The ulimate personal and professional development resource.

"People with vision helping people with dreams" what a great quote. DreamingtoDoing.com is now open!!!!

Nine Principles of Life Enrichment

I offer you these nine principles of life enrichment for your consideration and guidance:
I. You can achieve far beyond your horizons and in avenues of life you have never explored.
II. You possess a basic goodness, which is the foundation for the greatness you can ultimately achieve.
III. You must take responsibility for your actions, your well-being and the attainment of your maximum potential.
IV. You must seek self-awareness, self-approval and self-commitment in order to attain self-fulfillment.
V. You must commit yourself to building and maintaining relationships that are critical to the social development of your family and community.
VI. You must manifest the belief that mutual respect is the fundamental element of all relationships.
VII. You will heighten your life by helping others heighten theirs.
VIII. You will work toward your goals by planning, executing and measuring your progress.
IX. You will make commitments with care and honor them with integrity.

This is by a mentor of mine Les Brown www.lesbrown.com

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

I found this article on the internet thought I should share it with you. Dreamingtodoing.com is now open

1. Affiliates

My number one traffic source again, for the third consecutive year, is my affiliates. In fact, my affiliates send thousands of visitors a day to my sites.

If you have not started an affiliate program for your best products and services, I highly recommend you do so.

Although there are some costs involved with starting your own affiliate program, it is well worth it. Justify the expense by telling yourself that you are hiring thousands of sales people and paying them only when they sell. A web based affiliate program is just that.

A few secrets to success with my affiliate programs include paying decent commission rates (30% - 40%), paying on time every month and offering lots of tools and tips for my affiliates. I also actively seek out potential super-affiliates on a regular basis. Like with any marketing strategy, a pro-active approach works best!


2. Repeat Visitors

A perennial, top traffic generator, is "repeat visitors." You know, people coming to my site who have already been there before.

The importance of getting repeat visitors is something you used to hear marketing experts talk about a lot. Lately, it seems that the value of repeat visitors has been overlooked.

Yet repeat visitors are usually the people who end up making purchases at your site. And there are lots of ways to get these valuable repeat visitors.

I get most of mine through my follow-up autoresponders (thank you webbusinesswizard) and also through my free ebook and this BizWeb eGazette newsletter. I suggest you look at these strategies closely and try similar techniques if you are not already getting lots of repeat visitors.


3. A Free Traffic Network

Though I've never been a big fan of start page networks or traffic exchange programs, I'm glad I tried one called TrafficSwarm. It quickly developed into a top traffic source and has remained near the top for years now.

There are lots of traffic networks to choose from on the web, and the few I had tried never impressed me. But TrafficSwarm now delivers hundreds of highly targeted visitors a day to my sites. I now have a PRO account and at just thirty bucks a month it has been a self-propelled traffic (and income) generator. I'd recommend it to any webmaster on a tight budget.


4. Google

In fourth place this year, and still delivering heavy traffic is Google. The web's top search engine really delivers a high quantity of high-quality traffic to my sites. In fact, I've managed to help a growing number of my members grow their google traffic as well.

There are no tricks to it either. It really is as simple as taking the recommendations directly from Google's site at www.google.com/webmasters/ and then making sure your site is properly optimized with the right keywords for your niche. The rest happens by getting good links.

If you are a member of my private site, you'll find a case study of one of my client sites and her google efforts. (Non-members can get a two year membership here.)


5. Links/Content

Getting lots of incoming links to your site is important. Not only will traffic arrive via those links, but a site with lots of incoming links does better in search engines than sites with few links.

The best strategy I've used to get links, starts with content. You write articles based on your niche, post the content at your site AND share the content with other webmasters. You can do this "on-the-fly" by including a short footer after your content that tells webmasters they have permission to reprint your article at their website or in their newsletter. Be sure to let them know that they need to include a live link to your site. You may even want to tell them exactly how to link to your site. (Preferably with a short description of your site and a hyper linked keyword or two. This will help search engines determine that the sites are related and give the link more relevance.)

There are lots of websites in need of decent content. Supply it and you can benefit greatly - your links will grow continually with no effort on your part. And the beauty of this strategy is that only sites in your niche will use your content. This means your links will be high quality links from sites in the right 'neighborhood.' This goes a long way with the search engines.

