Reality and Imagination

There are lots of people who believe in anything and everything, from superstitions to myths to even folk tales, like fairies, mermaids, and the like. Even if none of us have really seen any of them, save for some who insist sightings, or even experienced them, we tend to believe, nonetheless, especially if a friend of a friend of a friend claims to have seen them.

More often than not, we attribute ill luck to superstitious beliefs, instead of pointing to carelessness, irresponsibility, and sheer natural and human error.

Take for example one case during a wedding ceremony, where one of the groom’s cord sponsors accidentally broke the cord in half. The cord is meant to symbolize the binding and lasting relationship between the married couple. In some cultures, having the cord break during the ceremony is a bad sign. It can mean that the husband and wife’s relationship might not last as intended. Needless to say, the incident alarmed those who were present.

True enough, after a couple of years, the wife died. Now, in this case, the death of the wife is immediately associated with the breaking of the cord, disregarding the fact that the wife had some kind of sickness. In fact, they even attributed this sickness to the breaking of the cord. Depending on your cultural orientation, you can either discount this as very silly or be creeped out by the turn of events.

Now, where does all this belief come from? It doesn’t start with your great grandfather or great grandmother – it actually starts in your head. This is what is called negative thinking. Belief that doesn’t have a basis is clinically associated with negative thoughts.

Another is that belief comes from the fact that people need to have a basis for their imaginative ideas. This is why they usually come up with all these ridiculous origins. For the lack of anything tangible that would strengthen their conclusions, people often revert to the supernatural and attribute events to the gods and divination.

How is this considered negative thinking? It demeans the real purpose or reason for the event. All of these events happen because of some old-age superstition or a belief that has been passed on from generation to generation. Again, it all depends on what your orientation is. Nevertheless, we should never solely rely on the ethereal nature of situations and leave everything to destiny and fate. Nothing springs out of nothing.

There is no immediate “cure” for all of these situations, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, then it could be safe. But the one thing that can be learned from all of these is how to curb one’s negative thinking. Stay away from negative beliefs, because, in the long run, when one believes all of these, you will have difficulty separating reality from imagination.

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Reaching the Top

Many of you have probably heard of people inching their way slowly to the top, gradually overcoming obstacles on their way and struggling with as much effort as they can to reach one of the highest peaks in the world, Mount Everest. Or maybe you have heard of people who overcame all hardships and adversities in their lives who made a difference in the world. People such as Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Walt Disney, Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart have all contributed to the idea of success we all possess and aim for today.

But what is their secret to their success? What made them different from the rest of us? You can say that self image improvement will definately help.Self image is so important.

In a nutshell, it’s really hard to say what makes them tick. As far as we all know, they were all hardworking, dedicated and industrious individuals who came up with extraordinary visions and fulfilled their missions in life.

So here are a few pointers that could help you do what these people did. You may not be the next Neil Armstrong or Thomas Edison, but this could be the start of something big for you.

Dream big, and always have a vision in life. When you dream big, you think of the biggest thing that you can ever accomplish in your life. Think of climbing Mount Everest. Think of inventing the first car which runs on water. You can even think of formulating a medicine which will give people their memories from the day they were born. But of course, remember to be realistic. Don’t think of something that is impossible to happen.Your self image can also help.

Make that vision come true. Start working now! Gather your materials, develop your skills, and do some research. Find friends who can help you with your project. Give some ample time in a day to really map out your vision and make your dream come true. If you want to climb a mountain, get some training, get the right equipment, and join a mountaineering group. If you want to fly an aircraft, go to your nearest aviation school and sign up for classes.

Above all, stay positive!Improve your self image. If your efforts fail, what do you need to do? Start over! That’s what Edison did. He made more than a hundred light bulbs before he created one that really worked. So never give up. And try and try again!

Help is always available to improve your self image, and reaching the top is just a matter of time.

Self image improvement is the key.

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Motivation: What Drives You?

Have you ever tried randomly asking successful people in their own field on things that motivate them? If you do, you might be overwhelmed because two entirely different people may give you the same answer – goals!

Motivation, as studied in psychology and neuropsychology, is a particular reason, perhaps a set of reasons that drives people in a particular behavior, specifically human behavior. These reasons include goals, ideals, state of being, and even basic needs such as shelter, food, and water.

Being highly motivated is one of the greatest attributes to be an effective leader. In fact, the majority of the numbers of successful leaders I know are extremely driven by great passion. It is something that vitalizes your ability to do something, something even beyond the things you are not used to doing. It can be someone or something that has been with you all throughout your existence, or it can even be entirely something you didn’t even knew exist.

