Ambition is the Key to Your Personal Power

By Gerri D Smith

People who are in their personal power often affect others without trying. As leaders, they empower rather than control. -Joan Sotkin

What are your dreams, your hopes, and your desires? Are they in harmony with your personal ambition to improve your life? Whether your goal is to be a fashion designer, a corporate vice-president, or the owner of a franchise, as a total person, you must always aim for improvement. For greater personal power, here are seven ambitions that are worthy of attaining:

1. MAINTAIN A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE

What are you passionate about? What excites you? Are you an enthusiastic person? The mental vision you hold about yourself, the way you think, the dreams you wish to turn into reality, and the way you view life all make up your positive attitude. Creating and maintaining a positive attitude contributes to your self-image and serves as a worthy purpose.

2. MAKE USE OF YOUR CREATIVE, POSITIVE, AND EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Have you already made your career choice? Do you already own your own business? Is it the best choice for you? Are you putting all of your creative skills to worthy causes? Do you have an active plan for reaching your career or business goals? With positive, mental and spiritual energy, you'll have a strong cushion of faith to fall back on when life hands you a challenge.

3. LEARN TO CHALLENGE YOUR THINKING

Develop projects that will inspire you. Direct your thoughts on any behavior that enhances your personal or business growth. Make better choices that will lead you to fulfill your goals. For example, it may help to periodically review or identify your needs, skills, and goals. And as soon as you condition your mind to develop positive, mental and spiritual energy, you won't have any problem creating good feelings about yourself or your life.

4. LOOK INWARD FOR STRENGTH AND ENERGY

In stressful situations, strength and energy is vital for positive results. Thinking, feeling and acting positively builds your self-image and develops your power to think clearly. Inner strength gives you the power to handle the many hassles or stresses in both your business and personal life.

5. ELIMINATE WORRY, FEAR AND NEGATIVE THINKING

You can turn impossibilities into realities by visualizing what you want to happen, then acting to make it come true. See yourself already there and your goal as already accomplished. The same applies when you are afraid to attempt a tough project, or have to deal with a negative situation. Fear, worry and negative thinking disappear when you visualize a positive outcome.

6. BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL

Keep thinking: You can get whatever it is you want, if you believe that you can. Give your subconscious mind positive goals and successful images to work with, then watch what happens when you set your heart to accomplishing what you want.

7. GET TO KNOW YOURSELF

Improve your physical, mental, and emotional strengths by not dwelling on your weaknesses. Try not to hold resentments toward anyone or anything. Learn to see the other person's view. To maximize your strengths, remember your successes, and the things you have done well. And remember to thank God for all that you have and all that is to come.

Ambition then is the power to gain and enlarge your knowledge, your creative skills, and your positive spirit. Ambition increases your positive energy level. Remember: negative thinking burns physical energy three times faster then positive thinking. With practice, it always becomes easier to do.

Personal power can only be achieved by what you accomplish. Supply your thoughts and your life with positive energy. Personal power comes from self-discovery, self-improvement and self-esteem. Keeping your mind filled with positive visions not only shapes your image, others are affected by your positive attitude. This is your personal power.

So, what are your ambitions?

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Gerri D Smith designs apparel for women who love to dress up for elegant evenings, and publishes fashion articles for the creative mind. Thank you for your precious time reading her article and discovering how unique you are. Peek at her designs, more articles, and take a journey into the world of fashion at www.distinctive-elegance.com

Change Takes More Than a New Year's Resolution

By Laurie Weiss

*Lois blew her New Year's resolution to lose weight three days after she made it.

*Marianne got all of her phone calls returned the first week of the new year -- then settled back into her old pattern of waiting for the caller to try again.

*Jerri used her new filing system for almost a month. Her desk stayed clean, and she was thrilled. One day she was in a hurry and piled up a few things, and in a week her stack was as big as ever.

One reason why it is so hard to establish new habits is that you usually try to do it by yourself. You get into an argument between your inner child and your inner parent. Your inner child wants the ease and comfort of familiar old patterns, and no matter how sensible the changes may be, she resists doing what she should do.