If you would like to see this content-sharing link growing strategy in action, visit my marketing articles archive. There are lots of other ways to get links into your site, and you need to use your imagination. You'll discover the pro-active version of this strategy, when you get to number 10 below.




6. Affiliate-showcase.com

Affiliate Showcase makes my top 10 list for the third year in a row. It is a web based affiliate program search engine that is brandable for anyone promoting affiliate programs. It automates the tedious process of affiliate marketing and can generate some great targeted traffic to any site you want.

Since it is viral, it is something you can set up, then let run on auto-pilot. And that's pretty much what I've done. Yet it continues to deliver a steady stream of traffic to my sites. At the very least grab the no-cost version and give it a try.

To check out the rest of this article got to http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

This is Rich again providing a resource to improve your life and others. Dreamingtodoing.com is now open for beta get your free gift now!!!! Here is a article by one of my favorites Brian Tracy about priorities enjoy!!!

Setting Priorities

In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority setting ever conducted. Banfield’s goal was to find out how and why some people became financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in factors such as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life was a particular attitude of mind.

Banfield called this attitude “long time perspective.” He said that men and women who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration while planning and acting, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career.

For example, one of the reasons your family doctor is among the most respected people in America is because he or she invested many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency and practical training, a doctor may be more than 30 years old before he or she is capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, these men and women are some of the most respected and most successful professional people in the United States. They had long time perspectives.

The essential key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life.

For example, if you come home from work at night and choose to play with your children or spend time with your spouse, rather than watch TV or read the paper, you have a long time perspective. You know that investing time in the health and happiness of your children and your spouse is a very valuable, high-priority use of time.

If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you’re acting with a long time perspective. Learning something practical and useful can have a long-term effect on your career.

The key word, then, to keep in mind when you’re setting priorities is sacrifice. Setting priorities usually requires sacrificing present enjoyment for future enjoyment. It requires giving up a short-term pleasure in the present in order to enjoy a far greater and more substantial pleasure in the future.

Economists say that the inability to delay gratification-that is, the natural tendency of individuals to spend everything they earn plus a little bit more, and the mind-set of doing what is fun, easy and enjoyable-is the primary cause of economic and personal failure in life. On the other hand, disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.

So setting priorities begins with your deciding what you want most in life and then organizing your time and activities so that everything you do is the most valuable use of your time in achieving those objectives.

With your larger, long-term priorities in order, you can much more easily decide upon your short-term priorities.

You can say that the process of setting short-term priorities begins with a pad of paper and a pen. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by too many things to do and too little time in which to do them, sit down, take a deep breath, and list all those tasks you need to accomplish. Although there is never enough time to do everything, there is always enough time to do the most important things, and to stay with them until they are done right.

Peter Drucker once said, “Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right things.” And this requires thought. Once you have listed your tasks, ask yourself this question: “If I were to be called out of town for a month, and I could finish only one thing on this list, which one thing would it be?” Think it through, and circle that one item on your list. Then ask yourself: “If I could do only one more thing before I was called out of town for a month, what would it be?” This then becomes the second thing you circle on your list.

Perform this exercise five or six times until you have sorted out the highest priorities on your list. Then number each according to its importance. With these priorities, you are now ready to begin working effectively toward the achievement of your major goals.

Another popular method for setting priorities on your list, once you have determined your major goals or objectives, is the A-B-C-D-E method. You place one of those letters in the margin before each of the tasks on your list.

“A” stands for “very important; must do; severe negative consequences if not completed.”

“B” stands for “important; should do; but not as important as my ‘A’ tasks, and only minor negative consequences if not completed.”

“C” stands for “nice to do; but not as important as ‘A’ or ‘B,’ and no negative consequences for not completing.”

“D” stands for “delegate, or assign to someone else who can do the task in my place.”

“E” stands for “eliminate, whenever possible.”

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

Another great story by Jim Rohn. Dreamingtodoing.com is now open

Where Do You Go For Your Intellectual Feast? by Jim Rohn (excerpted from Leading an Inspired Life)
Pity the man who has a favorite restaurant, but not a favorite author. He's picked out a favorite place to feed his body, but he doesn't have a favorite place to feed his mind!

Why would this be? Have you heard about the accelerated learning curve? >From birth, up until the time we are about eighteen, our learning curve is dramatic, and our capacity to learn during this period is just staggering. We learn a tremendous amount very fast. We learn language, culture, history, science, mathematics... everything!

