The Secret? A Positive Attitude About Opportunites

Exercising is not one of my favorite pastimes but I know it's good for me. So every day I try to get outside and take a 2-mile walk. Most days I carry a small notebook and pen with me so that I can jot down the random brilliant thoughts that come to me as I stroll around the neighborhood.

A few weeks ago I was rounding a corner about half way through my walk and noticed a nickel in the road. I adjusted my gait so that I stepped on the shiny coin and kept walking.

Within a few steps I started thinking of my daughter who always stops to pick up loose change. She wouldn't have passed this one by. I was half tempted to turn around and go back for it, but I thought it would be embarrassing if someone happened to see me stooping down to pick up a nickel.

It didn't take long for me to transition my thoughts from that nickel to those small opportunities that have been in front of me that I've stepped on or passed by. How many have I overlooked because I thought they were insignificant? How many have I been too embarrassed to attempt? How many have I stepped on because I wanted to show the world they were unworthy of my attention?

Later that day I told my daughter about the nickel incident because it was continued to weigh on my mind. She didn't say, "Don't worry about it. It was only a nickel." She did say, "I would have picked it up. Did you know that one day at school I found over a dollar in change on the floor?"

She had taken advantage of seemingly small opportunities. But when added up, they became something worthwhile. In my daughter's case, she was able to buy a can of soda from the vending machine at school-something she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

The next morning I paid attention as I walked that same stretch of road. I was determined to pick up that nickel if I saw it again. But alas, it was gone. Not surprising I guess. Someone else is usually willing to take advantage of the opportunities that others choose to pass by. Unfortunately by the time I decided to take advantage of it, the opportunity was no longer there.

Of course not every opportunity is one that I want to stop and pick up. Some merely resemble something that would help me achieve my goals in life, the way that bottle caps, from a distance, look a lot like coins. But some we recognize immediately as worthwhile yet we still choose to walk by them.

Since the day I walked past that nickel in the road, I've been more attuned to opportunities that surround me. I've been paying attention to my response to them. Instead of quickly discounting the ones that appear to be small payoffs, I'm looking at the bigger picture. What can a small opportunity add to what I already have going on? How can a small opportunity serve as the beginning of something bigger?

 What a great life lesson! And it only cost me a nickel.

Story Of An Elephant

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Happy Marriage Life - Key to Success

Often people think that marriage life and success is not related. But in fact, it is. A happy married life is as essential for fulfillment as food is for hunger. It is very important to leave your all perils and suffocation to office when you entered in your home because sometimes it can effect your married life so badly. To those who are married and planning to get married, below are some tips on how to make your spouse and family happy all the time and get their positive vibration on climbing the ladder of success

1. Know Your Partner Well

Developing awareness of your partner's tastes is among the keys to a happy married life. Your relationship can be shaped according to each other's preferences. When you are aware of your partner's dislikes, you can refrain from doing what will cause distress to your partner. This will ensure your partner that you are considerate of him or her, a factor that is of utmost importance in the successful achievement of marital harmony.



2. Don’t Leave Things Unsaid

I watched a movie once – I think it was one of those British romantic comedies – where a man is asked why his marriage failed and he replies “Because we left too many things unsaid” and though I don’t normally take advice from movies, this one I took to heart. If you don’t voice your problems they have nowhere to go. Worse if you voice them to people not in your marriage – i.e. friends, coworkers, anyone else – then instead of airing your dirty laundry you let it fester. No matter how long two people have known each other there will still be things that they don’t pick up when unspoken. Sure you may think your partner knows what you’re thinking, but what if they don’t?

3. Make Decisions Together

Making decisions together is also a key to achieving happiness in marriage for three reasons. First, this practise enables the couple to work in collaboration to reach a decision. Second, both get equally involved in the decision making. Third, if only one person makes a decision that ultimately turns out to be a bad one, it could lead to resentment.

4. Accept your Partner

It is tempting to find a person and try to shape them into the partner you really want. Trying to change a person never works. People know when they are not accepted in their entirety and it hurts. You shouldn’t go into a marriage or a relationship thinking to change someone. And if you do remember the most you can do is explain what it is, explain how it affects you or why it affects you and if it’s important, then they may change. And if they don’t, then think about all the things that they may wish changed in you. Of course if there are too many things you want to change, it is important to face that this may not be the right person for you, or you may be expecting too much. People will be what they will be, spending your marriage life trying to shift habits and personalities is like trying to push boulders up a mountain, tiring and not very fun.

5. Balance Your Work and Life

You have to pay a lot of attention to your married life to ensure its success, which means that you should learn to balance between your career and personal life. Sometimes, you could get very much involved in your career and push married life to the background. You have to put in some effort to prevent this from happening. You have to realize that there is no career in the world that holds as much importance as your married life. At the same time, it cannot be denied that sometimes you have to work at weekends and in the late evenings too. But make an honest attempt to minimize these situations. Try not to bring your work home. In short, don't allow your career to interfere with your married life. If you place too much emphasis on your job, your marriage will naturally suffer. You can talk about your day at work or vent about some problem you might be facing with employers or colleagues, but otherwise, keep the office where it is and don't let it wreck your married life.

