Recently on Turner Classic Movies, I watched a documentary simply titled “Brando.”
There was a moment in it that sliced through my heart.
It didn’t come from the legendary movie actor himself, though.
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Recently on Turner Classic Movies, I watched a documentary simply titled “Brando.”
There was a moment in it that sliced through my heart.
It didn’t come from the legendary movie actor himself, though.
We all have “enemies” — unpleasant individuals we can’t avoid because of work or social obligations. As a general rule, we deal with them by staying away as much as possible. When we must interact, we speak as little as we can. Just the facts and goodbye.
However, there’s a better way to deal with these people.
Time passes so damn quickly. And as you get older, it speeds up so much that, if you don’t do something about it, your life will take place without including the person who’s buried deep inside you.
You know the person I mean. The dreamer. The bright, starry-eyed optimist who was once in charge of your body and soul.
I have wanted to be a writer since I was six years old. It was my father who first encouraged me. After reading a poem I wrote called “How Do I Know the World Is Real?” (Can you believe I can still remember it? Cripes, I can still recite it!), he told me I had a special talent. And that if I nurtured it, I could be a great writer some day.
(more…)
Just as each and every one of us had to learn to tie our shoelaces, no one was born knowing how to be a successful entrepreneur.
Every entrepreneur had to learn how to be effective at what he was trying to accomplish — and practice being effective until it became a habit.
I don’t talk about it much, but before I opened my chain of hypnosis centers, I traveled all over the world, learning from the best neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and hypnosis teachers. I was certified in NLP by Richard Bandler himself, the creator of NLP. I studied with Robert Dilts, Michael Hall, and every other big name out there. (more…)
In my reading, I frequently encounter misused and confused words. Here are five recent sightings, most from major newspapers:
The writer means faint praise — not very much. A feint is a deceptive or diversionary action. (more…)
We seek it here, we seek it there. We seek happiness everywhere.
Yet it eludes us. All of our activities — our pursuit of fame and fortune, our quest for meaningful relationships, our drive to build or change things — are directed searches for this ephemeral state. We get there, but we can never heave a lasting sigh of relief because the feeling is gone almost immediately. (more…)
Sharks are said to be the most efficient eating machines on the planet. They are perfectly equipped to hunt and kill. The shape of their bodies… the way they propel themselves through the water… the sensitivity of their hearing and smell… and the construction of their jaws. (more…)
It’s a serious mistake to allow yourself to get caught up in the “what-if” and “how-to” trap before taking action. The reality is that no one can ever hope to know all the problems in advance, let alone all the solutions. (more…)
What do you do when you see a cow in a ditch?
Well, first, you get it out. Next, you figure out how it got there in the first place. Then, you make darn sure it doesn’t fall into the ditch again. (more…)
JSN was one of the best negotiators I ever worked with.
How did he do it? He took the time to prepare for every business meeting.
He thought out what he wanted to accomplish during the meeting. He considered every possible obstacle that might come up, and figured out how he would respond, jotting down notes on an index card. (more…)
ETR reader Kendra Pearsall is eager to find a mentor and/or business partner. But she works at home, alone. “How do I find someone to work with?” she asks.
Kendra, there are plenty of ways to do it. The most important thing to know is this: Don’t look for a “forever” business partner like you would look for a spouse. Look, instead, for people you can partner with for specific projects — people who have expertise in areas where you are weak. (more…)
The starting point of great success has always been the same. It is to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important than to begin by fantasizing about what you can become, have, and do.
But there are obstacles along the way to achieving those dreams. (more…)
“I’d love to be in the communications business,” Sarah, an accountant, told me. “But I’m an introvert. Plus, I’m boring. So I studied accounting in college. And though I’m doing something I’m good at, I hate my job.” (more…)
Why do some folks look back on their lives and say they wouldn’t change much? Or anything?
Is there a formula? Some mix of love, work, habits, or attitudes that offers the best chance of a well-lived life?
Researchers at Harvard have been examining this question for 72 years by following 268 men who entered college in the late 1930s. (more…)
When you have an unpleasant job to do, do it right away.
The natural tendency is to put it off and hope it disappears. And there are situations for which this kind of head-in-the-sand approach works best. Dealing with conflicts between subordinates, for example. My partner almost always ignores such problems, and nine times out of 10 they get solved the way they should — by the people who started the trouble. (more…)
Many, if not most, successful people attribute a share of their success to the books they read. To keep my mind bubbling with good ideas, I read one business or self-help book every week.
I don’t read these books cover to cover. I use a speed-reading program I devised several years ago. I’m searching for one or two good ideas in each one — ideas that will make me healthier, wealthier, and/or wiser. When I find those ideas I write them in a journal I keep on my computer. I suggest you do the same. (more…)
Several weeks ago, I told you about a guy I met at Joe’s cigar bar. He was 54, out of a job, and ready to give up. He was too old to start over, he claimed.
Death is inevitable, I told him. But aging is mostly a state of mind. It’s perfectly possible to live an active and meaningful life well into your eighties. (more…)
You have a companion. One that never, ever leaves you. It sticks with you, staying even closer than your shadow. It is like a leech sucking your blood, and you cannot shake it loose.
This constant companion is your mental chatter.
Another name for it is your internal monologue. It begins the moment you open your eyes in the morning and carries on until you close your eyes at night. More often than you’d like, this chatter prevents you from drifting off to sleep. And when you finally do doze off, it may well make that rest fitful.
Some companion. (more…)
When you are an early riser, getting up two hours later seems like you are losing half a day.
My back was cramping yesterday, so I took a muscle relaxer last night. I slept fitfully and didn’t get out of bed till 8:00. That’s at least two hours “late” for me. (more…)
“How do you get out of a rut?” a good friend asked me. “Regain passion for your work? Get yourself up for each day?”
