Friday, February 28, 2014

We Were Made To Be Originals!

"Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive; and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done."~Benjamin E. Mays

You were born to do something unique. Do you realize that? You were born into the world to do something unique! Are you doing it or are you doing something that is normal, mediocre and boring? While you may do something that a lot of other people do, you can make what you do UNIQUE! Because YOU are unique, you can make what you do unique.

When we are sent to school, we are told to "fit in," to "be like everyone else," to "not be different." We need to allow our children to become who they were meant to be, not what the government schools say they should be. Our uniqueness is driven to a point within us where it is hard to find, but it is still there...waiting to get out. If you have not let your uniqueness out, what are you waiting for? It will be the best thing that you have ever done!! But if you don't do it...it will never be done. Because you are here to do that one unique thing.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones  you did do." I ask again, What are you waiting for?

The Reverend Billy Graham said "Since God made us to be originals, why stoop to be a copy?" Become who you were meant to be. Be unique! Be You! Be different! It's never too late to be who you were meant to be.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive; and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done."

Stop Living With The Results Of Other People's Thinking

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone elses life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~Steve Jobs


Are you living someone elses life? Are you living with the results of other people's thinking? WHY? You only get one shot at this life, live it the way you want to, not the way others want you to live it.

Are you letting the noise of others opinions drown out your inner voice? That inner voice is your intuition and some say it is devinely inspired. Don't let anyone's noise affect your intuition. Don't let your brain drown out the inner voice, because it will try to.

Do you have the courage to follow your heart and intuition? The only thing that can stop us is our fears, real or imagined. Are you following your heart or are you just along for the ride, the ride that started out a long time ago and you have never challenged yourself to change your direction.

When you have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, then everything else is secondary. Go for it. Just do it. Be who you were meant to be!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone elses life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Thursday, February 27, 2014

You Are What You Are Because Of Your Choices

"You are in control of your life. Don’t ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.”~Barbara Hall

Do you realize that? YOU are in control of your life!! Sometimes we forget that we are in control of our lives and that it is our choices that dictate the results that we get. You are where you are now because of the choices you've made in the past. YOUR choices. Nobody elses choices, yours.

You are now where you're at because or your conscious and unconscious choices that you have made. Here's the good news..."It's never too late to become who you might have been." You can make changes TODAY to become who you want to become. Right Now, today.

Analyze the choices you've made and see where you could have made better choices. Then, make sure that you make those changes. Are you working toward what you want to become or simply moving in life on the road that is before you? Make sure that you are headed where YOU want to go and not where someone else would want you to go.

Remember, you are in control of you life. Take over and become who you were meant to be!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“You are in control of your life. Don’t ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.”

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Valuable and Important

"The more you see yourself as a valuable and important person, the more positive and optimistic you will be. When you consider yourself to be important, you will treat other people as if they are important as well." ~Brian Tracy


Do you see yourself as valuable and important? Why or why not? I know a lot of people will say "I'm valuable, I'm important," but deep down, they don't believe it. If your subconscious doesn't believe it, your conscious mind is just fooling you about believing that you're valuable and important.


Are you positive and optimistic? Are you really? All the time? Most of the time? Some of the time? The more you see yourself as valuable and important, the more positive and optimistic you will be. Don't believe it? Try it for a week and let me know how it went.

When you treat others as valuable and important, they will see you as valuable and important. It's just the things work. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made and if you aren't who you want to be, you can change it. TODAY! It is your choice to decide, no one else's decision. You are in control...use it wisely!

It's never too late to be who you might have been.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"The more you see yourself as a valuable and important person, the more positive and optimistic you will be. When you consider yourself to be important, you will treat other people as if they are important as well."

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Is Your Aim Too Low?

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."~Michelangelo

How high is your aim set? Is it higher than you can ever reach or is it just a little out of reach? Why? Too often our aim is set low, so that we can achieve it and feel good about ourselves, but if it's too low, it is fools gold. We know that we could have done more, made it bigger, made it better, but we settled.

Virginia Satir said "We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us." But too often, that is just what we do. Our friends, in an effort that they think is being friendly, don't push us, don't spur us on, don't encourage us to make it great. It is their limited perception of who you are that makes them do this. Don't allow it to stand. Friends like that are really not your friend.

Maybe you had a teacher or family member or someone who had a limited perception of who you were,  who said that "you can't do that," or "you'll never amount to anything," and you believed them. Banish that thought now. Create your new thought patterns with the belief that you can do whatever you put your mind to do. It is your choice to believe them or to believe yourself. Believe yourself!

You are a unique creation, with unlimited power and intelligence. What are you waiting for? Permission to become who you were meant to be? Well, if that's the case, I GIVE YOU PERMISSION!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark."