For some people, the accelerated learning process will continue on. But for most, it levels off when they get their first job. If there are no more exams to take, if there's no demand to get out paper and pencil, why read any more books? Of course, you will learn some things through experience. Just getting out there – sometimes doing it wrong and sometimes doing it right - you will learn.

Can you imagine what would happen if you kept up an accelerated learning curve all the rest of your life? Can you imagine what you could learn to do, the skills you could develop, the capacities you could have? Here's what I'm asking you to do: be that unusual person who keeps up his learning curve and develops an appetite for always trying to find good ideas.

One way to feed your mind and educate your philosophy is through the writings of influential people. Maybe you can't meet the person, but you can read his or her books. Churchill is gone, but we still have his books. Aristotle is gone, but we still have his ideas. Search libraries for books and programs. Search magazines. Search documentaries. They are full of opportunities for intellectual feasting.



To read previous articles, quotes, and Q and A from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine Archives, or to get a complete listing of Jim Rohn's books, audios, videos and seminar schedule, or to place an order; please go to: http://www.jimrohn.com or call 800-929-0434 M-F 8:00-5:30 CST.



Jim Rohn will be in Atlanta, Ga at the end of July!!!!

We will try to get a exclusive interview with him so stay posted

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is article from Brian Tracy about finding your true calling. This a great article check out www.dreamingtodoing.com

Finding Your True Calling
By: Brian Tracy

In my courses on time management, I point out that the very worst use of time in life is to stay at a job for months and years for which you are completely unsuited. There are a great number of people who spend their whole lives doing something during the week so that they can somehow find something enjoyable to do on the weekends.

In every case, these are men and women with very little future before them. They look upon their jobs as a form of drudgery, a penance they have to pay in order to enjoy the rest of their lives. And because of this attitude, they will seldom advance or be promoted. They will stay pretty much at the level they are, moving from job to job, and always wondering why other people seem to be living the good life while they feel like they are living lives of quiet desperation.

People who are not successful and happy in their work are those who have not taken the time to sit down and deal honestly and openly with themselves. They have not looked deep within themselves to find the inner treasures of talent and ability that they have demonstrated throughout their lives. They are content to do work that other people design and to achieve goals that other people have set.

Over time, people who are not following their true callings begin to feel helpless. They feel that there is nothing they can do to change things. Their income only rises enough to meet their expenditures, and they worry about money all the time. The future looks to them to be very much the same as the past. But this is not for you. Your aim in life is to become everything you are capable of becoming, to enjoy full self- expression of your talents and abilities. Your job is to develop yourself to the point where every day is a source of joy and satisfaction, and you have so many interesting things to do that you do not have enough time to do them. Your job is to continually hold up a mirror to yourself and refuse to work at anything that is not an expression of everything that is good and capable within you.

Success comes from being excellent at what you do. The market only pays excellent rewards for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance and below-average rewards and insecurity for below-average performance.

But excellence is a journey, not a destination. You never really get there. You can never relax. The market is always changing and what constitutes excellence today will be different tomorrow and very different next year and the year after.

All really successful and happy people know in their hearts that they are very good at what they do. If you are doing what you really love and enjoy, if you are following your true calling, you will know because of your attitude toward excellence.

When you have found your true calling, nothing but the best will do for you, and you will go any distance, pay any price, overcome any obstacle to develop yourself to the point where you are really good at your occupation.

When you find your true calling, you will have a continuous desire to learn more about it. People who are not driven to learn more about their fields are people who are in the wrong jobs. And if a person is in the wrong job and not constantly learning and growing in their field, their value and their employability is diminishing with each passing day.

When you find your true calling, you will be determined to join the top 10 percent of people in your field. You will be willing to pay any price that is necessary to rise to the top. You will be willing to start a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later. You will take additional courses on the evenings and weekends. You will see technology as an opportunity to do your job better. You will be interested in the various learning programs that you can install on your computer that can help you learn better and faster. You will be hungry for new knowledge in your quest to move upward in your chosen field.

A simple test as to whether or not you are in your true calling is this: If you are doing the job that is meant for you, that uses your unique talents and abilities, you will automatically admire those who are at the top of your field. You will look up to them and want to be like them. They will be your role models and you will pattern your work and activities after them. You will want to meet them, talk to them, read their books, and listen to their talks. The very best people in your chosen field will become the examples that give you guidance, both spoken and unspoken, on your upward journey. Throughout the years, I have been continually asked by people what they can do to be more successful. In almost every case, they are working in jobs that they don’t like, for bosses they don’t particularly respect, producing or selling products or services to customers they don’t care about. And many of them think that if they just hang in there long enough, the clouds will part and everything will get better.

