Personal Growth Cafe – Page 212 – Empowering You to Live Your Inspired Vision!

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

How to Improve Your Visualization Skills

Visualizing is an important part of manifesting any goal. As with anything else, there are ways of using this technique that are more effective than others.

This process may be a little more involved that what you’re currently doing to manifest your objectives, but don’t let that stop you. Practicing will only require 5-10 minutes each day, and the results are well worth the effort. Let’s get started and make something happen!

Follow these suggestions and your results will improve dramatically:

Be thorough. Envisioning yourself accomplishing your objective is just a beginning. To be thorough, visualize your life as a whole,including all the changes that would result from achieving your objective. By doing this, you make your vision real enough to have significant effects.

For example, imagining a big pile of cash on your dining room table isn’t enough to achieve greater wealth. If you really did have that much money, would you really have it piled up on your dining room table? Unlikely. You’d most likely have a bank statement or brokerage statement that showed your huge balance.
Also, consider everything else that would change in your life. Would you still be going to work every day? Would you be working in the same place? Would you be living in the same house? Drive the same car? Hang out with the same people?

Use what comes to you. While visualizing, you’re likely to feel certain emotions. These emotions are the key to predicting your ultimate success. If you feel confident and excited during your visualization process, you’re well on your way. However, if you feel any negative emotions, you have more work to do.

Try to determine the cause of any negative feelings and deal with them. Keep a list of the issues that arise and make a plan to address them.

Visualize frequently. You can’t expect much if you only practice once a week. A good rule to follow is two times a day, minimum. The best times are while you’re in bed: first thing in the morning and just before you fall asleep. You mind tends to be more open and relaxed at these times.
Write it down. Avoid trying to do it all in your head. Once a week, write out your visualization and be as detailed as possible. What are your thoughts? How do you feel? What do you see, hear, taste and smell? It’s worthwhile to read your visualization aloud at least once a day. The more senses and learning modalities you use, the better.

Imagine your dreams coming to life. Read them like a story to yourself, and read aloud so you hear them, too. This is much more effective than just occasionally daydreaming about your goals.

Visualization is a powerful tool when used properly. If you incorporate twice-daily visualization into your routine, you’re bound to see some significant results pretty quickly.

Just remember: it’s important to remember to visualize your entire life with the new change in place, not just the change itself. The more complete the visualization, the better the results.

Give these tips a try today, and true success is right around the corner!

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

Being Judgmental: Costs and Benefits

Being quick to judge is a common mistake we all make. Although we do this for a variety of reasons, it can cause challenges for ourselves and others.

A lot of this happens because of the ways in which our brain operates. Some of it is simply a non-productive habit.

Contemplate these ideas:

We’re prone to mistaken assumptions. Most of us have strong views regarding issues in which we have zero practical experience. Whether you want to discuss vegetarianism, living the lifestyle of a monk, or space aliens, nearly everyone you speak to will have a pretty strong opinion even if they have no experience with any of these topics.

This happens in part because we get much of our information and knowledge secondhand. Keep in mind thatmany sources we rely on are likely derived the same way: from someone else.

Humans have pattern-seeking brains. When you’re exposed to something new, your brain naturally attempts to connect it to something you already know. This is valuable and provides certainty and predictability. It helps you deal with the world.

But these connections aren’t always sufficient to provide an accurate opinion. A degree of error is also introduced and the resulting conclusions have large degrees of error as well. Being quick to believe that your unrelated experience is a valid place from which to draw conclusions is usually your first error, and then it can grow from there.

The Perils of Being Judgmental

Being judgmental is hazardous both to you and others. When you hold inaccurate opinions and share them, you steer other people in the wrong direction, as well as yourself. You also prevent yourself from being open to new things. A high degree of self-awareness is needed to recognize when you’re getting off the path.
For example, you probably have a lot of opinions about being wealthy, even if you’ve never been wealthy. If your opinions are negative, do you think that this might have something to do with why you’ve never become wealthy?

Avoiding the Costs

Try suspending your judgment. The real key to unearthing your mistaken assumptions or incorrect pattern recognition is self-awareness.