Your inner parent then enters the argument, scolding you and telling you to get on with it, producing even more resistance from your inner child. You (your inner child) make excuses to yourself (your inner parent). "Just this one cookie, I'm really busy, I just don't have time, nobody else will know, etc." Before you know it, the good new habit is history.

If you have children (or a husband), you know that it often takes frequent reminders to help them learn to do something differently. In fact, if it's a change they aren't really interested in making, you may be accused of nagging. If it takes support and reminders for others to change, why don’t you think that you can do it yourself?

Whenever you stretch yourself into a new area, there is a tendency to regress and seek comfort and support. If you allow yourself the same comfort, support and encouragement you willingly offer others, you'll find it much easier to sustain your changes.

Make an agreement with a friend, spouse, or coworker for mutual support. Commit to be both tough and caring with each other. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of being nice and accepting excuses.

If that kind of agreement is not practical, hire a professional coach to give you the support you need. A professional coach is committed to helping you set and reach your own goals, and has a variety of tools available to help you manage your natural desire to regress.

You deserve the chance to create the life you want to live in 2008. Happy New Year!

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Communicate skillfully about sensitive subjects in business situations. Have the challenging conversations that lead to cooperation and success. www.DareToSayIt.com/blog

Laurie Weiss, Ph.D. is a Master Certified Coach and communication expert. Dr. Weiss has spent 35 years helping clients resolve conflict in business and personal relationships. Email feedback@laurieweiss.com

The Secret to Making and Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions

By Susan Bonfiglio

Another year, another set of resolutions. Each year we set New Year's resolutions and by March most of us have abandoned them. Some of us abandon them by January 2nd. What sets those individuals who make and keep their resolutions apart from the rest of us? Attitude and belief. Those folks think differently.

I had always approached making resolutions the same way I used to diet, something you go on to go off. I have completely changed my way of setting resolutions because I have changed the way I think.

The dictionary defines resolutions as:

• The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.
• A resolving to do something.
• A course of action determined or decided on.

A resolution is something you want to accomplish. It starts with a decision, what do you want? Have you ever really asked yourself that question? Not what does your parents or your spouse or your friends want for you. Not even what you think you can achieve but what do you really want? Once you can actually answer this question then you're ready to set a course of action.

Many people saw the movie The Secret and think that all you have to do is visualize it and it will come. Not true. That is only one step in the process right after making a decision. You have to get emotionally involved in your goal. You have to feel the excitement; you have to feel yourself achieving the goal. Experience the joy. As you do that, you begin to invoke the Law of Attraction which states that what you think about, you bring about. You will begin to attract all that you need to achieve your goal.

A mistake that people make when setting goals is that they use negative words to describe what they want. For example, I've heard people say, "I'm in debt. My goal is to not lose my house." Words have energy and power. Negative words produce a negative vibration and ultimately a negative result. Instead use positive words, "I am so happy and grateful now that I have all the money I need to maintain myself in my home and live comfortably." See the difference. The positive words set up a positive vibration in your body and it will begin to attract the people and things you need to achieve your goal.

That's why affirmations alone don't work. If you write an affirmation and don't believe it, you will not be able to make it happen. For example, if you write an affirmation about body image like, I have a thin body, and you don't believe it because you weigh 300 lbs. you will not achieve it. Then you either blame yourself or the affirmation. It's like making soup. You have all the right ingredients in the pot to make the perfect soup but if you don't light the fire, it won't cook. The fire is the feeling that fuels your actions and produces the results you get.

To change your results, start by changing your words. When the words change, your feelings change and your vibration changes and then your results change. When your thoughts change so will your feelings and that will produce a vibration that will alter your results.

Where people get into trouble is they try to do this all alone. Everyone can benefit from an objective person to partner with. Having a coach can make all the difference in the world. A coach can make this process faster by helping you get really clear about what you want and by helping to uncover the unconscious motivations that can sabotage results. Using a coach can shorten the learning curve and provide support and encouragement through the process. Just think where Tiger Woods would be today without a coach.