“Have you thought about this?” he continued. “It happens to me often. It makes me miserable. I feel useless, because I tend to piss away the day. The only way I can get back into it is to get on a good roll with a new project. But sometimes it takes too long for that to happen.” (more…)
Just about everyone claims to be in favor of freedom. But few seem to agree on what it means.
One person’s idea of freedom can actually violate another person’s freedom. To one person, it means doing what he wants with his own life. To another, it means doing what he wants with other people’s lives. Both say that the other one’s concept of freedom is tyranny. (more…)
The secret to more enduring happiness is to do less for yourself and more for others. Happiness comes to you not when you are making yourself the center of your universe but when you forget yourself and look outside.
This is a truth I learned late in life. And it is one I have to relearn almost every day. (more…)
I want to acknowledge something important, something you have probably gone through during your goal achieving efforts. I’ve gone through it myself, and most high achievers I know have too.
I am talking about the setbacks and disappointments that have stopped you dead in your tracks. Perhaps the promotion you expected didn’t materialize… or your main marketing campaign for the year fizzled.
All of us have endured rejection or defeat along our respective journeys to success.
So let me ask you: (more…)
When I was in my thirties, I was urged to run for political office. I put together a campaign committee of about 12 enthusiastic supporters. And I started to get carried away with the idea of making a difference in my state.
Then I called a politician I had worked with. I asked him if he had any advice. I still remember his words: “Are you financially independent?” (more…)
According to Dr. Jon D. Miller, Director of the Center for Biomedical Communications, the number of scientifically literate adults in the U.S. has doubled over the past 20 years.
The bad news? That only gets us up to 20 percent.
Only 48 percent of Americans know that humans didn’t live at the same time as dinosaurs. Less than half know that electrons are smaller than atoms. And few know what DNA is or can define a molecule.
We live in a world highly dependent on the fruits of science. Yet most of us have little scientific knowledge.
Does this matter? (more…)
Question: Are you passionate about what you do? Or just passionate about the money you make?
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: It’s a lot easier to make money when you’re passionate about what you’re doing.
How many people are locked into a job they can’t stand, only because they get a steady paycheck and benefits? I’m willing to bet there are quite a few.
You don’t have to be one of them.
Life affords each of us an opportunity for adventure every day. Often, it is simply a matter of embracing the opportunity to advance a goal.
Here’s an example of what I mean …
For years, I traveled through the entire state of Florida by car for business. As you can imagine, driving to appointments became less than fun. So when one of my clients asked me to attend a meeting that would require a three-hour drive (one way), I almost said no. After all, I am very selective in the way I choose to spend my time and energies.
However, I have an alternate mode of transportation — my single-engine airplane. “Wow!” I thought, “By flying there, maybe I can make attending this meeting both productive and fun!”
Did you know that elephants are trained to stay where they are by tying a rope around one of their massive legs and attaching it to a peg in the ground? Can the peg and rope really hold back an elephant? Absolutely not!
Then why does it work? Because elephants grow up believing it will. Maybe they tried pulling away when they were young with no success. Maybe they were injured by their action. After enough failures, they stop trying. They no longer test the restraint, and confine themselves when tethered to the rope.
During the course of my life and career I have run into many people (and no doubt will run into many more) who are holding themselves captive with their own “elephant tether.”
Cheryl, for example, one of my co-workers years ago, was limiting herself and her goals by always seeking approval from her mother before taking action. Cheryl was a grown woman with a husband, two children, and a nice career. However, she felt the need to filter every decision through her mother. She was still trying to play by her mother’s rules – instead of making her own.
I don’t think Cheryl realized her mother was the peg and rope preventing her from pursuing her own idea of a happy, fulfilling life. I mean, so what if Mom doesn’t approve of your kids eating hot dogs or staying up past 8:00 p.m. on a school night?
But following guidelines set by your parents isn’t the only “elephant tether” that could be keeping you from achieving what you want out of life. Maybe it’s one of these: (more…)
Highly creative people tend to have fluid, flexible, adaptive minds. You can see it in three statements they commonly make.
The first is simply “I was wrong.”
Non-creative people are so concerned with being right that all their mental energy is consumed by stonewalling, bluffing, blaming, and denying. If you’re wrong, admit it… and get on to the solution or the next step.
The second is “I made a mistake.”
Non-creative people think it is a sign of weakness to admit to having made a mistake. On the contrary, it is a sign of mental maturity, personal strength, and character. (Remember, everybody makes mistakes every single day.)
The third statement is “I changed my mind.”
It is amazing how many uncomfortable situations non-creative people get into and stay in because they are unwilling or afraid to admit that they’ve changed their minds.
Here are two ways you can break away from those old, limiting ideas and become a more creative thinker.
1. Be willing to admit that you are not perfect, you make mistakes, you are wrong. This is a mark of intelligence and courage.
2. When you get new information, be willing to change your mind. Most of what you know about your business today will change completely in the coming years, so be the first to recognize it.
[Ed. Note: Would you be surprised to learn that you can have all the success and happiness you dream of... just by changing the way you think? With Brian Tracy's powerful one-hour seminar CD, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, you'll be able to use your thoughts to turn your dreams into reality!
Jumpstart your goal-achieving efforts with Bob Cox, a success mentor who has helped thousands achieve their life's ambition. Check out his Total Success Achievement program here.]
Whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time or have years of experience, keep the following in mind when moving into any new position:
[Ed. Note: For more of Michael's advice on how to succeed in a new job, get a copy of his bestselling book Automatic Wealth for Grads... and Anyone Else Just Starting Out.]