Setting positive intentions at the beginning of the day creates a supportive & empowering mindset. Are you setting positive intentions?

Biz Owners: Attitude is everything. Is your attitude blocking you from stepping forward powerfully in your business?

Where we put our attention, energy and focus determines what we'll achieve and attract. What are you currently focusing on?

Surround yourself only with people who are going to take you higher.” ― Oprah Winfrey.

Business Owners: mistakes happen. Turn them into valuable learning opportunities to strengthen and drive you forward.

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Shift Your Business Mindset Now To Improve Your Result

Wednesday 11 December 2013

How To See Challenges As Opportunities

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal  or greater benefit.”~ Napoleon Hill
 Are you a person who loves challenges, or hates them? I must admit I've spent most of my life as a person who hates them. I always thought of challenges as frustrating, maddening obstacles keeping me from where I want to be. I even used to take them personally, feeling like the world is against me :(  In fact, I used to tell people years ago "I have challenges"; but now I don't do that anymore. As I grow older and (hopefully) wiser - I find my tenacious nature rising up to meet these challenges, and I'm learning to see them differently. I alwayssay now "I have opportunities to grow". Whenever something happens in my life that Ididn't expect or can't control, my thought patterns are "This is an opportunity for me to test some untapped abilities to use some skills I never used before; and this has come to draw on hidden potentials in me that I never had the chance to use."
                                         Change Your Entire Beliefs About What  Challenges  Are
Many people look at challenges as problems but I want  people to really change the way they define and see challenges. We have to realize that the words we use create an energy  of their own. So, I want to challenge everybody to see that they can see challenges as opportunities for themselves since that's what they really are. Challenges are opportunities for us to expand and grow. As I look at the most difficult situations in my life, the biggest challenges have caused me to grow the most. Out of necessity, they have helped me to create the level of skill and ability that have shaped my life way beyond anything I would have dreamed of before.
                                               Every Challenge Contains An Opportunity To Grow
In the Chinese language the words "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same. This is a fascinating concept and suggests that every challenge you encounter contains a powerful opportunity to grow beyond your current mindset and circumstances.  The greatest success stories are created by people who recognized a challenge and turned it into an opportunity. You'll find that every situation, properly perceived, offers you an opportunity to delve deeper into your true nature and discover new aspects of yourself. In the process, you'll feel inspired and excited about your life and what lies ahead and motivated to live at the edge of your potential.
                                                         Conclusion
Challenges are truly opportunities -i.e opportunities to grow and learn, to strengthen ourselves, to test ourselves and our faith. They reveal how badly we want to create the dreams in our hearts, and how hard we're willing to work for them. This is such a blessing. It may not seem that way at first, but with a tiny shift in attitude, we can see that we have been handed an incredible opportunity.