It is more than just passion running through one’s blood and circulating all over his body, it is also a philosophy that runs one of the biggest deals in the society. Despite the modern-day complexities, you still can’t deny the satisfaction and self worth you realize after having been given a commendation and highly regarded for the great efforts you have put into your work. This particular feeling of self worth animates and revitalizes each time you are praised and in time will be instilled in your mind, since motivation is a behavioral aspect that is learned.

Technically speaking, motivation is a state of mind that invigorates and somehow endows guidance and direction. It is a combination or solely a feeling of aggression, instincts, fear, and learning. Motivation is even tagged by other psychologists to be the greatest emotional battery that fuels up your every move. Plus, it is even rechargeable!

People who are enriched with motivation are most likely the one who live out to be people who are more attentive, people who can work independently, those who are willing to ask for help if needed, willing to give out help, and those who embrace challenges to better themselves. On the other hand, people who lack motivation are generally those who are always dissatisfied, who lacks competence, those who underestimates their own capabilities, those who feel negatively about their jobs, and typically those who let personal issues conflict with their goals.

Motivation is the utmost value that a good leader can ever possess. For others, this may only serve as their last resort, but for effective leaders, it is their first. Leadership is about accepting the fortunate fact that motivation comes out naturally. It is part of who you are. It is part of what you have become.

However, for those who still haven’t mastered the art of motivation, don’t fret. If you think that you have to be a leader prior to achieving the drive that motivation has, you are absolutely wrong! No matter how incompressible some circumstances can be, all you have to do is try a little bit harder and look forward for something positive out of this endeavor.

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Motivate Yourself to Achieve Your Goals

Motivation is the reason why people work hard at their work and jobs. It is the reason why you are able to stick to a diet plan even as your colleague enjoys a chocolate mousse for dessert. And it is also the reason why people are energized to do the things that need to be done in order to achieve their goals.
While a lot of people look for motivation outside, the most effective form of motivation comes from within. Once you have decided that you want to achieve a goal you need to motivate yourself for it.
How to Motivate Yourself to Achieve Your Goals
• After you have established your goal, your level of motivation will depend on how important and crucial the goal is. List down in a journal all the reasons that make the goal important to you.

• Visualise yourself achieving the goal and pen down your feelings; you may even include a relevant picture. Every time you find your self slipping and losing focus of your goal read your journal and motivate yourself.

• Make certain that your goal is specific. For instance if you want to lose weight, set a specific target of say 15 pounds.

• Create smaller goals that you will achieve on your path to your final goal. Being able to measure your progress is a great source of motivation.

• Make sure that your goals are realistic and attainable. It is one thing to challenge yourself and another to set a goal that is impossible to attain.

• Reward yourself for working to achieve your goals. This will make you feel better and keep you committed.

• Set a timeline for your goals so that you have a certain date in mind to work towards.

• Create a support group. Inform close friends and family of your goal and seek their assistance in achieving it.
Motivating yourself to achieve your goals is not just about talking to yourself but also includes making the time and effort to realize your dreams and goals and developing skills that will help you achieve them.If I can do it you can do it.

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Make Your First Impression the Best Impression

The first 10 to 20seconds are crucial in creating the best fist impression in your first meeting. People observe you from head to toe. They study your physical personality, demeanor, mannerisms, body language, your style or fashion, etc. It is therefore vital for you to make the best impression. Because once the impression is made, it is mostly irreversible. If you have made a good one, it is good; but if you have not, the damage is done. You may interest some and disappoint others. Most of us wish to make the best impression in others whether the meeting is personal or professional.

How do people assess you the first time they see you?
You are always appraised in initial business and social environments. When they see you for the first time, people notice your dress, your shoes, handbag and hairstyle, your body language, your mannerisms, etc. Certain elements contribute to making your first impression. They are: Physical appearance, body language, verbal communication and how well you perceive other people. Here are a few tips to make the best impression:

Physical appearance

• Try your best to look attractive

• Dress appropriately for the situation and profession

• Look poised

• Look economically well off in terms of time and money

• Choose a proper hairstyle or haircut

• Dress well

• If you are a woman, your hair should be worn away from your face and heels would make you look taller and slimmer

• Accessories such as watch, jewelry and handbags or briefcases should highlight your style along with elegance and quality.

Body language

• Enter a room with confidence and smile

• Maintain a good posture

• Make good eye contact with people you meet and hold it for a few seconds to create a warm connection

• Let your handshake be firm

• Maintain a distance of one-arm’s length between you and the other person while talking

• Do not wear heavy scented colognes or Deos

• Keep your breath fresh.

Verbal communication

• Remember names when new introductions are made. This is very important especially in business circles

• Be confident when you converse or while giving out your personal, business details

• Be sensitive about what topics you choose for small talk.

Perceiving others

Study the other person and try to learn his personality as soon as you could. You could exchange simple information that helps you to understand the energy levels and compatibility between the two of you.