So make your New Year's Resolutions and set an intention to keep them.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Susan Bonfiglio is an Independent Life Success Consultant, trained by Bob Proctor, from The Secret. She works with people who really want to learn how to improve the results they achieve in all areas of their life. You can learn more about Susan at http://www.susanbonfiglio.lifesuccessconsultants.com

5 Things Preventing You From Creating Wealth

By Calvin Brown

There are only 5 things which are preventing you from getting rich, or at least creating enough wealth to live the lifestyle of your dreams. Once you overcome these five things, you will be removing the barriers which prevent 99 percent of people from living a life of luxury.

Here are the 5 things: lack of focus, lack of desire, lack of perseverance, negativity, and failure to start.

You will notice that each of those five things are related to your own personality and thought process. There is no mention of lack of time, or lack of money, or anything external to you or beyond your control.

That is the reason so many people fail to create wealth. They talk about it, but they never succeed in doing it. Because to succeed in creating wealth, would require them to change themselves. It would require them to become a better person, and change all of their anti-wealth habits.

This is also good news. Even though developing new habits and creating personal change is not easy, it is something everybody can do. Thus, creating the wealth of your dreams is within the reach of almost everyone.

That includes you.

So here are the five things holding you back and some quick things you can do for each one.

Lack of focus
Stop multitasking. Stick to one thing until it is finished, before moving on to the next thing. Play concentration games, and board games which require concentration, rather than video games. Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon are good diversions which do not slowly rob you of your ability to concentrate.

Lack of desire
Many people wish they could be rich, or wish they had more money. Of course they never become rich, because wishing is not the same as desire. A wish is passive, where desire is active. A wish is waiting for somebody else to do something. Desire goes out and gets it done. Desire is wanting something, and acknowledging there will be some hard work and sacrifice involved, but going after it anyway. Wishers never succeed. Those with a strong desire, often do.

Lack of perseverance
Along with your desire, you need to develop the ability to persevere. Even desire alone will not carry you through when you start to struggle. You must develop the quality of never giving up. Even when things look bad, and get difficult, you must be able to stick with it and persevere. This alone will set you apart from most other people.

Negativity
Just as you require perseverance to get you through when things are not going the way you want them to, you must also cultivate the ability to see the positive side of every situation. You must not get down on yourself, or other people. Do not beat yourself up when things don't go your way. Just as you must persevere, you must also do your best to stay in a positive frame of mind. Negativity will kill your desire faster than anything else.

Failure to start
This is the most important thing, when it comes to success in wealth creation, or success in anything. Just start. There are many legitimate ways to get rich. Just pick a system and get started. Perseverance is the ability to continue once you start. If you do not actually start, none of the other things matter. You must take a new direction, and turn over a new leaf. Get out of your comfort zone and try something new. Because for most of us, actually creating wealth for ourselves is going to be something new. Set your mind to it, and get started.

Let me end this by telling you a secret.

You do not have to be perfect. Just do your best at overcoming these five barriers to wealth creation, and keep at it.

As long as you are doing your best, you will succeed in due time.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Get your free copy of the Wealthstratosphere Wealth Creation System created by Calvin Brown. Yes, I said free. www.wealthstratosphere.com

How To Stick With Your New Year's Resolution: A Better You In 2008

By Charlotte Buelow

New Years has come and gone, and already resolutions are being broken. However, let's not have the defeatist attitude that all New Year's resolutions are not followed through, but instead take our own resolutions seriously and put some determination behind them.

Think of your resolution this year - is it the same as last? For many, it is. New Year's resolutions tend to be the same year to year, with losing weight being one of the tops. Paying off debt, quitting smoking or going back to school to earn a degree are other popular options. Recently, many have committed to "live greener" in the New Year or volunteer more. Others look to find a mate, organize their homes or find a new, more fulfilling job. No matter what the resolution you have this year, try to make it the last year it's on your list.

