiting eighty countries on six continents. His extensive personal studies in business, sales, management, marketing, and economics enabled him to become the head of a $265 million company before he turned his attention to consulting, training, and personal development. He is now the president of three companies with operations worldwide. He is married, has four children, and lives in San Diego, California.
For more information, please visit www.briantracy.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.
Applied Behavioral Economics
Really neat stuff.
I'm doing a fair amount of reading on this topic in connection with ethics readings I'm doing.
More later.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Revisiting the Past, Pondering
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2004/11/can-a-good-mormon-be-a-meritocrat/ Made me think, especially reading the comments.
Again. Revisiting what was said there and the perspectives and thoughts I had six years ago in response to the article made me realize that there are still areas of life where I am unsettled.
Also made me think of my aunt Nike. My daughter Heather Nicole was named (in part) after her.
Guess that is how it should be. Thought and reflection.
Again. Revisiting what was said there and the perspectives and thoughts I had six years ago in response to the article made me realize that there are still areas of life where I am unsettled.
Also made me think of my aunt Nike. My daughter Heather Nicole was named (in part) after her.
Guess that is how it should be. Thought and reflection.
Friday, May 21, 2010
No Excuses
It is terrible. I have this book I got a review copy of. I really like it and have drafted a review that I have not quite been able to finish. So I find myself thinking of excuses for not getting a review done of a book titled "No Excuses." I'll probably end up buying some copies to give away.
Until then, I have an article, used with permission:
There's an old saying that you can't solve a problem on the level that you meet it. This means that wrestling with a challenge is usually fruitless and frustrating. For example, if two people who are in a relationship together are constantly fighting and negotiating and looking for some way to resolve their difficulties, they're attempting to solve the problem on the wrong level. Dealing with the problem on a higher level, those people would ask the question, "In terms of being happy, is this the right relationship for us in the first place?" As soon as you begin to use happiness as your measure of rightness, you begin to see a situation entirely differently.
Many people work very hard and experience considerable frustration trying to do a particular job. However, in terms of their own happiness, the right answer might be to do something else, or to do what they're doing in a different place, or to do it with different people -- or all three.
Ask Yourself
Following are a few questions for you to answer in this arena of happiness. Many people refuse to even consider these questions because they're afraid that if they do, they won't like the answers. But nevertheless, have the courage to clearly define your life in your own terms. Here are the questions; write them down at the top of a sheet of paper, and then write as many answers to each one as you possibly can.
The first question is: "What would it take for me to be perfectly happy?" Write down every single thing that you can imagine would be in your life if you were perfectly happy at this very moment. Write down things such as health, happiness, prosperity, loving relationships, inner peace, travel, car, clothes, homes, money, and so on. Let your mind run freely. Imagine that you have no limitations at all. Write everything down whether or not you think you have the capacity to acquire it or achieve it in the short term. Your first job is always to be clear about what it would take for you to have your ideal life.
The second question is a little tougher. Write down at the top of a page this question: "In what situations in my life, and with whom, am I not perfectly happy?" Force yourself to think about every part of your day, from morning to night, and write down every element that makes you unhappy or dissatisfied in any way. Remember, proper diagnosis is half the cure. Identifying the problematic situations is the first step to resolving them.
The third question will give you some important guidelines. Write down at the top of a sheet of paper these words: "In looking over my life, where and when have I been the happiest? Where was I, with whom was I, and what was I doing?"
By asking and answering those three questions, you begin to delve deeper and deeper into yourself and your feelings. You begin to accept your own happiness as a legitimate standard by which to evaluate everyone and everything in your life. You begin to develop the wisdom, the courage, and the foresight to organize your life in such a way that you become a much happier person.
Once you have the answers to those questions, think about what you can do, starting immediately, to begin creating the kind of life that you dream of. It may take you a week, a month or a year, but that doesn't matter. Every single thing you do that moves you closer to your vision of happiness will be rewarding in itself. You'll become a more positive and optimistic person. You'll feel more confident and more in charge of your life.
Happy vs. Right
And now here's the most important exercise of all. It is from the advice of Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, who asks, "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?" He recommends that you set peace of mind as your highest goal and that you select and organize around it all your other goals in life. You hold up each part of your life to this standard of peace of mind, and you either get into or get out of anything that adds to it or detracts from it.
The most important part in this process of getting in touch with your feelings is to begin to practice solitude on a regular basis. Solitude is the most powerful activity in which you can engage. Men and women who practice it correctly and on a regular basis never fail to be amazed at the difference it makes in their lives.