In conclusion, your mastery in presenting yourself in appropriate style, your efficient communication and elegant body language and your sensitivity to others are the key elements that win over others with the best impression. If you study the above, I can honestly say that things will change for you, if you apply them.

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Learn to Gain Control over Your Life

Human life is a precious blessing and each day should be lived king size. I am asked quite often about the secret of my boundless joy and peace. All I say is that, I am high on life. I drink life to the lees because my life is completely in my control. We can definitely exercise control over the quality of our life by making the right choices.

To gain control over your life, you need to begin with the development of a complete understanding of yourself. Each of us is unique in our own right with very diverse thought processes, and a mind of our own. Never try to ape someone else because you are the best in simply being yourself. All you need is to understand yourself in all perspectives. Feel happy about all your positive traits and face your negativities with equal honesty. It is all about being at ease inside your own skin.

Once you are in control of yourself, you are prepared to handle all the surprises which life springs on us, every now and then. Try and gain as much knowledge and understanding of the world around. This will help you make intelligent decisions whenever you find yourself at crossroads.

Enjoy each moment of your day.

Help everyone in need, because it will make you feel good about yourself. Nurturing relationships will help you enjoy life better.

Whenever your mind is strangled by a shower of negative thoughts, try to divert your attention towards something pleasant.

Eat healthy and exercise well because you control your life only if you are in a strong frame of health.

Remember to be positive always, and you will never be down in the dumps again even after a break-up. Sometimes its easy to read this stuff, however it does work if you apply it.

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Leadership and Commitment: A hand-in-hand Journey towards Success

“Leaders are not born, they are made”. You may have probably heard of this catchy line a couple of times in your entire existence, mostly from speeches. And yes, it is so predictable. But have you ever thought about the real deal behind one man’s success in leadership?

Before getting into the core and putting down incomprehensible facts and systematize ways to be a good leader, you have to fully understand the basics. Being a leader is sometimes mistakenly thought as merely being the first or the most capable. However, beyond having the loudest voice for your constituents to follow your orders is a more profound depiction that entails all varied aspects of leadership.

Part of your being a leader is giving out orders. This is the easy part. Getting your subordinates to follow your every order and efficiently deliver their fair share of work is the hardest part. It is not only enough to mandate someone to do his work. Leadership is about influencing people and motivating them to do their part of the work with minimal or no supervision as possible.

Every man is different. Every man works differently and every man pulls motivation from different things. Before one can manifest great leadership, he has to have greater passion and from passion comes a lifetime commitment. Leadership and commitment is like bread and butter or perhaps spoon and fork, wherein one cannot efficiently function without the other.

Commitment is the single most important aspect of success, more so in leadership. After all, you wouldn’t be where you are right now without your undying commitment for the company. If you show commitment and have been a living proof that commitment is what got your where you are, you will not only influence your people to live out your principles, but you are also unconsciously giving them career paths for their future’s sake.

Along with demonstrating commitment to your company is commitment to yourself as a leader. In fact, it is the second-most crucial aspect of success. An effective leader has astounding self-confidence, integrity, and a feasible sense of personal candor. If you have grown in a perfect setting with the perfect parents who taught you perfect values, then possessing the above-mentioned standards is just as easy as 1, 2, 3. However, this is not always the case. There are no perfect parents because there is also no perfect child. In simpler words, if you are not naturally given these values, your commitment to leadership will serve as your drive to learn them.

And lastly but equally important is your commitment to your people. The basis of the team’s commitment to their work is chiefly influenced by the leader’s commitment to each of them. Building a lasting relationship between you and your immediate staff is surrounded by principles like courtesy, giving constructive feedback, and respect.

Leadership is not just about having the necessary skills to direct and guide a group into the right way. The biggest fraction of good leadership is commitment. If you have demonstrated everything the right way, your subordinate’s work will be a verification of your success as a leader.

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Learn To Be Courageous

Courage is also known as bravery. It is the ability to face fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. It is called ‘physical courage’ while facing physical challenges such as pain and hardship and ‘moral courage’ while enduring shame and discouragement.

The opposite of courage is fear. Courage makes your fear disappear. Courage is an important quality or character that you should have in order to face life’s many challenges.

Is it possible for all of us to have courage?

Well, yes. Courage also means overcoming fears. In that sense we all could learn to overcome most of our fears. You should develop courage in yourself first so that you could instill courage in others – your children, your family, your spouse and your staff at work. If you do not know what courage is and you do not have it, how could you teach others?

How do you overcome fears?

Learn to curb your fears - You should realize that everyone is afraid of something or the other. Courage does not mean absence of fear. Courage is control over your fear. A courageous person acts in spite of his fear to move forward.

Face your fears - Fears disappear the minute you stare at them. Your fear takes over you when you get scared and back away from a fearful situation. The fear looms over you and becomes more powerful. The only way you could develop courage is to be aware of your fear and confront it consciously and continuously. As you face each fear-inducing situation as a challenge your fears become weaker and you grow stronger.

