Confidence Is Contagious

Confidence is Contagious …so is Lack of Confidence, by Richard M. Knappen

You have been answering job openings on the internet job boards for several weeks or months. So has everyone else.

You have answered dozens of openings, and have had very little, if any, communication from companies. So has everyone else.

You have designed a system for keeping track of all of the openings for which you have applied. You do your best to be organized. You want to make sure, if a company calls you, that you are able to locate the opening. So has everyone else.

You are frustrated. So is everyone else.

Currently, 43% of the unemployed have been unemployed for six months or more according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You hear the news. You wither and shrink from the burden of your circumstances. Yet the New Year is upon us. Recent economic trends indicate things are beginning to improve; though tepidly. You have decided to improve your situation. You make a New Year’s Resolution to find work and improve your present employment situation.

Philosopher James Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” You have decided that not only will you make the effort to improve your situation, you will simply not stop trying until success is yours. You are determined to improve your employment situation. You will accept nothing less than success. You will be 100% persistent!

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, considered by many to be one of the leading authors of the laws of success, said: “Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.”

Further, Hill said, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” And, he said, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

Benjamin Franklin said, “All of mankind is divided into three classes: Those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” You, to your credit, have decided to become one of “those that move.”

When the desire for achievement begins, feed its furnace by keeping your goal in your thinking. Nourish it. Repeat it. Develop affirmations and confirmations of your desire for better. “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” said Hill. For once you have decided on your goal, on your commitment to move forward with your career, you are already successful for you have begun to achieve your goal.

Sports great Vince Lombardi said, “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” Be confident. Know that sustained effort will guide your achievement. “If you can accept losing, you cannot win.” said Lombardi. Further, Lombardi said, “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of that he (or she) holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle (life) – victorious.”

About personal effort and a refusal to accept defeat, Winston Churchill said, “A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.”

Set a plan for yourself. Make the decision to talk with no less than two decision-makers at companies each and every day. Since people hire people they meet, they know, and most importantly of all, they like, make the effort to meet and develop rapport with people who can help you in your goal achievement, a new employment situation.

Confucius said “I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.” Imagine the self respect, the self confidence, you will achieve as you enthusiastically strive toward your new goal. Imagine the strength of character you engender when you simply refuse to accept anything less than achievement of your goal. For Abraham Lincoln said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”

Control your Attitude, expand your Comfort Zone, and demand Persistence of yourself, and as you refuse to accept anything less than success, and success will be yours!

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!

Paul Mark Sutherland

Richard M. Knappen is the president of Chessmen Career Movers, an outplacement, career management, and consulting firm
that is one of the oldest and largest locally-owned companies of its type in Southern California.
This article originally appeared in the “San Diego Reader” on Feb. 5, 2012

Time Has Died

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.”
—Stephen Vincent Benét

You may think that you are young or have plenty of time to make amends, to right a wrong, to say ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I love you’ …but life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day. Soon a day has passed, then two, then three, then a week. And those simple words that remain unsaid continue to haunt our attempt at tranquility.

You may think that you are young or have plenty of time to give, to volunteer, to help those who have many more challenges than you …but life is lost minute by minute, week by dragging week. Soon a week has passed, then two, then three, then a month. And our altruistic intentions have morphed into hollow nothingness and more pain for those who silently yearn for so little.

You may think that you are young or have plenty of time to overcome those bad habits, to grow as an individual, to launch that personal development plan …but life is lost minute by minute, month by dragging month. Soon a month has passed, then two, then three, then a year. And that remarkable and accomplished persona that we just knew we would become is now becoming a more distant, and fading, illusion.

Les Montres MollesYou may think that you are young or have plenty of time to make your mark, to achieve your goals, to arrive at your destiny …but life is lost minute by minute, year by dragging year. Soon a year has passed, then two, then three, then a lifetime. And those fanciful youthful visions of abundance, happiness, and legacy have now been reduced to visions of what might have been, but never will …for time has died.

Shame on me, or anyone, who would waste one day, one hour, one minute even, because I think that I am young enough or have plenty of time.

(The author of the quote at the top, Stephen Vincent Benét, died suddenly in 1943 from a heart attack at the age of 44.)

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!

Live Long and Prosper!

Does happy and healthful longevity sound like something you’d be interested in? Is aging gracefully one of your goals? No? Maybe you aren’t old enough yet to have given either of these questions any serious consideration.

In either case, and since one of our objectives here at GoalHabits.com is to provide good goal achievement ideas, we provide here a recent article in OM Times Magazine written by Andrew Pacholyk. As good goal habits go, we feel these are pretty darn good.

Top 10 Secrets for Graceful Aging

The Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest, most comprehensive examination of aging ever conducted.

Since the 1930s, researchers have studied more than 824 men and women, following them from adolescence into old age, seeking clues to the behaviors that translate into happy and healthy longevity.