Most people have never practiced solitude. Most people have never sat down quietly by themselves for any period of time in their entire lives. Most people are so busy being busy, doing something -- even watching television -- that it's highly unusual for them to simply sit, deliberately, and do nothing. But as Catherine Ponder points out, "Men and women begin to become great when they begin to take time quietly by themselves, when they begin to practice solitude." And here's the method you can use.
Method of Solitude
To get the full benefit of your periods of solitude, you must sit quietly for at least 30 to 60 minutes at a time. If you haven't done it before, it will take the first 25 minutes or so for you to stop fidgeting and moving around. You'll almost have to hold yourself physically in your seat. You'll have an almost irresistible desire to get up and do something. But you must persist.
Solitude requires that you sit quietly, perfectly still, back and head erect, eyes open, without cigarettes, candy, writing materials, music or any interruptions whatsoever for at least 30 minutes. An hour is better.
Become completely relaxed, and breathe deeply. Just let your mind flow. Don't deliberately try to think about anything. The harder you "don't try," the more powerfully it works. After 20 or 25 minutes, you'll begin to feel deeply relaxed. You'll begin to experience a flow of energy coming into your mind and body. You'll have a tremendous sense of well-being. At this point, you'll be ready to get the full benefit of these moments of contemplation.
The incredible thing about solitude is that if it is done correctly, it works just about 100 percent of the time. While you're sitting there, a stream, a river, of ideas will flow through your mind. You'll think about countless subjects in an uncontrolled stream of consciousness. Your job is just to relax and listen to your inner voice. At a certain stage during your period of solitude, the answers to the most pressing difficulties facing you will emerge quietly and clearly, like a boat putting in gently to the side of a lake. The answer that you seek will come to you so clearly and it will feel so perfect that you'll experience a deep sense of gratitude and contentment. You may get several answers in one period of quiet sitting. But in any case, you'll get the answer to the most important situation facing you every single time.
When you arise from this period of quiet, you must do exactly what has come to you. It may involve dealing with a human situation. It may involve starting something or quitting something. Whatever it is, when you follow the guidance that you received in solitude, it will turn out to be exactly the right thing to do. Everything will be OK. And it will usually work out far better than you could have imagined. Just try it and see.
That brings us to the final point on getting in touch with your feelings: You must learn to trust yourself. You must learn to take time to listen to your emotions and your feelings as to what makes you happy or unhappy, as to what feels right or wrong. You must absolutely trust that what is right for you is the right thing to do. You must never compromise on what your inner voice tells you to do. You must never go against what you feel to be correct. You must develop the habit of listening to yourself and then acting on the guidance you receive.
When you listen to yourself and act on what you hear inside, you are setting out on the road to personal greatness.
Read "Accessing Your Inner-Guidance Part One".
© 2010 Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
Until then, I have an article, used with permission:
Accessing Your Inner Guidance
By Brian Tracy,
Author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
There's an old saying that you can't solve a problem on the level that you meet it. This means that wrestling with a challenge is usually fruitless and frustrating. For example, if two people who are in a relationship together are constantly fighting and negotiating and looking for some way to resolve their difficulties, they're attempting to solve the problem on the wrong level. Dealing with the problem on a higher level, those people would ask the question, "In terms of being happy, is this the right relationship for us in the first place?" As soon as you begin to use happiness as your measure of rightness, you begin to see a situation entirely differently.
Many people work very hard and experience considerable frustration trying to do a particular job. However, in terms of their own happiness, the right answer might be to do something else, or to do what they're doing in a different place, or to do it with different people -- or all three.
Ask Yourself
Following are a few questions for you to answer in this arena of happiness. Many people refuse to even consider these questions because they're afraid that if they do, they won't like the answers. But nevertheless, have the courage to clearly define your life in your own terms. Here are the questions; write them down at the top of a sheet of paper, and then write as many answers to each one as you possibly can.
The first question is: "What would it take for me to be perfectly happy?" Write down every single thing that you can imagine would be in your life if you were perfectly happy at this very moment. Write down things such as health, happiness, prosperity, loving relationships, inner peace, travel, car, clothes, homes, money, and so on. Let your mind run freely. Imagine that you have no limitations at all. Write everything down whether or not you think you have the capacity to acquire it or achieve it in the short term. Your first job is always to be clear about what it would take for you to have your ideal life.
The second question is a little tougher. Write down at the top of a page this question: "In what situations in my life, and with whom, am I not perfectly happy?" Force yourself to think about every part of your day, from morning to night, and write down every element that makes you unhappy or dissatisfied in any way. Remember, proper diagnosis is half the cure. Identifying the problematic situations is the first step to resolving them.
The third question will give you some important guidelines. Write down at the top of a sheet of paper these words: "In looking over my life, where and when have I been the happiest? Where was I, with whom was I, and what was I doing?"