Learn to recognize when your knowledge and relevant experience are lacking. Ask yourself a series of questions:

What knowledge do I have that allows me to have this opinion?
Is this knowledge valid?
Am I really an expert on this topic?
Is my ego involved?

When to Use Judgment

On the other hand, careful judgments can be beneficial for us. After all, what you chose to wear and eat today required a judgment call. So how do you know if your views and decisions are solid?

This is quite simple. Ask yourself: how accurate are my predictions? If you can anticipate outcomes well for a given topic, you can feel confident that your judgment is pretty good.

If a situation doesn’t involve risking your health or someone else’s, try to hold off on forming a strong opinion until after you’ve actually given the new activity a try. How many things have you stopped yourself from even trying because you already made up your mind it wouldn’t work?

You’ll be amazed at how your life blossoms when you cultivate an open mind!

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

How to Use Habits to Reach Your Goals

One of the keys to reaching a new goal is to have habits in place that support that goal. If your current habits are counter-productive, you’ll need to change them or run the risk of coming up short.

How do habits help you reach your goals?

Suppose you have the goal of running a marathon: if you don’t already have the habit of running regularly, you’re unlikely to be successful until you can adopt that habit. Running regularly can help you attain your goal in several ways, including getting you in great physical shape and strengthening your endurance.

Developing supportive habits can be easier than you think and far more powerful than you can imagine!

Identify the Habits You Need

Before you create new, positive habits, you’ll want to figure out which habits will help you attain your goals. For every goal, there are habits that can practically guarantee success. Reflect on your goals and what actions you can take to help bring them about.

Consider these attributes for the habits you want to implement:

Look for daily habits. Habits you practice each day are much easier to put into place and keep than those that are less frequent.
Keep it simple. The more complex the task, the less likely you are to stick with it. If you really do need to implement a complex habit, start with a simpler version and then add more complexity later.
Be specific. It’s not enough to just specify what you’re going to do; include the how, when, and where as well. Time is always critical when creating a new habit. Be sure to specify a precise period of time in which you wish to implement the new actions.

So “I’m going to exercise 1 hour per day” is inadequate. “I’m going to swim from 6-7 am, Monday through Friday at the YMCA” is more like it. This has enough detail to be quite clear about what you want to accomplish and includes the how, when and where.

Prepare for Interference

There are usually obstacles to creating new habits and behavioral patterns. Try to figure out these possibilities ahead of time so you can eliminate them as soon as possible.

For example, if you’ve decided that you’re going to eat a healthy breakfast every day, get rid of all the breakfast junk food in your pantry and freezer. That junk food is an obstacle to successfully implementing your habit.

The obstacle might be time interference. Maybe your partner doesn’t usually leave you alone for 30 minutes every night so you can meditate, write, read, or whatever it is you want to do towards your goal. Simply let them know ahead of time that you need be undisturbed during this time.

Look for More Supporting Habits

When you determine supporting habits that will help you reach your goal, consider going even deeper into the details to find habits that will help you accomplish your other new habits.

For example, if one of your new habits is to make it to the gym every morning by 6:00 am, you can develop several supporting habits to help you establish this habit, such as:

Get out of bed by 5:15 am.
In order to get up at 5:15 am each day, you might need an additional habit of always being in bed by 10:00 pm.
Another supporting habit might be to pack your gym bag the night before.

These supporting habits are monumentally important. Take time to think about what additional habits you can develop to support your efforts.

Enjoy Automatic Success

Once an action becomes a habit, you’ll do it automatically, without having to make the decision to do it each time. In other words, you’ll automatically move forward, day after day, toward achieving your goal until you reach it.

Just as counter-productive habits can keep you from success, supportive habits can practically guarantee your victory. So consider the habits that will best support your goals, put them into action on a daily basis, and enjoy your new success!

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012July 4, 2012

The Fear of Success: Self-Sabotage

Do you embrace success? Do you envision yourself with health, wealth, and other abundance? In going after yourhopes and desires, you might be surprised to encounter your fear of success.