But the fact is that you are where you are and who you are because you have chosen to be there. Nobody can help you or change your situation for you. The economic goal of your company is to hire people at the very lowest cost so that they can serve customers at the very lowest cost in a competitive market. For this reason, no one has any obligation to pay you any more than you are getting. If possible, they would like to pay you less.

The one thing I tell people over and over again is that they must become very good at doing what they are doing if they want to move up. And if they don’t have the inner desire to be very good at their jobs, it means they are probably in the wrong jobs.

The great tragedy is the number of people who do their job in an average or mediocre fashion with the idea that, when the right job comes along, they will really put their heads down and do a good job. But for some reason, the right job never comes along. They are always passed over for promotion and advancement. They are always the last ones hired and the first ones laid off.

If you’re still not sure about your true calling, ask the people the closest to you. Ask them, “What do you think I would be the very best at doing with my life?” It is absolutely amazing how people around you, including your spouse, your best friends, and your parents can see clearly what you should be doing when often you cannot see it yourself.

Remember, you are put on this earth to do something wonderful with your life. You have within you talents and abilities so vast that you could never use them all if you lived to be a thousand. You have the natural skills and talents that can enable you to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you could ever set for yourself. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if you can find your true calling, and then throw your whole heart into doing what you are made to do in an excellent fashion.

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments

Another great article by Jim Rohn is posted below about goals. This is critical when your trying to succeed in life. Stay tuned for tomorrow's article www.dreamingtodoing.com is now open!!!

S.M.A.R.T. Goals by Jim Rohn (excerpted from the Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan)

This week as we approach the close of 2003 and enter into a new year, 2004, what a great time to talk about Goal-Setting. Below is an excerpt taken from Pillar Two: Part 3 of the One-Year Program, entitled S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Enjoy!
JR

Jim Rohn's Second Pillar of Success: Goal-Setting, Part Three - S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Hi, Jim Rohn here. As you know, we are focused on the Second Pillar of Success this month - Goal-Setting.

We have introduced the four main components of Goal-Setting:

1. Evaluation and Reflection. The only way we can reasonably decide what we want in the future and how we will get there, is to first know where we are right now and secondly, what our level of satisfaction is for where we are in life. As we focus this month on goal-setting, our first order of business and our topic two weeks ago was evaluation and reflection.

2. Dreams and Goals. What are your dreams and goals? Not related to the past or what you think you can get, but what you want. Have you ever really sat down and thought through your life values and decided what you really want? This isn't something that someone else says you should have or what culture tells us successful people do or have. These are the dreams and goals that are born out of your own heart and mind. These are the goals that are unique to you and come from who you were created to be and gifted to become. Last week we showed you exactly how to find out what you want from life.

3. S.M.A.R.T. Goals. S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

Specific: Don't be vague. Exactly what do you want?

Measurable: Quantify your goal. How will you know if you've achieved it or not?

Attainable: Be honest with yourself about what you can reasonably accomplish at this point in your life - along with taking into consideration your current responsibilities.

Realistic: It's got to be do-able, real and practical.

Time: Associate a timeframe with each goal. When should you complete the goal?

We will spend time this week looking at how to apply the S.M.A.R.T. test to your goals to make sure they are as powerful as they can be!

4. Accountability. Think of the word "accountable." It means to "give an account." When someone knows what your goals are, they help hold you accountable. Whether it is someone else going through this program with you (have you thought about inviting a friend to join you on this one-year journey?) or just someone you can give the basic idea to, having a person who can hold you accountable will give you another added boost to getting your goals! Next week we will show you how to set up an accountability partner.

This week we will be discussing point 3 - S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

I really like this acronym S.M.A.R.T., because we want to be smart when we set our goals. We want to intelligently decide what our goals will be so that we can actually accomplish them. We want to set the goals that our heart conceives, that our mind believes and that our bodies will carry out. Let's take a closer look at each of the components of S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific: Goals are no place to waffle. They are no place to be vague. Ambiguous goals produce ambiguous results. Incomplete goals produce incomplete futures.