How To Think Big

"If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big" -Donald Trump
Thinking big sounds like such a simple concept but it's so difficult for so many people to do. How do you get started thinking big? Well, this is a mindset, it's an attitude; it's a whole thing! Thinking big starts with being thorough. Don't count on happenstance. Know beforehand if something will work or not.
Thinking big brings into your life bigger ideas, bigger plans and bigger success.It is saidthat thoughts create the circumstances and situations of life. This means that if you think big, you will achieve big success, but if you think small, you will not reach far and high.
So How Can You Mold Yourself To Think Big?
1. Believe in yourself and start acting now the way  you will  when you reach  a higher level of achievement. Develop an attitude that you are  worth  a lot and others  will respond  by valuing you the same way.
2. Start everyday with a little pep talk to yourself along the lines of "Today is a great day. I have a great profession. Its great to be alive.There are plenty of opportunities all around for me to do some great things today.
3. Make a personal commitment to do something great - and then scramble to find a way to do it.
4. Get a mentor - someone who can help you jump to a new level faster than you could manage on your own. Find an authority figure  in your industry  and get his or her advice and encouragement on a regular basis.
5. Keep setting the bar higher all the time - by always striving  to outdo  your own accomplishments. When you're constantly trying to outdo yourself, great things can happen.
6. Conquer your doubts and ditch them- by developing your own rock solid storehouse of self-belief. Nobody knows with certainty what the future holds so assume that you will succeed and work towards that as a goal. Other people  will take their cues from you so if you positively ooze the attitude you're worth listening to , people  will do exactly that. If you value yourself, others will too.Never look for approval from others. but generate your own self-belief by believing in your own competence and worth.
7. Hang out with other people who think big - because they will have an impact on your thinking as well.Meet with other big thinkers regularly and swap ideas, voice opinions, share success stories and your dreams.. While you can and should be approachable, be selective about who your friends are. It's best to spend the majority of your time interacting with people who genuinely want you to be successful.Negative friends can sap your energy and throw up roadblocks which is what you don't need.
8. Be prepared for big setbacks on the way to big achievements - they're part and parcel of the territory. Thinking big always means big setbacks. What matters most is how you respond to those setbacks. Great achievers  in every field analyze their failures  in order  to find new ways of succeeding in the future and you should do the same. View your failures  as temporary diversions and continue to think big about the future. Fill your mind  with your most audacious plan for the future and then get to work making that happen.
9. Get into the habit of speaking your mind - because top achievers want their thoughts to be known. They want others to know what they have to say is important. Don't be afraid of what others think. Speak up!
10. Match big thoughts with big actions as fast as you can. This gives you the credibility  which is essential. Drop your excuses and start doing what's required to succeed. By all means start small but then keep pushing yourself to do bigger things, one step at a time. It's not where you start that matters but what you learn as you go along. Remind yourself your capacity to do anything is just a state of mind so start thinking you can do more and pretty soon that's exactly the situation you'll find yourself in.
Conclusion:
Thinking big can transform your life; and for this to happen, you need the faith that you can succeed. You need to adopt a positive attitude and take positive action.Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!

Developing Courageous Patience and Leading by Example

In a recently published video, Brian Tracy spoke about an important aspect of courage that you must learn to develop in order to become unstoppable. He called this courage courageous patience; and Brian stated that this is the courage to endure and persist in the face of criticism, uncertainty,doubt,and of course temporary failures. It is the willingness and ability to stay the course in the face of setbacks in any area.                                
                             Waiting Period
In his experience, there’s a critical time period between the launching of a new ventureand the results that come from that venture.During this waiting period, many people lose their nerve.They cannot stand the suspense of not knowing, of possible failure. They break and run in battle, they quake and quit in business. But the true leader is the person who can stand firm, who refuses to consider the possibility of failure. The turning points of many key moments in human history have been the resolution, or lack thereof, of one person. Courageous patience is the acid test of leadership.
                                                                                          Lead by Example
To encourage others, to instill confidence in them, to help them to perform at their best requires first of all that you lead by example.The second thing you can do to help alleviate the fears of failure and rejection in others is to encourage them to take calculated risks and allow honest mistakes.
Build People Up
Give the people who look up to you regular praise and approval. Celebrate good tries as well as success, large and small. Create a psychological climate where people feel safe from disapproval, blame or criticism of any kind. Then do things that make people feel great about themselves.
Build Up Your Courage
Courage comes from acting courageously on a day-to-day basis. Your personal development goal in this area should be to practice the behaviors of a totally fearless person until you become, in your own mind, unstoppable!




10 Great Inspirational Quotes To Guide You Through Your Day

Today I  would like to share a few inspiring quotes I’ve come across lately. I hope they inspire you, as much as they did me!
1. I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. – Stephen Covey
2. Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso
3. You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus
4. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou
5. Either you run the day, or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn
6. The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain
7. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8. People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar
9. Inspiration exists, but it must find you working. –Pablo Picasso
10. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. – Henry Ford.