If you find yourself achieving only small, fleeting successes, but the great things you deserve always seem just out of reach, you may be the victim of your fear of success.

Your fear of success may be tough to identify andunderstand because the causes are frequently hidden from conscious awareness. Your fear may be lurking in your subconscious and you may never even discover that this challenge exists within you without some real probing.

Yet, this fear can cause you to sabotage your pursuit of your most cherished dreams. So how do you find out if your actions are motivated by fear of success?

Is the Fear of Success Sabotaging You?

Think of a goal that you’d like to achieve. Then, take 20-30 minutes and answer the following question: “What will happen if I succeed?” Write down everything you can think of – both good and bad consequences of achieving your goal.

It’s important to take at least 20 minutes to answer the question. Your early answers are likely to be superficial. Simply keep writing for at least 20 minutes. Put down everything that comes to mind. Nothing is too silly or too small. If, after 20 minutes,you’re still getting good stuff, then keep on going.

Suppose your goal is to make $250,000 this year. You might include items like these in your list:

I’ll be able to pay all my bills.
I can buy a new car.
I can go on a vacation.
I’ll have to pay a lot in taxes.
My brother will want a loan.
I don’t know what to do with the money after I’ve got it.
People will treat me differently.
I should get a new house. But where would I live?
My partner will try to spend it all.
I’ll probably just lose it or invest it incorrectly.

In your excitement, you might quickly write down some of the things you’ve wanted to buy, and, once you have the money, you can. But then, as you delve further into all your feelings about achieving your goal, some of the not-so-positive consequences of your achievement appear on your page.

Some of these consequences may reveal things you fear happening if you really achieved your goal.

Goals are never completely free of fear. Achievement always involves change, and all change involves some apprehension. You might truly desire to be successful, but if the feelings of fear due to the changes outweigh the positive feelings in your mind, progress will be slow and challenging.

How to Eliminate Your Fear of Success

If you can make yourself aware of your apprehensions, you have the opportunity to attack each of them and eliminate them or at least minimize them so that you can make progress.

Looking directly at these fears is very powerful. Fears that are not acknowledged tend to grow stronger. Fears that are examined tend to be minimized, which will help you to take aggressive action towards the completion of a goal.

Ultimately, if you look closely at your fears, you’ll see that the perceived side effects are what often seem scariest when pursing goals. So before you give up on your plans, ask yourself what would happen if you were ultimately successful. Tackle your fears head on and you can start achieving your dreams today!

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

Advantages of Being Assertive

In an average day, you probably have a number of opportunities to openly express yourself.

Stating your preferences in simple, honest terms can help you build the life you seek.

Enjoy these benefits by building your assertiveness skills and putting them into practice:

Cultivate contentment with life. The more you ask for what you desire, the more likely you are to get it. When you regularly obtain what you want, you’ll find more satisfaction in your life.
Have freedom to ask for what you want. In being assertive, you can feel free to share your emotions with others in appropriate ways, without hurtingtheir feelings.
Enjoy more stable relationships. One of the wonderful side effects of demonstrating effective assertiveness skills is that you’ll experience more stable relationships with less conflict.

Although you most likely understand what being assertive involves, you may be thinking that sometimes responding passively is best. After all, you’re an easy-going person and you don’t expect to be satisfied all the time. But when you act passively, you run the risk of holding in your feelings and becoming dissatisfied because of it.

Keeping emotions inside can take a toll on relationships.Trying to dismiss your emotions instead of discussing them can result in speaking inappropriately later when you finally let out your frustrations. This type of response can be damaging to any relationship.

You have a right to be open and honest about how you feel in your interactions with others. And if you express yourself assertively, chances are good the other person will not be hurt or offended. Most likely, they’ll listen and respond to your needs, which can only improve your emotional connection.

Others see you as honest.When you habitually communicate assertively, people know you aren’t going to pull any punches. They believe you’re going to honestly say how you feeland they don’t have to worry about what’s going on with you.
Manifest greater self-confidence. Interestingly, the more you express your own wants and needs, the more your confidence will grow. Those who assert themselves regularly in the course of their daily lives tend to believe they’ll be successful in whatever they do.