When we are specific, we harness the power of our dreams and set forces into action that empower us to achieve our goals. We then know exactly what it is we are shooting for. There is no question. As we establish our priorities and manage our time, we do so for a specific goal to achieve the results we expect. There is no wondering or guessing. The future is locked into our minds and we see it - specifically - and that is powerful! Never underestimate just how important it is to have very specific, concrete goals. They act as magnets that draw you toward them! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is specific.

Measurable: Always set goals that are measurable. I would say "specifically measurable" to take into account our principle of being specific as well. Our goals should be such that we know when we are advancing and by how much. Whether it is by hours, pounds, dollars or whatever, we should be able to see exactly how we are measuring up as we proceed through the journey of life using our goals. Could you imagine if you didn't measure your goals? You would never know which way you were going or even if you were going anywhere! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is measurable.

Attainable: One of the detrimental things that many people do - and they do it with good intentions - is to set goals that are so high they are unattainable. Yes, it is very important to set big goals that cause your heart to soar with excitement, but it is also imperative to make sure that they are attainable. In the next section we talk about being realistic. So what does it mean to be attainable? An attainable goal is one that is both realistic but also attainable in a shorter period of time than what you have to work with. Now when I say attainable, I don't mean easy. Our goals should be set so they are just out of our reach; so they will challenge us to grow as we reach forward to achieve them. After the next paragraph, I will give you an example of a goal that is both attainable and realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is attainable.

Realistic: The root word of realistic is "real." A goal has to be something that we can reasonably make "real" or a "reality" in our lives. There are some goals that simply are not realistic. You have to be able to say, even if it is a tremendously stretching goal, that yes, indeed, it is entirely realistic -- that you could make it. You may even have to say that it will take x, y, and z to do it, but if those happen, then it can be done. This is in no way to say it shouldn't be a big goal, but it must be realistic. This is to a great degree, up to the individual. For one person a goal may be realistic, but for another unrealistic. I would encourage you to be very honest with yourself as you do your planning and evaluation. Perhaps it would be good to get a friend to help you (as long as that friend is by nature an optimist and not a pessimist). This can go a long way toward helping you know what is realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is realistic.

Example of Attainable and Realistic: Knowing that perhaps you could use a bit of help differentiating attainable and realistic, here is an example: You are overweight and have 150 pounds to lose to get to your proper weight. Is that goal attainable? Yes, considering that you also make it realistic. For example, it isn't realistic to think you can do it in 5 months. 18-24 months would be realistic (with hard work). Thus, losing 150 pounds in 2 years is both attainable and realistic, while losing 150 pounds in 5 months is neither attainable nor realistic.

Time: Every goal should have a timeframe attached to it. I think that life itself is much more productive for us as humans because there is a timeframe connected to it. Could you imagine how much procrastination there would be on earth if people never died? We would never get "around to it." We could always put it off. One of the powerful aspects of a great goal is that it has an end, a time in which you are shooting to accomplish it. You start working on it because you know there is an end. As time goes by you work because you don't want to get behind. As it approaches, you work diligently because you want to meet the deadline. You may even have to break down a big goal into different measured parts time frames. That is okay. Set smaller goals and work them out in their own time. A S.M.A.R.T. goal has a timeline.

Be sure to spend some reflection time this week to make sure your goals fit the S.M.A.R.T. parameters. Go through the reflection questions below and the action points associated with them. Doing so will put a real engine in your goals and make them charged with power to help you accomplish your dreams.

Until next week, let's do something remarkable!
Jim Rohn



Credit Statement to be included in Reprints:

This article was submitted by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine go to www.jimrohn.com or send a blank email to subscribe@jimrohn.com
Copyright © 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is an article by Jack Canfield whom I am a fan of check out dreamingtodoing.com it is now open to the public!!!

Two Heads Are Better than One!
How to Accelerate Your Success with a Mastermind Group

We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result. So imagine having a permanent group of five or six people who meet every week for the purpose of problem solving, brainstorming, networking, and encouraging and motivating each other!

This process is called masterminding and is one of the most effective success tools you can adopt! It is a powerful way to support your dreams and bring unlimited resources to your business and personal life.

Participating in a mastermind group has been critical to me. I can't imagine achieving all I have without one, and it certaily made my goals happen much faster.