Monday, February 24, 2014

Waiting For Others Approval?

"Waiting on others to approve a change you know you must make in your own life -- an action you must take that will likely lessen your dependency upon them, and perhaps drive them to make changes in their habitual choices -- is like hoping that a snowman looks forward to a spring thaw." ~Guy Finley

Are you waiting for others to approve of your changes? Why? We so long to belong, to be accepted, to be loved...that we allow ourselves to be lost in who we are, just for acceptance. When we do that, we diminish who we are and we don't play big, we shrink and play small.

Here's the deal. Most of the people around you really don't care about you, only what you can do for them. That is why they are upset when you try to improve yourself, because you are leaving them behind and they want to keep you down with them.

Have you ever seen a bucket of crabs? One will try to get out and the others will pull him back, not let him get away. I don't know why they do that but they do...and so do people. They don't want to be left behind, so they do everything they can to keep you down with them.

Break free of those people and become who you were meant to be. Don't play small anymore, play BIG! The world will love you for it, but you might need to get new friends. While that may be a challenge, it is for the better, because who you hang around with does influence who you are. Who are you hanging with???

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Waiting on others to approve a change you know you must make in your own life -- an action you must take that will likely lessen your dependency upon them, and perhaps drive them to make changes in their habitual choices -- is like hoping that a snowman looks forward to a spring thaw."

Friday, February 21, 2014

Are You Limiting Yourself?

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."~Mary Kay Ash


Are you limiting yourself? I bet you are and you might not even know it. Why do we limit ourselves? Fear. We are afraid of becoming all we can become, so we limit our thoughts to only that which we think is safe and won't cause waves. You've heard this before but "what would you do if you knew that you couldn't fail?" Would you limit yourself then? Don't play small. It doesn't serve you or the world.

It's a good thing that redwood trees don't have the human brain! If they did, they would only be bushes and not gigantic, majestic trees. Think about nature. Does it limit itself or does it grow to be all it can be. It becomes all it can become, sometimes growing through concrete, through rocks and around stuff.

Why don't we do that? Why don't we become all we can become? Because we have a brain that is not our friend. Our brain is designed for protection and safety and we have been conditioned to live from the outside in rather than from the inside out.

You can go as far as your mind will let you go, but when you get there, go further! Go beyond what your mind is telling you. Henry Ford said that "whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." What you believe you can achieve.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."

Thursday, February 20, 2014

What Do You Expect?

"There is absolutely nothing that separates the elite from the paupers except their expectations. If you wish to rise above the masses, then let the fire burn fiercely within you. Do this, and it shall be done!."~J. Arthur Holcombe


What are you expecting? Are you expecting great things or bad things? Why? Your expectations is what will carry you to everything that you desire! It is the only difference between those who have and those who don't. Those who expect great things, get great things. Those who expect not so great things...well, you get the idea.

I work with business owners and salespeople and I am constantly amazed that when they go to meet a potential client, their expectations are almost always negative. Are you like that? Change that NOW! If you walk into a meeting and you have a negative expectation, LEAVE. Nothing good will come of that meeting...until you change your expectation.

Expectations are a part of us down deep and they are part of what makes our vibrations. If your vibrations are negative, others will pick up on that and become negative as well. Learn to change your vibration so that you are vibrating positively! The world we see is the world that we have created with our expectations and our thoughts. Is that a world that you want to stay in or would you like to change what you are seeing?

To change what you are getting and seeing, change your thoughts and vibrations.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"There is absolutely nothing that separates the elite from the paupers except their expectations. If you wish to rise above the masses, then let the fire burn fiercely within you. Do this, and it shall be done!."

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Expect Wonderful Things to Happen Now!

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way."~ Eileen Caddy


Do you set your sights high? Some people do, some don't. Here's a fact: Most people set their goals so that they need to work a little more, a little harder to reach them. Most people don't set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) goals, no matter what they say. Leonardo da Vinci said that we should not "fear setting goals too high and not reaching them, but setting goals to low and attaining them." How true!

In "The Magic of Thinking Big" David Schwartz says that "success is determined not so much by the size of one's brain as it is by the size of one's thinking.  How big do you think?
I've often talked about playing small. The world doesn't benefit by you playing small. You don't benefit by playing small. Do you realize that? If you are playing small you might be accomplishing some things but not everything that you could! If you are playing small then the world doesn't benefit either. Stop playing small. Play as BIG AS YOU CAN!  THINK AS BIG AS YOU CAN!

Expect wonderful things to happen NOW!!! Not in the future, but now. We often postpone our happiness by saying "when I do this, then I will be happy." Why do we not EXPECT wonderful things to happen now. They are almost always in the future...

Nothing is too good for you...wow. Nothing is too good for you! Do you believe that? It's true, just start playing bigger and find out yourself.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Set your sights high, the higher the better. Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now. Realize that nothing is too good. Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way."