When you state what it is you’re after, people are often willing to accommodate you. How’s that for a confidence-builder?

Attune yourself with your self-worth. Can you imagine doing anything that will make you feel more worthy than simply and honestly asserting yourself? After all, nothing else says, “I know that I’m a worthwhile person” better than being forthcoming about what’s on your mind.
Set the example. As you freely and appropriately express yourself, those around you see the enriched life you lead and are encouraged togo after those same rewards. They’ll emulate the confidence you demonstrate with your assertiveness skills.

The more you speak up for your desires, the better your life becomes. Practice assertiveness daily. When you do, you’ll inspire those around you and ignite your own passion for life.

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

Believing in Yourself

Have you ever thought about how much believing in yourself makes a difference in your quality of life?

A strong belief in yourself can bring you all these benefits and more:

You recognize your ability to accomplish goals.
You’re optimistic about the future as you set goals and achieve them.
Deep down inside, you know you can do anything.
You treat yourself kindly.
You feel uplifted and more satisfied with life.
You’re motivated to get things done.
You have faith, no matter what.
You see and enjoy the abundance around you.
Others feel attracted to you.

Wouldn’t you love to enjoy these qualities of confidence and well-being on a daily basis? The good news is you can! There are actions you can take to fortify your belief in yourself.

Whether you feel lacking in this area or just want to strengthen your belief for the extra benefits, try these ideas to further develop your belief:

Have confidence in your own abilities to get something done. Be your own best cheerleader and encourage yourself to get your tasks done. Learn to break large tasks down into achievable portions. Then, even when times are tough and your spirit is low, you’ll know you can do it.
Create dreams.Whether it’s getting the career you want, obtaining more training, meeting someone you admire, traveling to a faraway place, or setting a goal to save a million dollars, connect with your dreams.

Where you come from, the money you make, and the people you hang out with are insignificant to the dreams you create. Dreams are often focused on what you want for yourself in the future. When you believe in your dreams, you can also believe in you!

Establish goals and go for the gold. Believing in yourself means you’re motivated to get things done. Get into the habit of setting goals (both short-term and long-term). Then, you can take active steps to achieve them.
Treat yourself well. Treating yourself with a nurturing nature and the understanding that you’re a deserving human being is an important aspect of developing belief in yourself.

Pamper yourself when you desire it. Recognize that others should treat you with respect and love.

Ensure motivation is high. Remember the childhood story about the little engine that could? When you wantto accomplish your tasks with excellence and achieve your goals, it’s an incredible testament to your level of motivation.Buildmomentum to fuel your motivation.
During the tough times, keep the faith. No one is immune from experiencing rocky chapters in his life. But if you believe in yourself, you can meet those challenging phases with a positive, solid fortitude. You’ll push forward, move through the trying moments and know you’ll come out on the other side smarter, stronger and surer of yourself.
Recognize the bounty you have. Regardless of what stage of life you’re living, search for the good all around you. Get the most you can from each moment.

Is the chair you’re sitting on comfortable? Are you safe and warm right now?
Whatever you love in your life, be thankful.Have gratitude.

Believing in yourself is one of the most powerful choices you can make. Practice these strategies and you’ll discover the sheer joy and comfort of knowing you can do whatever it is you choose when you believe in yourself.

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012June 18, 2012

Ace Your Next Job Interview by Listening Better

Active listening skills are a subtle but effective way to perform better on job interviews.

Half of all communication is listening but few of us get any training on doing it well. Fortunately, listening well is relatively simple, and will become automatic once you practice the skills.

Here are some techniques that will help you acquire more knowledge and make a better impression on your prospective employer.

