We should have a love/hate relationship with failures. On the one hand, they are learning lessons; on the other they are haunting albeit stimulating specters. They should be respected and feared but not to the point of complacency or paralysis. They should be respected because nothing like the fear of failure can monopolize every ounce [...]

Tags: Personal Development

Most people want to improve and grow. We see people who navigate and perform at a higher level and wonder how they got there. Was it luck? More innate ability? Destiny? A better education? Someone who gave them a break? Any of these possibilities could have played a role but they were not the most [...]

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Self-confidence is above all the belief that you are in control of your present situation in life. It’s faith in your ability to be able to cope with whatever may come your way. It’s about knowing that your ego is strong enough to remain unscathed by whatever criticism may come your way. Self-confidence is about [...]

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A long time ago, while attending some EST seminar given by Werner Erhard, I learned a very powerful lesson. Erhard would require that all attendees at his seminars take personal responsibility to get some value out of every seminar or lecture that we would attend. He made it very clear that it was not his [...]

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“The real University has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind.” Robert Prisig Life gives us two options: we can fret and worry about our problems or embark on a fantastic voyage of exploration and self-actualization. We can see [...]

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A record keeper is a record breaker. That’s one of the reasons that I keep records on just about everything. As I write this, I know that I’ve been to the gym 1875 times; I know that my articles in EzineArticles have been viewed 25,223 times. I know how many posts that I have made [...]

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Self-improvement is a billion dollars a year industry. When the pie is that big, we can expect some hands that are not snow-white reach for it. We can expect scandals, misrepresentations, exaggerated claims and whole panoply of wild and crazy statements. Every Tom, Dick and Harry with a bit of imagination is trying to strike [...]

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For some reason, there is a certain sort of prejudice entertained by some resentful average Joes against the elite and successful people. It’s very probable that the elites and the successes are not disturbed by that fact and could not care less. But the phenomena merit some further explorations. What makes the situation peculiar is [...]

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“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” – William Shakespeare Personal reputation is an extension of the ego and as such has caused more misery than the plague. It has ruined lives, has forced people to live in shame and has been used as a very [...]

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Self-mastery is above all the ability to place reason over passion. It is the ability to use cold reasoning even when immersed in turmoil of emotions. It is giving preference to logic over sentiments. In one word, it is being a person of substance, values and principles governed by reason. We are primarily creature of [...]

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Even is they are not written down, most people have some goals and objectives. It is what they are working toward and what they use to map their way through life. Most of these goals are materialistic; have to do with relationships or some cherished dream of accomplishment. However, most notably absent from that list [...]

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When effectively used, not many words can match the power of a few seconds of silence to create an effect. A pause in the conversation can be used to impress, it can be used to control, it can be used to attract attention and it can be used to dominate. Silence has the power to [...]

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“No one can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate of change that can only be opened from the inside. We cannot open the gate of another, either by argument of by emotional appeal.” – Marilyn Ferguson Some people are toxic, there is no doubt about it. Usually they are unhappy, miserable [...]

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Life is not hard and life is not easy. Life simply is. Sometimes it meets our expectation, we say life is good; sometimes it does not, we say life is bad. One thing is certain, life will not change to comply with our desires but we can grow and get to see life for the [...]

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“Professionalism: It’s not the job you do, it’s how you do the job.” – Unknown Some words carry with them very powerful messages. They inspire and motivate. By themselves they evoke vivid and impressing images. They speak to us in a way that is clear, profound and unmistakable. Professionalism is such a word. When that [...]

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“Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really change my life eight years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself.” – Tony Robbins Things won’t change unless [...]

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“A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” – Oscar Wilde We are both our greatest friend and worst enemy. We [...]

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“Worry is like a rocking chair: It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” – Erma Bombeck The only time that we worry is when we think about something that has not happened yet. So the logical advice that we could give to someone who wants to stop worrying is to [...]

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“We always overestimate what we can accomplish in a year but underestimate what we can do in a decade.” – Tony Robbins Some years ago, one of the major executives at Honda was asked how far in the future went the company’s objectives, plans and projections. The man replied, 300 years. Lately, the word came [...]

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“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.” – Anthony Robbins Learning to direct our focus [...]

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