Desensitize yourself to your fears - There is a technique called ‘Systematic desensitization’ which is used to treat phobias and other extreme or erroneous fears based on principles of behavior modification. In this technique you do a fearful act over and over until it has no more power over you. Your courage and confidence would grow more and more as you repeat the action several number of times. Finally your fear simply disappears once for all.

Your action plan in your efforts to overcome fear could include the following steps:

Define what courage is in your mind – it could be learning to drive, staying alone at home, going for a walk alone, swimming, etc. People are afraid of so many different things and what is simple to you may not be so for the other person.

Identify your fears – know your fears first.

Write down a list of all your fears - Be honest to yourself and do not be ashamed of admitting your fear of even the silliest thing in life.
Once your list is done, write down specific actions that you could possibly take in order to overcome those fears.

Prioritize your tasks.

Start taking action today.You are in the drivers seat.

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Leadership & Vision: A Great Tandem for Success

People admire leaders, especially good and effective leaders. Without these kinds of leaders, a company, organization, institution or even a country won’t be successful.

However, tragic as it may seem, there are lots of leaders in position right now who are not actually capable of being a leader. They are what we may refer to as pseudo-leaders. You know, the ones who seem to look like leaders, who seem to act like leaders, but behind closed doors, when they are all alone, they do not have an idea how to manage the issues which entails the wit and sense of a true and effective leader!

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This now leads us to ask a vital question - what then, makes a good leader? Well, there isn’t really an exact definition, requirements or standards as to what a good leader is. However, one thing is for sure - having a clear vision is one great quality of a good leader. By having a concrete prospect on what needs to be accomplished, a leader can be able to make wise decisions as well as make back-up plans should there be an instance that his plans would backfire.

Being prepared for failure is also a trait that a good leader must possess. You see, realistically, even though how good a leader is, there might be chances that his decisions would backfire. That is why, an effective leader must have a back-up plan so that he and his subordinates can quickly recover and compensate for any failures or errors.

A leader should also be able to exude an aura of assurance, confidence and credibility. If he has none of these qualities, his subordinates would not follow him. You see, the subordinates look at the leader as someone who has the biggest responsibility in attaining the goals of the group. Without the leader’s initiative, the group would more or less end up with little or no accomplishment at all.

It is a leader’s prerogative as to how he would lay down his instructions and how he would distribute the work load to his subordinates. What’s important is that all the steps and measures that a leader is going to take is for the fulfillment of the group’s goals.

A leader must also take note of the individual differences of his subordinates. By keeping in mind that his subordinates possess different strengths and weaknesses, he can be able to have an idea as to what kind of tasks he will give to each individual.

As long as a leader has a clear vision on what he and his subordinates need to accomplish, it will be easy for him to organize and plan activities which would make them successful in whatever endeavor they have to take.

It Starts with a Vision

Ever heard of Walt Disney? Yes, he’s the guy who created the first sound cartoon, the first all-color cartoon and the first animated feature-length motion picture. Anyone who has managed to bring all of these three together for entertainment is someone with a definite vision. But aside from these, two of Disney’s greatest masterpieces were Disneyland and Walt Disney World, theme parks that capture the imagination of every child, and even every adult.

How did Walt Disney come up with his ideas? What was his vision for his future, and what spurred him on to create his company?

Vision sparks a leader and fires him up to do the things that inspire him the most. It draws him forward and makes everyone want to follow him, a strong leader. When a person doesn’t have a vision in life, one that propels him towards achieving his dreams, then he practically has no direction at all.

So what makes a good leader with vision? Here are a couple of pointers for you to follow.

Vision starts from within. You can’t go around telling people what their vision is nor can they ask you for suggestions on what their vision should be. Vision comes from within, so take a long, hard look at yourself. If you are having a hard time figuring out your vision, think of what interests you and you can start from there. If you’re still not sure what your vision is, look for a partner that shares the same interests and plans as you. Even Walt Disney had one – his brother, Roy.

Vision draws on your history. Look back at your past and figure out the lessons you have learned from your life experiences. Visions don’t materialize overnight. Leaders who have visions in life draw out their sources from what they have learned in the past and the mistakes that they have made.

One great vision is one that aims to meets other people’s needs. It’s not all about you alone—it’s all about drawing other people into your dream and changing their lives. If your vision is restricted solely to helping you fulfill your purpose and not benefiting other people, then it’s too shallow and selfish. Your vision should be something that resonates within other people and enables them to work for that goal as well.

Having a clear vision can help you prepare and gather your resources. One of the best things about working towards your vision is that it helps you attract others. It’s like a magnet. The more powerful the vision is, the more likely people will want to achieve it.

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