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Stop Limiting Your Thinking!

"Some folks go through life pleased that the glass is half full. Others spend a lifetime lamenting that it's half-empty. The truth is: There is a glass with a certain volume of liquid in it. From there, it's up to you!"~Dr. James S. Vuocolo

Well there are your choices...Is it half full or half empty? Your answer will say a lot about you (but I would imagine that most people will say it's half full, because that is what they are supposed to say...) Why not think of another answer? I say that the glass is FULL! Half with liquid and the other half with air. Just because I only gave you 2 choices, you thought that those were the only answers?  Why limit your thinking?

See, we've been taught to think sequentially, linearly,  not simultaneously. We've also been taught that most questions require an either or answer...Why not think of AND instead of the either or? Let's say that you want to do a couple of things on vacation, so you say well we could do this or that. Why not say, we could do this first AND then that second! You might not get to spend all the time you wanted on one thing but you were able to do them both!

Aristotle said "Happiness depends on ourselves," and Edison said “There is a time for everything.” The choices are up to us AND there is time for everything. Remember, think AND instead of either or!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Some folks go through life pleased that the glass is half full. Others spend a lifetime lamenting that it's half-empty. The truth is: There is a glass with a certain volume of liquid in it. From there, it's up to you!"

Monday, February 17, 2014

Live TODAY!

"Tomorrow never comes and yesterday never comes back, so live today to it's fullest so that your yesterdays will be remembered with happiness and your tomorrows will be full of brightness and hope."

Are you living today to the fullest? Are you playing full out? Why not? What is holding you back? Tomorrow is promised to no one, so it could never come. Are you planning on doing something someday? Guess what? Someday NEVER comes. Too many people are waiting for that someday.

Are you stuck living in the past? What benefit are you getting from doing that? There must be some benefit otherwise you would have left it behind a long time ago. To be able to live in the present, you have to let go of the past...especially the past that is holding you back. You can't create your future if you are constantly living in the past.

Do you want your tomorrows to full of brightness and hope? Then live full out today!! It is the only way to create the future that you want. Here's a secret...I can see your future! How you ask? You future is being created by the things you do today and the thoughts that you have today. If you are wanting tomorrows that are full of brightness and hope, start today with brightness and hope

Live in the present. Live in the NOW. Be present NOW! There's a reason they call NOW "the present." Enjoy it!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Tomorrow never comes and yesterday never comes back, so live today to it's fullest so that your yesterdays will be remembered with happiness and your tomorrows will be full of brightness and hope."

Friday, February 14, 2014

Troubles Are Going to Have Trouble With Me

Dr. Seuss Week:  Day #5 Troubles Are Going to Have Trouble With Me

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" ~Dr. Seuss

How often do we treat our troubles with a big bat? Not often enough. We don't swat our troubles away, we live in them, wallow in them and stay stuck in them. "Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" what a great way to face our troubles.  How often do you fester in troubles and let them cloud your mind and grow and grow?  SWAT THEM AWAY!

We all have troubles. The problem is not that we have troubles, the problem is thinking that we shouldn't have problems. Life is what it is. We get to decide how to respond to troubles or challenges. It is our choice. Sometimes we have good choices and sometimes the choices are not as good, but we always have a choice.

Realize that we have a choice to respond. We don't have to stay in the challenge, we can choose to say "Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

Places Quite Out of the Way

Dr. Seuss Week:  Day #4 Places Quite Out of the Way

"If you want to catch beasts you don't see every day, You have to go places quite out of the way, You have to go places no others can get to. You have to get cold and you have too get wet, too."~Dr. Seuss

What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result! If you want to catch beasts your don't see every day, or clients or new products or new things, you have to go places quite out of the way. In other words, do things differently!

When was the last time you changed something in your business or your advertising or marketing? Are you INSANE??? I don't think you are, but sometimes we get into areas of our business or our lives that we feel that we can't change, so we keep doing what we've always done.  How is that working for you?  Take a hard look at the way you do things and examine what things you could do better.  And then start doing those things!

Change something in your business or life that hasn't been working for you. Don't let the fear of change stop you from doing it. Do it now and reap the rewards that will come.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"If you want to catch beasts you don't see every day, You have to go places quite out of the way, You have to go places no others can get to. You have to get cold and you have too get wet, too."

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

You Are You

Dr. Seuss Week:  Day #3 You Are You

"Today you are you, that is truer than true; there's no one alive who is youer than you."~Dr. Seuss

Be yourself, everyone else is taken! 
Too often we think that we have to act the same as everybody else or we need to be like somebody else. Our schools encourage it, our society says "be like Mike" or Bob  or John.  If you are different, they want to "fix" you so that you are like everyone else. WRONG!! We were meant to be ourselves and nobody else. We've been created to be unique, special and one of a kind. To be someone you're not is to waste who you are.