A Process for Accelerating Your Growth

The basic philosophy of a mastermind group is that more can be achieved in less time when people work together. Sometimes called a "dream team" your mastermind group is made up of two or more individuals who voluntarily come together on a regular basis - weekly, biweekly, or monthly - to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback and resources.

Your group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession or people from all walks of life. You can focus on business, increasing each other's income, building a business, raising better kids, or solving a social problem.

Within your mastermind group, you benefit from the other members who empower you and draw out your full talents, resources and abilities. They trigger you, stimulate and motivate you to become all you are capable of being.

Creating Your Dream Team

Regardless of its purpose, the key is to choose people who are already where you'd like to be in your life - or who are at least a level above you. In forming your mastermind group, start by carefully enrolling another friendly, on-purpose, like-minded individual. Start by meeting together and then adding other selected, unanimously agreed-upon individuals who will work in total harmony for the good of each other and for the good of the group.

1. Your Dream Team should consist of 4-8 people. Most people find that 6 is the ideal number.

2. Meet weekly, if possible, for an hour to an hour and a half. This meeting must be held sacred as a life-enhancing priority. The meetings should be upbeat, enriching, encouraging and beneficial to each individual and the group's purposes. I always start our meetings with a prayer or an invocation. You could also start with an inspiring story.

3. Each member must agree to play all out -- to openly share ideas, support, contacts, information, feedback, and anything else that will help advance the individual and group goals.

4. Start by having each member share something positive and good that happened since the last meeting.

5. Next, have each member share an opportunity or problem they have experienced since the last meeting and ask for whatever support they would like on it. Appoint a time-keeper to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of time. This is important if you want your group to last. Everyone must get value at each meeting.

6. End by sharing appreciations and acknowledgements.

You'll find one of the real values of a mastermind group is the accountability factor - other members checking up on you to make sure you meet your stated commitments. It's one way to ensure you'll accomplish a lot more!

For more details about masterminding, read Success Principle #46 in The Success Principles book or utilize the mastermind worksheets found in The Success Principles 30-day Audio Course.

© 2006 Jack Canfield

If you missed previous issues of Success Strategies,
I keep an archive of past issues you can always refer to.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: Jack Canfield, America's Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and the nation's leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at www.JackCanfield.com

Posted by Kevin Lewis at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

Awesome article I ran across enjoy!!!! Dreamingtodoing.com is now open for free for the first 400 people!!!!

Life Would Be Easy... If It Weren't for COMMUNICATION Differences by Connie Podesta

Sometimes it seems that folks just don't get it. No matter what you say or how you say it, they simply don't have a clue - and don't seem too worried about getting one either! It's not their nature to understand; that's just how they "are." Maybe so, but more often than not, the problem is a result of a communication breakdown.

In this digitally inter-connected world, you'd think we could "fix" such basic differences. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as plugging another device into the system. Maybe they're the problem. Maybe you are. We all know difficult people - and, in fact, we can all be the difficult person.

A little background on communication styles can help us understand the issues and learn how to alter our approach to eventually make life a little easier for both parties.

The Basics
Every time we speak, we choose and use one of four basic communication styles: assertive, aggressive, passive and passive-aggressive.

Assertive Communication
The most effective and healthiest form of communication is the assertive style. It's how we naturally express ourselves when our self-esteem is intact, giving us the confidence to communicate without games and manipulation.

When we are being assertive, we work hard to create mutually satisfying solutions. We communicate our needs clearly and forthrightly. We care about the relationship and strive for a win/win situation. We know our limits and refuse to be pushed beyond them just because someone else wants or needs something from us. Surprisingly, assertive is the style most people use least.

Aggressive Communication
Aggressive communication always involves manipulation. We may attempt to make people do what we want by inducing guilt (hurt) or by using intimidation and control tactics (anger). Covert or overt, we simply want our needs met - and right now! Although there are a few arenas where aggressive behavior is called for (i.e., sports or war), it will never work in a relationship. Ironically, the more aggressive sports rely heavily on team members and rational coaching strategies.

Passive Communication
Passive communication is based on compliance and hopes to avoid confrontation at all costs. In this mode we don't talk much, question even less, and actually do very little. We just don't want to rock the boat. Passives have learned that it is safer not to react and better to disappear than to stand up and be noticed.

