Hey Everyone, here's hoping your New Year has gotten off to a GREAT start and that you're motivated and ready to change things up in a good way. I've got several new projects started and can't wait to tell you about them. But that's going to have to wait for now, don't you love a good tease?
So, keep your hats on, I'll be right back!
Jeff
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Happy New Year...
Well, it's the New Year and time to get this ball rolling. Just a quick post to say Hey and let you know that I'm back on track and have lots to update you on. Check back tomorrow cuz the train is a headin' this way!
Cheers,
Jeff
Cheers,
Jeff
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Have a Dream!
So here's another article I ran across and just had to add it. I too believe that we all need to have a dream/goal to keep ourselves motivated and on track. So relax, take a moment and let your mind take in this nice little article.
Jeff
Rule #12 - Have a Dream
- Karl Moore is a self-development leader, entrepreneur, and author of the best-selling book, The 18 Rules of Happiness. Follow Karl on Twitter at http://twitter.com/karlmoore
"A person starts dying when they stop dreaming" - Brian Williams
Learning how to be happy NOW is a real skill. (Rule #7.)
They say he who is not happy with what he has, will not be happy with what he gets.
But it's equally as important to have a dream to lead you forward in life.
Everyone who ever did anything started with a dream, a vision, a goal, a thought. Coupled with that distinctly human quality, hope.
So, what do YOU dream of?
Would you like to explore the ancient castles of England?
Would you like to act in a local theatre production? Would you like to write your first novel? Or even your second?
Perhaps you dream of helping your son through college. Or owning a second home in Miami. Or starting your own online business. Or having the very best family Christmas ever.
Or ... ?
Dreams are critical. They light up life.
Without them, we become bored, and tired, and apathetic.
So, take this opportunity to really clarify your dreams. Take a pen and paper and spend an hour figuring out what you really dream about.
Create a scrapbook and fill it with magazine pictures. Write your dreams on special paper, and put them in an envelope under your pillow.
Scribble them onto scrap paper and burn it at midnight with a yellow candle, if you wish.
It doesn't really matter how you record them, ritual or no ritual. But clarify your dreams, and write them down. They'll suddenly take on a new importance, and you'll automatically find yourself heading closer toward them. (See Rule #13.)
But whatever you do, make sure you have a dream. They're incredibly important.
Dreams are the spark plugs of the spirit.
Make sure yours are ready for action.
So, have a dream - and you will be happy.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Make a Date with Life!
I saw this article and just had to include it here. Makes a whole lot of sense! Enjoy!
Jeff
More Ways To Go On A Date With Life
By Dustin Wax
In my last post I suggested that the rules that apply to successful dating could be applied more widely to life in general.
After all, when we go on a date, we want our partner to see us at our best - and what could be better than being at your best all the time?
With that in mind, I listed 6 guidelines that apply as well to life as to dating, and today I'm back with 6 more. Since life, like dating, can take a lot of different forms, these are still only brushing the surface, and I encourage readers to develop their own tips for dating and for life.
Who knows, we might all become better at both!
1. A negative outcome can be better than a positive one
Everyone wants to be liked.
On dates, this often leads us to settle for less than we really want to avoid the negative consequence of being poorly liked by our partner. This, in turn, can give rise to awful relationships - disrespectful, overly dramatic, even abusive ones. If the goal of dating in general is to find that special person you want to share your life with, though, you need to risk being not liked by your partner - why waste time with someone that isn't what you're looking for?
Every date that ends without the promise of a call can be chalked up as a success - provided you didn't bend your character around what you assume s/he would like best. In life, too, failures can often be seen as successes, provided you learn from them and carry those lessons forward, and provided they were come by honestly, through your commitment to your own goals.
2. Be yourself
It hurts me to see people pretend to be other than they are in order to impress a date. Pretending to have more money (or less), more education (or less), or different tastes than you have is such an awful strategy - first of all, who wants to build a relationship with someone who doesn't accept you for you, and second of all, what's going to happen when eventually the truth comes out (which it almost always does)?
While there's something to be said for the old maxim "Fake it until you make it", as a general rule following your own dreams in your own way is the only real road to success and happiness. Doing things because others think you should (or because you think they think that) is bound to be unsatisfying, and incredibly difficult to maintain any kind of real motivation for.
3. Practice seduction
Dating is all about revealing yourself over time with the intention of drawing a partner to you, eager to learn more. Likewise in life, people who are both interesting enough to merit attention (what Seth Godin means when he says "Be remarkable") and open enough to allow their interestingness to shine and draw others to them.
But it's all about the timing - reveal everything at once and you become nothing but a resource to be used and discarded; reveal too little too slowly and you become a bore.
4. The start foretells the finish
Although there are exceptions, for the most part the way you and your partner interact on a first date sets the tone for everything that follows. If you're open, honest, and comfortable at the beginning, chances are you'll remain so throughout your relationship; be too closed off, self-conscious, dishonest, or negative, and you're setting yourself up for failure - even if you and your date really like each other.
When we say "first impressions count", we're saying much the same thing, but it's deeper than just impressions. I know that as an educator, the way I interact with my students on the first day of class will carry through the whole semester; if I am personable and interact with them a lot, I can expect a highly engaged classroom, whereas if I do all the talking and take an authoritative tone, I can expect to spend the next 15 weeks lecturing with a minimum of student questions or input. Taking pains to get things off on the right foot can go a long way towards avoiding complications later on.
5. Be on time
Really. Woody Allen once said that 90% of life is just showing up, and at least half of that is doing it on time.