6. Don't Focus on Disagreements

All marriages have their share of problems and discords. It is important not to prolong an argument. If ever you disagree, try to come to a friendly conclusion. If this is impossible, at least agree to disagree and proceed with your married life. Everyday is a new beginning. Forget the disagreements or arguments of the previous day when you wake up to each day. In spite of your honest attempts, if you were unable to work out a solution to the problem, forget about it and go on with new day harmoniously.

 

7. Spend Time Together

 

It’s obvious, but a relationship without any face time is going to have problems. I have met happy couples who spend months apart because of work commitments, but they are few and far between and more often than not, their happiness is more a testament to their character and emotional abilities than anything else. Of course spending time together doesn’t simply mean being in the same room, it means actively finding time where you engage with each other. It may even take work and effort, but remember from above, a happy marriage takes work! Spending time together, also often entails spending some time alone. Children, even pets can sometimes be barriers to engaging with one another. Even if you simply have a few moments while they run off, it’s important to be alone too.

8. Make Time for Both Your Ambitions and Goals

It is all too easy to focus on your own goals and ambitions and hope or even assume that your partner shares them. If you don’t know what your partner’s life goals are, ask them. In my marriage, I have goals that are to do largely with working, whereas my wife wants to travel the world. If we did either and not the other, one of us would feel unfulfilled. The solution is of course balance. We try to do one then a little of the other, then switch.

9. Agree on Critical Issues before Marriage

Before getting married, know your partner well and discuss major issues. For instance, it will be disastrous to discover after marriage that your partner does not want any children while you want to become a parent. Differences of opinion on such crucial matters can utterly destroy a marriage. Make sure that you marry someone only after coming to an agreement about critical matters such as this. It will prevent problems cropping up in your married life in the future.

 10. Share Household Chores

This is the greatest secret to a happy married life. A couple that shares domestic chores and goes out of the way to make things easy for each other ensure happiness and peace in their married life. You will wreck your life if you don't help your spouse with domestic chores. You could also go as far as making a list of things to be done everyday and taking your share of the responsibility. It is not fair to burden one person with all the work; so a written document of the responsibilities that each partner has to shoulder will go a long way in protecting domestic peace.

 

Don't confuse harmony in married life with agreeing to everything that your spouse says. You don't have to agree to each and every issue to enjoy a peaceful and happy married life. Many factors contribute to the peace and happiness of a married life. Some might be crucial and some may be small, but they all play a major role in a harmonious marriage.

But, there are few things that I consider as a warning in marriage life. Try to avoid below things at the same time you follow tips above.

1. If you cheat on your partner it will ruin your own life, so make sure to always be honest with your spouse!

2. Always listen carefully. Some fights ruin the life even both sides do not know the cause of the fight.

3. Communication is the key to a relationship. One should feel free to discuss all things with out fear of repercussion at any time.

4. All issues need to have a solution and be resolved at the time of the conversation. Finish what you start other wise things just hang in the balance,which leads to future problems.

5. Learn to know one another understand you are not the same get to know eachother and the way they are. Respect that we are all individuals.

Have a happy and successful marriage life.

Live Up To Your Dream

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds." The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done. That is what the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

The moral of the story: You become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream to become an eagle follow your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

2011 - A New Horizon

Many people will be thinking about how to make this year better than last year and will probably even make a new year's resolution or two. They will be trying to change old habits, create new ones, work harder, find the "one", spend more time with family, earn more money, quit smoking, lose weight, and so many more aims that will probably be forgotten about before the first month is over.

The new year is a great time to review your past and plan for your future, but for any real change to occur there has to be a long term commitment. It is all good and well to write down a little wish list and get excited over it for a few days or a few weeks, but that's the easy part. It takes maybe 20 minutes of commitment to come up with a list of goals and ambitions for the next year. It takes a lot longer to achieve them, particularly if it is a lifelong habit you plan to change or improve.

Although twenty minutes is probably longer than many people spend reviewing their life and thinking about the future, it is not enough if you really want to become all that you can be. Unless you are a highly motivated and ambitious person that naturally jumps from success to success, you will have to continually review your position throughout the year. One big exciting change usually isn't enough to change our behaviors that we have taught ourselves over a period of many years. Just as we developed our current way of thinking over a long period of time, we have to develop our new way of thinking (to achieve the goals) over a long period of time also.

If you are truly committed to achieving your new year's resolution you will forget about calling it a new years resolution! It needs to be a constant living resolution that you are committed to achieving. This living resolution does not fade after January finishes, because it is alive and takes much more than a yearly review to survive.

Your living resolution must be reviewed, tested, and measured at least monthly or preferably weekly. Without continual adjustment and maintenance we just slip into the habits that we know and are comfortable with. Creating something new in our life will take effort and positive action on our part. Most people will fall off the horse along the way as it seems to be human nature to fall off the horse! We have to continually get back on the horse and continue on our way towards achieving what we set out to achieve.