Passive-Aggressive Communication
A combination of styles, passive-aggressive avoids direct confrontation (passive), but attempts to get even through manipulation (aggressive). If you've ever thought about making that certain someone who needs to be "taught a thing or two" suffer (even just a teeny bit), you've stepped pretty close to (if not on into) the devious and sneaky world of the passive-aggressive.

So now what?

Clearly, for many reasons, the only healthy communication style is assertive communication. Surely you can identify many people in your own life that favor each of the four styles. Most of us use a combination of these four styles, depending on the person or situation. The styles we choose generally depend on what our past experiences have taught us will work best to get our needs met in each specific situation. If you take a really good look at yourself, you've probably used each throughout your lifetime.

Understanding the four basic types of communication will help you learn how to react most effectively when confronted with a difficult person. It will also help you recognize when you are using manipulative behavior to get your own needs met. Remember, you always have a choice as to which communication style you use. If you're serious about taking control of your life, practice being more assertive. It will help you diffuse anger, reduce guilt and build relationships - both personally and professionally.

Take Action!

Begin to pay attention to which communication styles you use throughout the day. How often do you use a communication style other than assertive?

Watch and identify the communication styles some of the difficult people in your life use. Can you begin to notice how others use manipulative techniques to get their way.


Connie Podesta is an author, counselor, educator, humorist, playwright, consultant, songwriter, actress and trainer. She radiates a super-charged, high-energy presence that immediately involves people and has them responding to her exciting challenge to reach for the best in themselves! With her talent for humor, flair for drama and unique insight into human behavior, Connie delivers solid content and practical techniques that can be put to use immediately at work and home. To purchase Connie's The Best of Connie Podesta on CD or DVD or VHS video at a special price -- for this week only or as long as supplies last -- as part of the Jim Rohn Inventory Reduction Sale go to http://inventorysale.yoursuccessstore.com or call 800-929-0434.

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Is There Still an American Dream?

According to Rich Win, CEO of www.dreamingtodoing.com the American Dream is absolutely alive and well! “Everybody wants to be somebody and everybody has dreams” he says. Our site is built on the premise that ordinary people CAN do extraordinary things. (PRWEB) June 20, 2006 -- Dreamingtodoing.com is bringing personal development and business networking together to help people change their lives. They will feature the personal development of individuals that turned into exciting success stories. The site also features international speakers, personal development coaches, entrepreneurs. authors and business people. In addition, a wealth of information is also available through the forums, chat lines, classifieds and event calendars. Ann Preston of Freedom Builders, Inc., a world-renowned speaker will debut on the site at its launch. Ann went from being fired to being number six in her field to global entrepreneur. She’s an awesome speaker and is the websites first choice as a speaker due to her journey from ordinary to extraordinary. “If you surround yourself with positive people and great information you’re on the right path to success.” comments Rich Win. Success training is a $166 billion industry (for perspective, the global movie industry is $29 billion; the global music industry is $41 billion). Life-skills training is the most sought after and expensive information to access. Corporations pay $5,000-$50,000 per hour for instruction by a leading expert. Consumers pay $50 to $500 for a single seminar or program recorded on CD or DVD. Dreamingtodoing.com research has shown that people want and need personal development but oftentimes can’t afford it or it’s offered at inconvenient times. It’s said that 90 percent of Americans hate their jobs but we believe that 90 percent are lacking knowledge or the association with the right people to change their habits. Dreamingtodoing.com is bringing a solution to the problem. “Many people chase their dreams, but run from their fears and never find success” says Rich Win. Dreamingtodoing.com is shaking up the personal and business development world by delivering product, services and information in an innovative and unique way.

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DreamingToDoing.com is launching tomorrow!!! This is a great article that fits well into the launch enjoy!!! This is article is by Jim Rohn www.jimrohn.com

The Miracle of Personal Development by Jim Rohn

One day Mr. Shoaff said, "Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job."

Since that time I've been working on my own personal development. And I must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The important question to ask on the job is not, "What am I getting?" Instead, you should ask, "What am I becoming?" Getting and becoming are like Siamese twins: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.

I've also found that income rarely exceeds personal development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle.

If someone hands you a million dollars, you'd better hurry up and become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, "If you took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon be back in the same pockets it was before."

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

So here's the great axiom of life:

--TO HAVE MORE THAN YOU'VE GOT, BECOME MORE THAN YOU ARE--

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is:

--UNLESS YOU CHANGE HOW YOU ARE, YOU'LL ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU'VE GOT

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