Imagine a date where your partner is late - what does that tell you about his or her feelings about meeting you? Now, imagine he or she is late for the first 5 dates? The first 10? Now what do you think of their attitude? Being late suggests that you don't value the other person's time, that you don't believe they have anything better to do than to wait for you.
It can also suggest that you're incompetent and disorganized - not exactly qualities people look for in a person they potentially want to build a life with. Or in any other area - what applies to dating applies just as easily to the workplace, family gatherings, and just about everything else. While being punctual often goes unnoticed, being tardy sends powerful messages that are often nearly impossible to recover from.
6. Just say no - until you're ready to say yes
When it comes to sex, most of us are pretty aware of whether we're ready or not with any given partner. Some of us are hot to trot after a good first date, others want to be married, and most of us fall somewhere in between.
Regardless of your preferences in that regard, we all feel taken advantage of when a partner seems to demand we "give it up" before we're ready. While most of us are fairly adept at keeping our pants on until we're ready, in the rest of our lives we often stumble over "no" and commit ourselves to projects we either don't want to do or don't have time to do. This also leaves us feeling taken advantage of.
Learn to say "no" when you need to - you'll respect yourself for it in the morning.
Jeff
More Ways To Go On A Date With Life
By Dustin Wax
In my last post I suggested that the rules that apply to successful dating could be applied more widely to life in general.
After all, when we go on a date, we want our partner to see us at our best - and what could be better than being at your best all the time?
With that in mind, I listed 6 guidelines that apply as well to life as to dating, and today I'm back with 6 more. Since life, like dating, can take a lot of different forms, these are still only brushing the surface, and I encourage readers to develop their own tips for dating and for life.
Who knows, we might all become better at both!
1. A negative outcome can be better than a positive one
Everyone wants to be liked.
On dates, this often leads us to settle for less than we really want to avoid the negative consequence of being poorly liked by our partner. This, in turn, can give rise to awful relationships - disrespectful, overly dramatic, even abusive ones. If the goal of dating in general is to find that special person you want to share your life with, though, you need to risk being not liked by your partner - why waste time with someone that isn't what you're looking for?
Every date that ends without the promise of a call can be chalked up as a success - provided you didn't bend your character around what you assume s/he would like best. In life, too, failures can often be seen as successes, provided you learn from them and carry those lessons forward, and provided they were come by honestly, through your commitment to your own goals.
2. Be yourself
It hurts me to see people pretend to be other than they are in order to impress a date. Pretending to have more money (or less), more education (or less), or different tastes than you have is such an awful strategy - first of all, who wants to build a relationship with someone who doesn't accept you for you, and second of all, what's going to happen when eventually the truth comes out (which it almost always does)?
While there's something to be said for the old maxim "Fake it until you make it", as a general rule following your own dreams in your own way is the only real road to success and happiness. Doing things because others think you should (or because you think they think that) is bound to be unsatisfying, and incredibly difficult to maintain any kind of real motivation for.
3. Practice seduction
Dating is all about revealing yourself over time with the intention of drawing a partner to you, eager to learn more. Likewise in life, people who are both interesting enough to merit attention (what Seth Godin means when he says "Be remarkable") and open enough to allow their interestingness to shine and draw others to them.
But it's all about the timing - reveal everything at once and you become nothing but a resource to be used and discarded; reveal too little too slowly and you become a bore.
4. The start foretells the finish
Although there are exceptions, for the most part the way you and your partner interact on a first date sets the tone for everything that follows. If you're open, honest, and comfortable at the beginning, chances are you'll remain so throughout your relationship; be too closed off, self-conscious, dishonest, or negative, and you're setting yourself up for failure - even if you and your date really like each other.
When we say "first impressions count", we're saying much the same thing, but it's deeper than just impressions. I know that as an educator, the way I interact with my students on the first day of class will carry through the whole semester; if I am personable and interact with them a lot, I can expect a highly engaged classroom, whereas if I do all the talking and take an authoritative tone, I can expect to spend the next 15 weeks lecturing with a minimum of student questions or input. Taking pains to get things off on the right foot can go a long way towards avoiding complications later on.
5. Be on time
Really. Woody Allen once said that 90% of life is just showing up, and at least half of that is doing it on time.
Imagine a date where your partner is late - what does that tell you about his or her feelings about meeting you? Now, imagine he or she is late for the first 5 dates? The first 10? Now what do you think of their attitude? Being late suggests that you don't value the other person's time, that you don't believe they have anything better to do than to wait for you.
It can also suggest that you're incompetent and disorganized - not exactly qualities people look for in a person they potentially want to build a life with. Or in any other area - what applies to dating applies just as easily to the workplace, family gatherings, and just about everything else. While being punctual often goes unnoticed, being tardy sends powerful messages that are often nearly impossible to recover from.
6. Just say no - until you're ready to say yes
When it comes to sex, most of us are pretty aware of whether we're ready or not with any given partner. Some of us are hot to trot after a good first date, others want to be married, and most of us fall somewhere in between.
Regardless of your preferences in that regard, we all feel taken advantage of when a partner seems to demand we "give it up" before we're ready. While most of us are fairly adept at keeping our pants on until we're ready, in the rest of our lives we often stumble over "no" and commit ourselves to projects we either don't want to do or don't have time to do. This also leaves us feeling taken advantage of.
Learn to say "no" when you need to - you'll respect yourself for it in the morning.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Whoo hoo!
Welcome everyone! This is the new beginning of a WONDERFUL adventure and I hope you're ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFE! Here's hoping you stay with me and follow along as we grow and learn together.
Cheers,
Jeffersway (Jeff)
Cheers,
Jeffersway (Jeff)
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