How to Use Active Listening for Your Job Interview

Recognize your limitations. Many studies confirm that we only take in half of what we hear and we forget half of that by the next day. Becoming more attentive often takes some deliberate effort.
Relax your mind. Most people feel anxious about applying for a new job. Take time to quiet your mind and reduce distracting thoughts. Meditate, get a massage, or listen to instrumental music.
Stay alert. Prevent fatigue from sabotaging your interview. Get a good night’s sleep and squeeze in some aerobic exercise beforehand. Sit up straight and dress in layers. Being chilly makes concentration more difficult.
Show your enthusiasm. Successful people often enjoy talking about their work, especially when they have an appreciative audience. Make eye contact and lean toward your interviewer. Let your positive feelings shine through when you describe your past accomplishments and how they relate to the position you’re seeking.
Position yourself as a good fit. Use the information your interviewer provides to home in on the type of candidate they’re after. Explain how your background and skills enable you to contribute and become a valued team member.
Take notes. People listen much faster than they speak. Take advantage of that gap to take notes and collect your thoughts. Jot down keywords and main themes rather than recording every word.
Keep an open mind. It pays to be flexible. Remain neutral to avoid rejecting a new viewpoint or job opportunity before you have a chance to consider it from all angles.
Put yourself in your interviewer’s shoes. Your interviewer may feel uncomfortable too. Empathize with their responsibility to find the right person for the job.
Restate key points. Summarize and paraphrase the most important messages. This will help reinforce their thoughts in your mind and show your interviewer that you are on the same page.
Seek clarification. Avoid misunderstandings by clarifying anything that’s unclear. A good employer will appreciate your efforts to fully comprehend their expectations.
Ask thoughtful questions. Use open-ended questions to elicit more information. Incisiveness also helps show that you’re a strong candidate.

Meeting the Staff

Get to know your supervisor. Your manager will likely play a big role in your job satisfaction. Talk about the daily routine and responsibilities. Learn about their work style and how they establish priorities.
Pick up valuable information from your co-workers. Try to meet some of your future associates. They can clue you in on the work environment and organizational culture. Plus, it’s usually a good sign if employees are involved in the hiring process.
Learn about the big picture from leadership. You may also get the opportunity to talk with some of the organization’s senior executives. Even if the time is brief, use those meetings to help get a better sense of the organization’s strategic plans and future direction.

Go to your next job interview better prepared to listen. The session will probably be more productive for both you and the people you interview with. And even if you don’t get this job, if you’ve kept your ears open, you may have positioned yourself for a different one. Active listening is one way to open up new career opportunities and build a better future.

Make sure you’re effectively using your power to manifest everything you want. Do the “Crash Course on Creating Your Ideal Life” video training for free at the Personal Growth Cafe.

June 13, 2012September 11, 2017

Four Actions That Bring You Success

Whatever you’ve already accomplished, there’s always another interesting mountain to climb. If you’re looking for more achievement, you can improve your life dramatically with a few simple changes.

Although these suggestions are straightforward, most of them will require constant attention for a little while until they become habitual. Once they become automatic, though, you’ll be thrilled with your progress.

Try these ideas to enjoy greater success:

1. Hang out with successful individuals. You’ll frequently find that you achieve about as much as the people with whom you spend the most time. If you want to be successful, affiliate as often as you can with people who are more successful than you. There are a couple of reasons for this:

You’ll be exposed to a completely different way of thinking and interacting with the world. Very successful people look at many things differently than those who are less successful. Integrating some of these ideas into your own thinking will likely bring you more successes of your own.
You’ll also encounter new opportunities. High-achieving people frequently have all kinds of ventures going on; you never know when they might need a helping hand. You’ll also get to connect with their peer group, who are likely to be very successful as well.

2. Adjust your attitude. Successful people usually have a positive attitude. That’s what allows them to move forward aggressively. This is not the same as acting foolishly, however.

Minor challenges don’t bog them down because they believe that things will work out in the end. They also keep the bigger picture in mind, so minor challenges are just that – minor.
If you want to be wealthy, do you have positive attitudes about wealth and wealthy people? If you want to be healthy, do you have a positive outlook about that? Your attitudes must be congruent with your objectives.
Everything starts internally; seeing outside changes in your life takes time.

3. Be organized and focused. Before you go to bed each night, make a list with all the things you want to accomplish the next day. Doing this at night gives your brain a chance to work on things in your sleep. Also, you’ll feel much better when you can start the day with a clear objective instead of spending time trying to figure out what to do.

