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Change Your Plastic World
As I watch the rain from my office, the field next door slowly fills up. The vineyards act as a retention pond and somehow it all kind of works out. The vines stay dormant during winter, and when spring and summer arrives, they continue to grow. There is a sort of balance in the ecological cycle. When nature is left alone, most of the time things equalize and figure things out. Unfortunately, man gets involved, many times we throw things off balance. A subject near and dear to my heart is all the plastic in the world today and how it has taken over the headlines. The plastic island the size…
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Change Self-Doubt To Self-Confidence
One of the hardest things that some people ever do is transform themselves from a person full of self-doubt to a self-assured or self-confident person that believes in themselves. But, the truth is that no matter where you are in life right now, no matter how many mistakes you’ve made, opportunities you’ve passed up, or what’s happened to you in life, you can change your self-doubt to having self-confidence and start believing in yourself. This is true even if you had a poor upbringing and even if you’ve never believed in yourself before. It’s within your power, and it will change your life completely. As a child, I remember being teased…
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Creating a Personal Vision
Creating a Personal Vision Statement has really been in the forefront of my mind lately. After reading the 12 Week Year, which I highly recommend, I began really pondering my personal business vision. For me, I tend to struggle with focus so I created this article to help you as you create your personal vision. What Is A Personal Vision Statement? Vision statements are tools used by businesses and other organizations to convey their mission, values, and goals succinctly to employees, shareholders, and other parties. The goal of a vision statement is to help the people involved in decision-making to make decisions that align with it and the overall purpose…
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Letting Go of Control
As much as we’d all love to take control of everything in our lives, we soon learn that many things are simply out of our realm of control. When I decided to build an online health and fitness business, I had so many pulls on my time that I had to modify and bring back a tool I used in my early adult years to cope with my way of being. The major committments that currently pull on my time and energy include: 1. My new business – I am learning a new way of thinking, and using technology to get it going. 2. My family – I occasionally help…
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Taking Full Responsibility Creates Growth
From a young age, I learned to be pretty self sufficient. My parents divorced when I was 6 and I had to learn to cook in the third grade. My brother and sister came along right around then, so I started watching them. I didn’t always want to be in charge, but it just happened. If anything went wrong, I took full responsibility and dealt with consequences and noticed it began to create growth in my life. During my college years, I became president of the Civil Engineering honor society and created many fun and new activities. Even then, I didn’t really look at myself as a leader or really…
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Four Ways To Learn For Life
According to Leonard De Vinci, “Learning never exhausts the mind”. I can truly attest to this quote. Throughout my life, as I embark on a new adventure by taking a new class, getting a new certificate, or just reading a new book, I become excited about life. My passion increase and I am totally energized. My work becomes inspiring to me and my motivation level goes through the roof. I believe if we learn for life and become a lifelong learner, we carry with us vitality and exuberance which attracts success to all aspects of our lives. Growing up in a small family and moving every two years through my…
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Communicate Like You Mean It
Communication is the most important aspect of being human. Being able to express yourself authentically to others in a public or private setting helps us connect and create relationships. Knowing what you want to and need to say is half the battle and being able to communicate like you mean it gets the point you are trying to make is the other half. Clear Communication I want to share an article with you that Connie Ragen Green wrote on the topic of communication. It’s called “Clear Communication – Can You Hear Me Now?” “Clear communication is at the root of every human interaction. It’s about listening to others and hearing…
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Spotlight Your Team
It is a glorious thing to be in the spotlight when things are going well. As a leader and a performer, I have enjoyed this wonderful feeling. However, it is even more glorious to share the spotlight with someone you have been teaching and training. Being a good leader is not only being able to be in the spotlight, but also being able to be in the shadows, allowing others to spotlight your team, as they enjoy the fruit of acknowledgement of their hard work. By the age of 5, I enjoyed playing the piano. My earliest memory of performing for others, came with the final harsh request of, “Get…
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Team Work Makes Dreams Work
Building effective teams that work together well and impact the goal and each other positively doesn’t just happen without a plan. Teams need certain tools, strategies, and tactics to help them avoid missing deadlines, experiencing interpersonal conflict, and more. When you understand what teams need to work together effectively, you can set your teams up for success and you will begin to see that team work makes dreams work. Recently, I had the opportunity to check off one of my bucket list items. Little did I know that in order to achieve this dream a team was needed. I figured I would show up, brace myself and up, up and…
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Positive Self-Talk Can Reduce Stress
On a typical day, my mind fills with thoughts as I begin debating how things are going wrong or that they may go wrong. That internal voice can be your greatest enemy or cheerleader. Depending on which voice we listen to, our day can go one of two directions, stress-free or full of stress. If we focus on positive self-talk we can reduce stress in our lives. Fight of Two Wolves Many of us have heard the story of the Fight of Two Wolves that the grandfather tells his grandson. To refresh your memory, here it is again: An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life: “A fight is…