By asking and answering those three questions, you begin to delve deeper and deeper into yourself and your feelings. You begin to accept your own happiness as a legitimate standard by which to evaluate everyone and everything in your life. You begin to develop the wisdom, the courage, and the foresight to organize your life in such a way that you become a much happier person.
Once you have the answers to those questions, think about what you can do, starting immediately, to begin creating the kind of life that you dream of. It may take you a week, a month or a year, but that doesn't matter. Every single thing you do that moves you closer to your vision of happiness will be rewarding in itself. You'll become a more positive and optimistic person. You'll feel more confident and more in charge of your life.
Happy vs. Right
And now here's the most important exercise of all. It is from the advice of Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, who asks, "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?" He recommends that you set peace of mind as your highest goal and that you select and organize around it all your other goals in life. You hold up each part of your life to this standard of peace of mind, and you either get into or get out of anything that adds to it or detracts from it.
The most important part in this process of getting in touch with your feelings is to begin to practice solitude on a regular basis. Solitude is the most powerful activity in which you can engage. Men and women who practice it correctly and on a regular basis never fail to be amazed at the difference it makes in their lives.
Most people have never practiced solitude. Most people have never sat down quietly by themselves for any period of time in their entire lives. Most people are so busy being busy, doing something -- even watching television -- that it's highly unusual for them to simply sit, deliberately, and do nothing. But as Catherine Ponder points out, "Men and women begin to become great when they begin to take time quietly by themselves, when they begin to practice solitude." And here's the method you can use.
Method of Solitude
To get the full benefit of your periods of solitude, you must sit quietly for at least 30 to 60 minutes at a time. If you haven't done it before, it will take the first 25 minutes or so for you to stop fidgeting and moving around. You'll almost have to hold yourself physically in your seat. You'll have an almost irresistible desire to get up and do something. But you must persist.
Solitude requires that you sit quietly, perfectly still, back and head erect, eyes open, without cigarettes, candy, writing materials, music or any interruptions whatsoever for at least 30 minutes. An hour is better.
Become completely relaxed, and breathe deeply. Just let your mind flow. Don't deliberately try to think about anything. The harder you "don't try," the more powerfully it works. After 20 or 25 minutes, you'll begin to feel deeply relaxed. You'll begin to experience a flow of energy coming into your mind and body. You'll have a tremendous sense of well-being. At this point, you'll be ready to get the full benefit of these moments of contemplation.
The incredible thing about solitude is that if it is done correctly, it works just about 100 percent of the time. While you're sitting there, a stream, a river, of ideas will flow through your mind. You'll think about countless subjects in an uncontrolled stream of consciousness. Your job is just to relax and listen to your inner voice. At a certain stage during your period of solitude, the answers to the most pressing difficulties facing you will emerge quietly and clearly, like a boat putting in gently to the side of a lake. The answer that you seek will come to you so clearly and it will feel so perfect that you'll experience a deep sense of gratitude and contentment. You may get several answers in one period of quiet sitting. But in any case, you'll get the answer to the most important situation facing you every single time.
When you arise from this period of quiet, you must do exactly what has come to you. It may involve dealing with a human situation. It may involve starting something or quitting something. Whatever it is, when you follow the guidance that you received in solitude, it will turn out to be exactly the right thing to do. Everything will be OK. And it will usually work out far better than you could have imagined. Just try it and see.
That brings us to the final point on getting in touch with your feelings: You must learn to trust yourself. You must learn to take time to listen to your emotions and your feelings as to what makes you happy or unhappy, as to what feels right or wrong. You must absolutely trust that what is right for you is the right thing to do. You must never compromise on what your inner voice tells you to do. You must never go against what you feel to be correct. You must develop the habit of listening to yourself and then acting on the guidance you receive.
When you listen to yourself and act on what you hear inside, you are setting out on the road to personal greatness.
Read "Accessing Your Inner-Guidance Part One".
© 2010 Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline
Author Bio
Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline, was born in eastern Canada in 1944 and grew up in California. After dropping out of high school, he traveled and worked his way around the world, eventually visiting eighty countries on six continents. His extensive personal studies in business, sales, management, marketing, and economics enabled him to become the head of a $265 million company before he turned his attention to consulting, training, and personal development. He is now the president of three companies with operations worldwide. He is married, has four children, and lives in San Diego, California.
For more information, please visit www.briantracy.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
A mother's day letter
From the letter from my oldest to her mother on Mother's Day:
I was just thinking about you and wanted to thank you for teaching me how to
raise a garden
patch dry wall
walk in high heels
vaccinate small animals
lay tile
remove a wall
wear makeup
listen to and help someone in pain
stand up for myself
compromise
work hard
flirt
and to succeed and fail with grace.
I couldn't ask for a better teacher or example.
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