4. Have goals. Your brain is tremendously good at finding solutions. You can help it out by doing a good job of outlining and prioritizing your objectives. The simplest way to do this is to write down your goal and include a deadline. Now your brain knows what to work on and when to have it accomplished.

Read over your goals at least twice a day to provide mental emphasis that they’re important. We all know how easy it is to get sidetracked by 50 other things and forget all about our goals and plans.

These 4 simple ideas can bring you great power, if you’ll use them to your advantage.

Being successful is really no more challenging than being unsuccessful. Both require specific actions and attitudes applied consistently over a period of time. Make some changes today and give yourself the gift of success.

May 24, 2012May 24, 2012

Watch this video! It’s very touching. And makes you think about the value of one life

Make sure you have some tissue paper nearby. I got a little choked up watching this myself, and I’m not a crier.

It really moved me.

It also helps me appreciate the importance of one “second chance”, and how we should all take every day as precious, and make sure we’re living each day to the fullest!

Also, after you watch it, reflect on the meaning of your own life.

And honestly explore how well you’ve been honoring your purpose for being here.

And the way you’re meant to serve others.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately.

What’s clear to me is this is how I’m meant to be of greatest service to the most people.

It’s what I’m passionately enthusiastic about, and it’s also my greatest gift, and contribution…. to you!

Post your comments below and let’s explore this more deeply.

Warmly,
Dan

P.S. Who do you know who would love to see such a touching video?

Use the share button (the stylish “<" sign in the bottom right of the video above) and let your Facebook friends, Twitter contacts or friends in your inbox know about it. They will be redirected to this page to watch that video themselves!

May 10, 2012

What are you manifesting – perhaps without even realizing it?

Hi Friends,

Use "The First Covenant" to consciously find the solution to any challenge you face

We’ve been talking a lot about “The First Covenant” (if you haven’t read that post, make sure you do – the comments, and my in-depth replies, are quite valuable in the way you’re creating your life!) lately.

How aware are you of what you’ve been focusing on, and empowering with strong feelings?

It’s a really important question to think about, because whatever that is becomes what you’re causing more of.

For example think about most people.

Probably during the day they’re quietly grumbling about the jobs they feel don’t pay them enough or don’t satisfy them and they’re just feeling “I wish I didn’t have to be here”.

Then they’re battling traffic and perhaps even complaining about that, or they’re half tuning out and driving on autopilot.

When they get home, then they might tune on the news, or TV in general – which does an excellent job of focusing people’s attention for them, and directing their emotions, so they’re getting angry, upset, and scared, about all the things the news producers selected for that purpose –

To get people upset about, so they would stay tuned in, so the station could show that many more eyeballs to its advertisers.

Go back and get “The First Covenant” in your mind, if it’s not there already.

Now re-examine what TV does to people.

What does it do? It gets people focusing mostly on what they don’t want, and empowering that with strong feelings.

What happens as a result of that? You’re right – it causes them to experience more things they don’t want.

Considering that’s how things work, let’s look at what you specifically are manifesting.

Are you keeping your attention on “what gives you joy, inspires you and moves you closer to your goals, desires and dreams”?

Because those things you feel great about, and by giving them your undivided attention, they are what you’re then empowering – and creating more of!

Or if you’re like a leaf blowing in the wind (like most people who never gave this life-changing question much thought, or any attention)….

Then you’re probably experiencing a few things you want, a few you don’t want, and a lot of things in between.

That’s not the recipe for success, happiness, fulfillment and making a difference to others (which is the reason we’re all here, to be of service as much as we can).

What do you need to do to take control of your life – and consciously choose to give none of your power to anything that does not serve you…. and to keep your focus firmly within only those things that *NEED* your undivided attention, such as your life-long dream!?

Really think about that, because it’s obviously a really important question to wrap your head around.

Then post your answer below.

Your insights can be helpful to more people.

This is the time for you to start living the fulfillment of your greatest Desire!

Joyfully,
Dan 🙂

P.S. If you like this message, click the little “Share on” and select Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite way of letting people know about things they would be interested in.

Thanks!