“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to leave the world a better place; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
My father is my hero, and one of the most successful men in the world.… Read More
“Begin at once to live and count each separate day as a separate life.” ~Seneca
At times, it’s seemed as though life contains an endless supply of days.
When I was younger, I thought this for sure. It didn’t matter how long I held a grudge, or how long I waited to do something I wanted—there would be an unlimited pool of other opportunities.… Read More
“Whenever you fall, pick something up.” ~Oswald Avery
There are plenty of people in this world who know how to be successful. But how many of them know how to fail?
When you fail, that’s when you become stronger—you learn to pick yourself back up, dust yourself off and move on.… Read More
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it” ~Charles Swindoll
Unemployment is up almost 10 percent and job opportunities are not necessarily speeding to catch up. It’s not always easy to stay positive when you’re dealing with uncertainty, particularly if you fell out of a comfortable situation and now have to adapt.… Read More
There is an art to living—to creating your life on your terms based on your desires, your talents, your values, and your dreams. In a culture where we must attend 13 years of school, we’re rarely taught to look within and name what it is we want from life.
We’re rarely taught that we have the power within to live the lives we want—not what other people expect of us.… Read More
“Happiness is a way station between too little and too much.” ~Channing Pollock
The vast majority of my life has been a giant race to get things I’ve assumed would make me happy.
More money so I could do what I want when I want. A more meaningful career so I could feel both fulfilled and proud of myself.… Read More
“The saddest summary of life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” ~ Unknown
We all have something stored in our memory banks of the past that we wish we could have done differently, or something we wish we didn’t do.
As we get older we learn and grow.… Read More
“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” ~Proverb
You have a dream. Right?
Everyone does. Maybe it’s buried, but it’s there. You probably have a rainbow assortment. Your life is made up of choices. Why not choose your dreams?… Read More
I write a newsletter every week and last month, a subscriber emailed me with a question I thought was worth exploring.
“… I guess what I’m getting at is if everyone had a choice, treating sewage would be the last thing one would want to do. Isn’t it? Well yes I’m making that judgment.… Read More
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” -Milton Berle
The people who are the most successful in life are the ones who create their own opportunities. Since I’m a work-from-home freelance writer who prefers beadworking to networking, I have to be ultra creative.
I’ve identified 7 simple ways to find opportunities in everyday situations.… Read More
“To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is: a dissatisfaction with self.” ~Joan Didion
I like to think of myself as a realist. I realize it sounds good to recommend fighting jealousy with gratitude. As in, “Don’t dwell on what you don’t have—just count your blessings!”
I recognize that this is a wise suggestion, and that we’d all be happy if we could just focus of the abundance in front of us.… Read More
“You can do what’s reasonable or you can decide what’s possible.” ~Unknown
When I was in grade school I remember my teacher had us write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. Honestly, at the time I had no idea. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to be, but I knew I wanted to be doing something important so I jotted down careers that, in my young mind, equaled success: doctor, lawyer, dolphin trainer, firefighter, astronaut etc.… Read More
“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I will tell you, I came to live out LOUD.” ~Émile Zola
1. Live your life on purpose. Not on “default.” Be Proactive. Make conscious and deliberate choices. When you don’t choose, circumstances choose for you and you are never leading: you are following or catching up—or worse, living in “default” mode.… Read More
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” -Buddha
You experience and create all kinds of different energies that affect how you feel and what you accomplish throughout your day. Some energies are powerful and easily recognizable, while others are more subtle and often only intuitively felt.… Read More
“More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.” ~Unknown
I’ve spoken with a number of people recently who are doing something that is “just okay” with their lives but who really want to be doing something else. They feel an urgency to break free and go for it, even though they haven’t defined “it.”
I think a lot of people, if not currently there, understand this.… Read More
“Don’t wait for your feelings to change to take the action. Take the action and your feelings will change.” ~Barbara Baron
A few months ago, I challenged myself with Adventure Boot Camp. I thought, “What would be more challenging than waking up at five in the morning and working out with a group of ladies for an hour, four days a week?”
And I have to say, it was tough!… Read More
“It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.” ~Aeschylus
Earlier this year I got some feedback from the ‘tween magazine I wrote for: “It sounds like good advice, but kids probably won’t do any of that.”
In my head it all sounded logical, but I didn’t consider whether I’d have taken that advice as a kid.… Read More
“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.”
Recently I was on a phone call with Brad Yates; and although I know this to be true, when he said it, it made me reflect again. He said (and I’m paraphrasing):
“To the extent that we are not living our lives exactly as we want–with the love and friendships we want, the abundance we want, and the happiness we are seeking–it’s to that extent we are resisting it.”
It’s that word again: resistance.
“Never ignore a gut feeling. But never believe it’s enough.” ~Robert Heller
A couple months ago when I was almost done producing a teleseminar and spending way too much time hunched over at the computer, I decided to do something different. Something that would bring me joy, that would get take me out of my normal environment and actually excite me.… Read More
There’s this saying I used to love that doesn’t resonate with me anymore:
“Go big or go home.”
I understand the allure of doing big things.
Life seems more meaningful when you’re pursuing a passion that could feasibly improve life for masses of people; and at the end of the day, most of us want to create a legacy—something that lives on beyond our own ripple-in-the-ocean life spans.… Read More
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