The book “Aging Well”, by Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist, George Vaillant has acquired the results of these studies that track the physical and emotional well-being of the 824 men and women from every social stratum.

The Harvard study found that we are better off becoming preoccupied with the following factors that turned out to be most predictive of whether we’d move successfully through middle age and into our 80s.

In my practice and in New York City alone, there are hundreds of patients that come to me for help and guidance in these issues. These suggestions, when followed closely, really help to improve our overall quality and outlook on life. It is not just one situation that makes us age (some quicker than others) but a culmination of several situations that create rapid aging.

Here are the top 10 secrets for graceful aging:

1. Avoiding cigarettes: Smoking increases dramatically the risk of cancer, hardening of the arteries, and heart disease. Not smoking is the single most important factor for staying alive!

2. Keeping a healthy weight: Half the [U.S.] population is overweight, 20% is obese. Obesity will stop you dead in your tracks. Maintaining a healthy weight and eating the right foods prevents disease. Get a better handle on eating well!

3. Wear sun screen 15-20 minutes in the sun is essential for Vitamin D. When you’re in the sun for prolonged periods of time (for more than 15-20 minutes without a sunscreen, the inflammation process is heightened. Wear a sunscreen with at least 15 SPF.

4. Proper diet: Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your daily menu. Most have no fat, cholesterol, or sodium — and they’re low in calories.

What you do get is lots of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, and vitamins, which all play a part in keeping you functioning at your best.

5. Exercise regularly: After the age of 30 we tend to lose one-third of a pound of muscle per year, and our bones become weaker as well if they aren’t subjected to weight-bearing exercise.

6. Develop good adjustment or coping skills: stress is a part of our daily life. It is unavoidable. The single most important point you can make about stress is that in most cases it’s not what’s out there that’s the problem, it’s how you react to it. How you react is determined by how you perceive a particular stress. Learn more on how to cope with stress.

7. Maintaining strong social relationships: Aging successfully, according to Vaillant, is something like being tickled — it’s best achieved with another person. Whether your social connections are with a spouse, offspring, siblings, bridge partners, and/or fellow churchgoers, they’re crucial to good health while growing older.

Other studies have confirmed the health-promoting power of social connections.

At the UCLA School of Medicine’s geriatrics division, Teresa Seeman, PhD, evaluated adults in their 70s over a seven-year period. She found that those with satisfying social relationships remained more mentally alert over the course of the study, with less age-related mental decline than people who were more isolated. No one is certain exactly how a social network may help you stay healthy, although some research has shown that men and women who live alone tend to eat less well, which could jeopardize their physical and mental well-being.

People with social connections also may have stronger disease-fighting immune systems.

At RAND, a policy research “think tank” in Santa Monica, behavioral scientist Joan Tucker, PhD, says that having people in your life can make you feel loved and cared for, which can enhance your mental well-being. At the same time, a spouse or close friend can also remind you to go for walks or take your medication, which can have benefits for your physical health as well.

8. Reduce anxiety: We have fears and worries but when they begin to dominate our life and our behavior, and become the focal point in which everything revolves, that’s anxiety. Many factors can contribute; trauma, chemical sensitivity, caffeine, heredity, drugs, alcohol, lifestyle choices….If you cannot change the situation that is the focus of anxiety, try to determine a way of trying to change your way of handling the problem.

9. Laugh: Humor is one of the best medicines! The most psychological predictor of aging well is learning how to cope, re-channel, diffuse, and dispense of envy, jealousy, aggression, revenge and anger.

10. Pursuing education: Curiosity and creativity help transform older people into seemingly younger ones, says Vaillant, even if their joints ache and even once their days of enjoying free access to the office copying machine are a distant memory. Individuals who are always learning something new about the world, maintaining a playful spirit, and finding younger friends as they lose older ones also are making the most of the aging process.

Source: OM Times Magazine
Connect with Andrew Pacholyk at http://www.peacefulmind.com
Reprint Policy : OM Times Magazine (via OM Times Magazine)

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!

*The Very Thought Of Me

One of the most important habits for goal achievement and happiness is the non-conditional belief in our abilities and ourselves. This belief should be sincere, unwavering, and pervasive. In fact, this is exactly what turns it into a habit! Often though, ugly or unwanted thoughts and beliefs attempt to stray into our precious psyche. When this happens pro-active thinking must lace up the gloves and start swinging.

“First it is important to realize it is the thoughts which make the person. You are what your thoughts are. What ever you have thought in the past is influencing much of your life today. What ever you are thinking today will shape your future. You are nothing but your thoughts.” These words are from an article appearing in OM Times magazine written by Baba Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari.

He goes on to list 8 “very practical things that you can do that will help you to interrupt and distract yourself from these ugly or unwanted thoughts.” You can read the complete article HERE.

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!