SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Do you realize how much of a difference you have made in life, and continue to make? Very likely, the answer is a resounding no. You cannot possibly know all the consequences and ramifications of your actions in the lives of other people. Each thing you do takes on a life of its own and can affect people far removed in time and distance from the original action. You cannot control all the consequences that eventually flow from what you do. That makes it critically important that you put as much love, authenticity and positive intention into whatever you do, while you still have influence over it. Each moment, you are sending energy out into life. That energy gets multiplied and repeated for a very long time. The world in which you live is filled with the still-present energy from the long-forgotten actions of everyone who has ever traveled through it. And on this very day, you can do your part to increase the amount of positive energy that settles upon the days to come. Act as if whate...

When you get negative results after a lot of hard work, that can certainly be disappointing. But there’s nothing to be gained by letting those negative results give you a negative attitude. Choose your attitude based not on what has already happened, but on what you intend to make happen now. Though you may have had a negative experience, there’s no reason to continue on that downward path. When you’ve fallen short of the goal, that’s no time to lose confidence in your ability. After all, you’re more highly experienced than ever, and you’ve just developed a very clear understanding of what doesn’t work. Decide to make good and positive use of that newfound wisdom. Go ahead and get started applying your increased level of experience in a useful and productive way. Step away from that worthless self pity and stride confidently toward a higher degree of empowerment. Your hard work has earned you the right to be more confident than ever before. When you get a negative result, do yourself a...

Regrets will do you no good, but action will. Wishing, wondering and speculating will not bring much value into your world, but action will. Are you going to just think about it, getting angry, resentful and dejected about it, or are you going to do something about it? Now would be the perfect opportunity to do something about it. Staying frustrated won’t make you feel any better, but action will. Work to resolve those frustrations, and to create a new situation that puts those frustrations behind you. Action is difficult, complicated and inconvenient. And action is worth all the trouble, because action will make a difference. Action will bring you experience and achievement, and provide options you never had before. Action will transform problems into opportunities, and dreams into reality. What action can you take today that will make for a more positive tomorrow? Take your pick, and get started now.

Great employees spend the majority of their time helping other people succeed: Their company, their employees, their customers and vendors and suppliers... the list goes on and on. Great employees also spend some time helping themselves succeed, both for "selfish" reasons and because their success creates success for others. Rightly or wrongly, to succeed you can't just do a great job -- you also have to find ways to get noticed for doing a great job. Here are six ways: Be known for something specific. Meeting standards, however lofty those standards may be, won't help you stand out. So go above the norm. Be the leader known for turning around struggling employees. Be the owner who makes a few deliveries a week to personally check in with customers. Be the manager who consistently promotes from within. Be known as the employee who responds quicker, acts faster, or always follows up. In short, be so great at something that you're the first person peopl...

Without the difficult times, you could not fully appreciate the good times. Without the good times, the difficult times would be infinitely more difficult. Life changes, and that’s what makes it life. Life changes, and in the changes live every possibility. Do not boast too loudly about your good fortune or despair too long about the disappointments. Things will change, and with that change will come new opportunities and new challenges. Instead of fighting and judging, worrying and fretting, make the choice to marvel at the richness of it all. Enjoy, learn from, and be inspired by what’s here while it’s here, then be ready to move quickly forward as life continues its ceaseless transformation. Care deeply and profoundly, but don’t let yourself take things too seriously. Walk that fine, marvelous line between unshakable responsibility and joyous serendipity. In the ups, in the downs, in the detours and straightaways, there is much to treasure. So breathe in the richness, and treasure i...

Free yourself from your worries about what others might think or say about you. Free yourself from the limitations that your doubts have imposed upon you. Free yourself from the misguided assumption that effort is something to be avoided. Free yourself from those comfortable, yet negative habits that waste so much of your precious time. There is so much good you can do right here and now. Free yourself to experience the joy of creating that goodness as you live each moment. There are countless great possibilities open to you today. Free yourself to go right ahead, to explore and fulfill the best of those possibilities. Free yourself from the need to be troubled by the troubles. Allow yourself to accept what is, and then allow and encourage yourself to make the very best of it. Free yourself from whatever may have held you back before. This is your time to live, and to do so with all the spirit and energy of which you’re so beautifully capable.

There are a lot of people who just do not care, and that is an opportunity. It is an opportunity for you to distinguish yourself by caring and by seeking to make a positive difference in life. There are people who are not willing to take the time to learn, to work, and to get things done. Again, it is an opportunity for you to take the time, to make the effort and to make good things happen. There are people who bend the truth, and worse. You can stand out from the crowd by being absolutely faithful to the truth. In what is good, in what is bad, in whatever may be, there is opportunity. There is the opportunity for you to live with positive purpose and integrity. In a world that can often seem ridiculous and downright insane, there is an abundance of smart, positive opportunity. In fact, the crazier things get, the more opportunity there is to be sensible, supportive, loving, caring and productive. Instead of bemoaning how bad things are, see the opportunity to make things much, much b...