Be unusual this year and make your new year's resolution a living resolution that remains a part of your life for longer than January.

How to be happy and successful ?

There are no lack of self-improvement websites and books to teach you how to be happy and successful. However, if learning about happiness and success was all it took to become happy and successful, wouldn't everybody already be there?

To be happy and successful person requires much more than making simple changes to your life. It requires from you long term continuous commitment and diligence.

Have you know noticed that generally, unsuccessful people tend to talk about what they don't want, their worries, and their problems most of the time? As they tend to always be thinking about what they want, successful people usually talk about their desired goals.

Most successful people have a goal oriented plan and the self-discipline to accomplish the tasks on their plan. They believe in themselves and do not care what others think of their plans. They are usually always in a positive motivated state of mind.

When life throws successful people a curve ball, they do not lose their continuous commitment and diligence, they simply start over and utilize their curve ball as a learning experience.

A lot of unsuccessful people simply try to find others to blame for their problems. They become engrossed in the television or a project so they don't have to think about their life. They talk often about why they "can't" do what they want to do. "Only if" is constantly on the mind of an unsuccessful person.

What a lot of unsuccessful people lack is motivation. Most have not found their "true calling" in life. Once you find your "true calling" you become excited to set your goals.

You become even more excited as you achieve them. This is when you become motivated to achieve more goals. The more passionate you are about what you are doing, the more motivated you become. You live, eat, and breathe your goals each and every day, just like a successful person.

Self-discipline then kicks in and allows you to always concentrate on your goals. It also allows you to revise and upgrade your goals with any new information you may have learned. It is self-discipline which allows you to buckle down and get your daily job done.

Once you become accustomed to achieving your goals, you will find yourself constantly talking about achieving them, just like successful people. You will notice a change in your attitude about your life. You will find that you are actually not such a negative person after all.

The key to success, for an unsuccessful person, is to find your "true passion calling," then have the motivation, diligence, and self- discipline to travel on the road to success.

The road towards success will take time and patience and definitely will not happen overnight.

10 Habits That Will Make You A Millionaire

What does it take to become a millionaire? Lottery winners aside, becoming wealthy has nothing to do with luck. Let’s look at 10 ten habits of self-made millionaires. These comes from millionaires I know, and they are living proof that these habits will make you millions.

1. Millionaires Are Frugal

The wealthiest people I know are also the cheapest. They buy used cars for reliability, not image. (According to the book The Millionaire Next Door, the number one car brand among millionaires is Toyota—not Mercedes or BMW!) Millionaires pack their lunches. It takes money to make money, and you can’t get the money you need to invest if you spend it.

2. Millionaires Think Big

Few people are surprised when they make their first million. After all, it doesn’t come easily. But long before reaching their goal, millionaires know they want to get there. Rather than looking forward to an annual 3% raise, millionaires dream of working for themselves. Rather than serving 100 customers, millionaires see tens of thousands of accounts.

3. Millionaires Take Calculated Risks

Whether it’s investing in a stock or cashing in a 401(k) to start a business, millionaires take calculated risks. In these risks, the rewards of success are far greater than the costs of failure, and the chances of success are good.

4. Millionaires Network

Few people reach their potential alone. Millionaires build powerful networks of contacts in all areas of life. Millionaires know that their next employer, customer, or partner may be anywhere.

5. Millionaires Don’t Pay Interest, They Earn It

Millionaires learn the crippling costs of debt and avoid it at all costs. On the contrary, millionaires save, invest, and even lend money to others to earn interest themselves. Want to take the first step to building your own fortune? It’s simple: Open an online savings account now and start stashing away extra money—automatically—every month.

6. Millionaires Are Focused

Millionaires work feverishly towards their goals at all costs. The difference between dreamers and performers is not the number of ideas one has, but how one focuses on executing the best ideas.

7. Millionaires Do Whatever It Takes

The most inspiring success stories among all the people I know involve incredible sacrifice. From sleeping in cars between two jobs to forgoing personal relationships to get an education or build a business, millionaires don’t simply delay gratification; millionaires endure pain.

8. Millionaires Educate Themselves

It doesn’t take an Ivy League education to become a millionaire, but it does take a desire to learn. It doesn’t matter how you learn – from a mentor, night classes, or books and the web – but ongoing learning is critical to lifelong success.

9. Millionaires Lead

No surprise here, the same qualities enabling people to earn millions make them natural leaders. It goes back to

the decision to become a millionaire in the first place: The resolution to carve a new path rather than follow the flock.

10. Millionaires Are Generous

Don’t expect your high-rolling neighbor to shower you with gifts. Chances are she’s donating to far worthier causes. It’s just another perk of having a million in the bank: you get to make a substantial difference in charities of your choice.

If we live up to this principle, I bet there is no reason why we can't be a millionaire.