Currently, fewer than 10% of people who make New Year's resolutions follow through and achieve their goals. One of the major problems with fulfilling New Year's resolutions is the amount of resolutions each person makes. Although you may want to get a new job, organize your house, live greener and lose weight this year, try to stick to one resolution and stay with it - you can always tackle the other resolutions in years to come. Keeping the focus on one resolution makes the goal seem more attainable, thus making you more likely to try to reach it. Also, make sure your goal is something realistic. Don't try to lose 50 pounds when 15 are more realistic for you.

Start out by visualizing yourself reaching your goal. See yourself walking by cigarettes in the store, or putting on that tight red dress you wore in college - by seeing yourself achieving your goals you'll become energized to achieve them. Don't just stop by visualizing your goal achieved once, but do this constantly through the process of reaching your goal to keep motivated.

Writing down your resolution is another way to keep you on track - but don't write it down just anywhere. Write your resolution on a sticky note and keep it somewhere you will see it frequently to remind you to stay on track. Another great way to keep your promise to yourself is to give it real commitment. Make this something important to you. You may even want to write some sort of commitment contract for yourself or perform another ritual to show the level of commitment you have to this resolution.

Telling others about your resolution will also help you to stay committed. By letting your friends and family know about your commitment, they can help keep you motivated. Although it may become annoy at times to hear your mother constantly asking: "Have you found that dream job yet?" such reminders will keep you on track to success.

You can even take it up a set and make a commitment with a close friend or loved one to reach your goals together. Try meeting weekly or bi-weekly to check up on your commitment, discussing your struggles and your successes.

A great way to stay on your task is to make a plan, leaving yourself smaller goals to reach along the way. You don't have to set dates to achieve these goals, but just by having these smaller achievements under your belt you'll be motivated. You can even get yourself into each smaller goal by watching movies or reading books and articles about your goal. Seeing others succeed will give you confidence that your resolution is possible.

Even with keeping these few tips in mind, it's still normal to slip up and not follow your plan every once in a while. Don't beat yourself up over these occasional missteps, just brush yourself off and get right back in the game. Try to stick to your plan for about 21 days as many experts say this will make it become a habit to you. If you keep on your habit for 6 months, the same experts say it will become part of your personality, making it second nature to you.

If you happen to fall completely off the horse in your resolution quest, just start over again, no matter what time of year. Who says you can only make resolutions on New Year's Day? Why not make a St. Patrick's Day resolution or a Valentine's Day resolution? Even a 15th of May resolution can be made, as long as you stick to it and keep yourself motivated till you reach your goal.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Charlotte Buelow is a contributing writer for Access My Library. Best known for its accurate and authoritative reference content as well as its full-text magazine and newspaper articles, AML maintains over 600 databases that are published online, in print, as eBooks and in microform. Visit Access My Library.

What Is Your Passport To Wealth?

By Aaron Aldama

What is your passport to wealth? Everyone is blessed with gifts. Some people are great artists, great ball players, and others great musicians. The key to creating wealth is finding your talents both hidden and not hidden. Which is why making money is so simple when you look at it in those terms.

For instance let's look at a baseball player like Alex Rodriguez. His gift in life is the ability to play baseball. Would it make sense for Alex Rodriguez to start golfing? No way! Just like it would make no sense for Tiger Woods or Dale Earnhardt Jr. to start playing baseball. Or take for example Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all time. When he tried his luck at baseball he failed miserably, why? His talent was not to be a baseball player but to be a basketball player.

The next step to your passport to wealth, after you find your talent, is to practice. This is the reason most people are just average and do not create a life of abundance for themselves, they do not practice.

Every professional I know of, it doesn't matter whether we are talking about sports or business, practices all the time. What you do in your spare time counts. Instead of watching Dancing With The Stars you should be building your wealth.

Make the most of your time. Most people just see the end result and do not see all the work, effort and heartbreaking struggles the pros go through. The key is repetition. Also do not be afraid of making mistakes, just learn from your mistakes.

Another key to your passport to wealth is finding successful people to learn from. This may sound harsh, but ditch your loser friends and hang around successful proven winners. You become who you hang around with.