What is the gift that you bring to the world? The gift that no one else can bring to the world. If you don't bring it to the world, no one else will and the world will be robbed of that gift. So, what were you meant to bring to the world?

Be yourself. In everything you do, be yourself. You will find that life is easier when you don't have to remember who you are but just be who you are. Bring your gift to the world will all your might. It will change someone's life!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Today you are you, that is truer than true; there's no one alive who is youer than you."

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Think Low and Think High

Dr. Seuss Week:  Day #2
“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!”~Dr. Seuss
 

As we come to Day #2 of Dr. Seuss week, the great philosopher leaves us with this thought. 
"Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!” Do you ever think about what you're thinking about??? Really? It's called Metacognition and we don't do it often enough. We let negative thoughts just flow through our brains without ever stopping them or re-framing them. 

How often do you really think during the day? 5, 6 times? More or less?  Do you realize that your subconscious runs about 96% of your day!  Expand your brain and spend some time thinking!  We think that we think, but most jobs rely on you doing the same thing over and over again without thinking. Who designed these jobs?? When was the last time you thought about doing your job differently? Ever?? 

Today, when you are confronted by a normal challenge, don't solve it the usual way. Think of a better way to deal with it. Who knows? You might create a new way to do things!  "Oh the things you can think up if only you try!"

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference! 

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!” 

Monday, February 10, 2014

You Are The One Who Will Decide

IT'S DR. SEUSS WEEK!
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go."~Dr. Seuss


It's always been your choice...even though you were never really told that. As Dr. Seuss says, "You can steer yourself in any direction you choose." When we were younger, parents and teachers steered us in the direction that they thought best for us...but we really didn't choose it ourselves. Are you still on that same path? How's that working for you??

"You know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go." You are the one who'll decide where to go. If the path that you've been on isn't working, why not go in the direction that you want? It's your decision. Don't tell me about why you can't...tell me about why you can! No one else is in control of you, only you control you.

If the path that you are on isn't working for you, look at why it isn't and see if there is another path that you can go down. There's always another choice, another path...you just have to be willing to take that path and make that choice!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go."

Friday, February 7, 2014

Troubles Are Going to Have Trouble With Me

Dr. Seuss Week:  Day #5 Troubles Are Going to Have Trouble With Me

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" ~Dr. Seuss

How often do we treat our troubles with a big bat? Not often enough. We don't swat our troubles away, we live in them, wallow in them and stay stuck in them. "Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" what a great way to face our troubles.  How often do you fester in troubles and let them cloud your mind and grow and grow?  SWAT THEM AWAY!

We all have troubles. The problem is not that we have troubles, the problem is thinking that we shouldn't have problems. Life is what it is. We get to decide how to respond to troubles or challenges. It is our choice. Sometimes we have good choices and sometimes the choices are not as good, but we always have a choice.

Realize that we have a choice to respond. We don't have to stay in the challenge, we can choose to say "Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Illusions of Life

“One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you under the illusions that the present hour is not critical? We have a twisted sense of time and sometimes we really value time and sometimes we just waste our time, causally and without thought.

Do you view every hour as critical? Why not? Tomorrow is promised to no one, so we need to view every hour as critical...to us. How often do you just blow off and hour or two and use the excuse that you needed to veg. I know that I have. The challenge is to continue to be productive!

Now, I understand that sometimes we DO need to veg, to relax and catch our breaths. The key is to not make it a habit. Work all day, come home and plop in front of the tv or your computer and waste your precious time. Stop doing that!!

Today, when you get to do something, decide if you are investing your time or spending/wasting it. The key is to always be investing your time.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.”

Monday, February 3, 2014

Have You Made Up Your Mind Who You Want To Become?

"We become what we make our minds to become. It is nobody's fault that the great majority of the people never make up their minds to become anything at all."~William James

Have you made up your mind about what you want to become? What, you haven't yet? What's stopping you? What's holding you back? Why haven't you? You can become whatever you decide you want to become. At any time and any age!

I disagree with James as far as fault of the great majority of people, because now, with everything that we have available to us to learn, to grow and to think, it IS the fault of those who never make up their minds to become something. It is their responsibility to become what they want to become. It is not the responsibility of others to tell us what we should become or do. Now, it may be the responsibility of those of us who understand this to teach those who don't realize that it is their choice. It is up to them!

Step out of your playing small ideas and thoughts and create the life that you truly want. Decide today to become who you want to become. Don't wait another minute...Do it NOW! What are you waiting for?

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"We become what we make our minds to become. It is nobody's fault that the great majority of the people never make up their minds to become anything at all."