Let's say you begin to hang around a friend who whines all the time about how unfair the world is to him, I guarantee within a few weeks you will be doing the same thing. But the same goes if you begin to hang around a successful business person. So find great people to learn from.

So overall your main passport to wealth is yourself. What habits do you have? How do you feel about yourself? Do you feel you deserve to be wealthy? Are you the type who gets things done or makes excuse after excuse?

So instead of looking everywhere on the Internet for your passport to wealth, just look in the mirror. You are your own passport to wealth and no one can tell you otherwise.

Remember there is no free ride in this world. You must earn everything in this world and you must have the right tools in order to succeed in your business. If you do not have the right tools and mindset then you will fail no matter what any company promises you. So you are your own passport to wealth and don't let any company tell you any other.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Aaron Aldama a marketing expert wrote this article. To learn more and sign up for a free vacation visit Home Business Houston

9 Steps to Happiness in 2008

By Danette Hibberd

What was your new year's resolution?

• to lose weight?
• to get healthy?
• to get a new job?
• to make more money?

Will any of the above make you happy? Perhaps for a few weeks, but soon you will more than likely be caught in the same rut as before.

It is ironic that in today's society, we are healthier, wealthier and live longer than any previous generation, yet are we happier? Unfortunately the answer is a resounding NO.

Following are 9 steps to happiness in 2008.

1. Be Grateful
It is necessary to focus on the positive. By showing our gratitude for all things great and small that appear in our day, we allow ourselves to focus on all the good events. Noting that you are grateful to see the sunshine, to smell the roses, to make a fantastic sale, to complete a small task - whatever you achieve, show your thanks. Spend just a few minutes each day and think about what you should be grateful for.

2. Simplify Your Life
Our lives seem to be so cluttered with needless people, things and chores that we seem to have no time to get on top of. So spend a little time and declutter. Turn off the mobile phone for an hour or so. Don't constantly check your e-mails.

3. Avoid Shopping
Why do we spend so much time worrying about what we don't have - the ipod, the gps system, that car, that holiday or that plasma television that we can't afford? Think what you DO have. Don't waste time and money fighting the crowds at all the New Year Sales. Go for a walk or do some exercise instead.

4. Exercise
In the world today, obesity and idleness is rife. Performing just half an hour of exercise each day is enough to elevate your moods and lift your spirit. There is no need to sweat it out at the gym. Exercise not only makes us fitter and feel good about ourselves, but it releases hormones and other feel good chemicals.

5. Take Pleasure in the Simple Tasks
We all get amazing satisfaction from performing simple tasks extremely well. What about completing a crossword? Or playing a game of tennis really well? Or cooking a delicious meal?

6. Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Much more happiness and satisfaction is achieved when you reach realistic goals, rather than shooting for the moon, or having no goals at all. Put your energies into achieving something you know you are capable of, even if your goal is aimed a little higher and you need to take tiny steps to get there.

7. Don't Try Too Hard
Don't try too hard to find your happiness. It will turn up when you least expect it. You never know, if you stop looking for happiness, it may just come looking for you.

8. Avoid Commuting
It is a well known fact that spending many hours each day commuting to and from the office is stressful and correlates strongly, and negatively with happiness. Life becomes miserable. If you must commute, use the time wisely. Read or listen to personal development books or tapes, or music that keeps your spirits up. However, if you want to find happiness, get a job closer to home, or work from home.

9. Smile and Add Humour
The only way you'll ever feel great inside your own skin is to smile. Look around you. What can you smile at right now? Try to find humour in each situation - look at the good side. Practise smiling at people and notice how they smile back.

"Make one person happy each day, and in forty years you will have made 14.600 human beings happy for a little time, at least." - Charley Willey

By following the above 9 Steps to Happiness, you will allow yourself to enjoy and achieve happiness in 2008 and beyond.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Danette Hibberd
Wellness Coach
NLP Practitioner
Author - From Flutter to Fly, Inspirational Quotes to transform you.
Transform your Life and Create Happiness and Success in 2008. 7 Simple Steps FR^EE e-course. fabat40.com
Total wellness for women 40 yrs plus