Changing Your Self-Image

“Relentless, repetitive self talk is what changes our self-image.”~ Dennis Waitley
Today I want to share a powerful strategy that will change your self-image. Few things about us are more closely linked to our thinking than our self-image. Someone’s belief about who he or she is can make the anorexic feel fat, the average athlete a star, and the beautiful girl see herself as an ugly duckling. When it comes to this topic, thinking not reality, rules.
The famous scientist Dr. Maxwell Maltz, the creator of Psycho-Cybernetics stated it plainly,“The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.”
I encourage you to say any of the below listed affirmations over and over so they will change your thinking and become part of your belief system about yourself.
By the way, affirmations are words or phrases which are said over and over to AFFIRM a single thought about yourself or other people. This is the way you have formed negative and positive programming throughout your lifetime, saying things to yourself, about yourself, over and over. After thoughts are repeated, they soon become a BELIEF, and then we think this belief is our reality.  Since we created these beliefs we can also change them. This is where real freedom comes from.
As you say the following affirmations, feel so jazzed up about what you are saying that you feel like it is already there, then you’ll be well on your way to a healthy self-image.
1. Being who I am is a blessing and a rush. There’s no one else I’d rather be!
2. I accept myself exactly as I am. I am at absolute peace with myself.
3. I like myself. I don’t like everything I do, and I want to change—but I refuse to reject myself.
4. I unconditionally love and respect myself in every way.
5. I am the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am glad to be who I am!
6.Today I make a bold statement. The world deserves the real me and today it gets me.
7. I am a unique and worthy person. I require no more justification than that to be exactly who I am.
8. What matters is who I AM not who I’ve been! Today I release everything I hold against myself.
9. When I look into the mirror I see my perfections not my imperfections!
10. My beauty flows from inside to out. As I recognize my inner beauty, my outer beauty blossoms.
11. Those who told me I was unworthy were wrong. I AM worthy.
12. As I feel more attractive, I AM more attractive. Today I am very attractive!
13. The more I love and appreciate myself, the more beautiful I become.
14. I look and feel wonderful.
15. Happiness is an attitude NOT a number on a scale. Today I am happy with who I am.
16. I am beautiful in mind. I am beautiful in body. I am beautiful in spirit.
17. I am a valuable and important person, and I am worthy of the respect of others.
18. I feel warm and loving toward myself, for I am a unique and precious being ever doing the best my awareness permits, ever growing in wisdom and love.
19. I am powerful.
Love Yourself Today: Review the list of 19 affirmations that will help you gain a healthy self-image. Which one do you need to focus on most today?

How To Build Self-Confidence

You want to be confident and feel confident, but what if you're starting with little or no confidence? How do you get from Point A to Point B?
Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can be a vicious circle: A lack of confidence can have a serious negative effect on your career. It’s hard to convince others of your ability when you feel like a bag of nerves inside! After all, most people are reluctant to back a project that's being pitched by someone who was nervous, fumbling and overly apologetic. Thus people who lack self-confidence can find it difficult to become successful.
On the other hand, you might be persuaded by someone who speaks clearly, who holds his or her head high, who answers questions assuredly, and who readily admits when he or she does not know something.Self-confident people inspire confidence in others: their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. And gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success. The good news is that self-confidence can actually be learned and built on. And, whether you’re working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it’s well-worth the effort!
Now building confidence takes time and effort but it’s worth it for the huge difference it will make to your life. There are three stages to building self-confidence: First, you need to take stock of where you are and think carefully of where you want to go. Start by taking a look at your top achievements so far. This will help you enjoy the success you’ve already had.In this preparation stage, it also helps to set out some targets or goals to clarify what you want from your life and career. Your goals should be both short-term and long-term and you should be able to measure them to get a real sense of what you have achieved.
The last part of the preparation stage is to get yourself into the right mindset. You need to be aware of any negative thoughts that might destroy your confidence and nick them in the bud. Make a clear promise to yourself that you are absolutely committed to this journey to self-confidence. Vow to do everything in your power to get there.
The second stage is about setting out on that journey. Take small steps to achieve your goals. For example, if you need to learn some new skills, take a class. Just focus on doing simple things well.
In the third stage, you can begin to see the process working. You will be able to feel your self-confidence build as you achieve your small goals one by one. In time, you will be able to stretch yourself. Make your goals a little bit bigger and your challenges a little tougher. The more you achieve, the more confident you feel. Throughout this whole process, it’s important to stay grounded in reality.
Self- confidence is a great asset but over-confidence can be just as destructive as no confidence at all. So make sure you get the balance right! Follow and implement the suggestions in this blog post, and your self–confidence should skyrocket.

Creating a Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes

by Romeo Mwafulirwa
We all make mistakes. We have heard that saying a hundred times, and yet it still rings true. Even seasoned pros commit mistakes; and usually mistakes are the best way to learn. Still, especially when you are a beginner at something, it is comforting to know that even the pros mess up at times. Every golfer likes it when Tiger Woods shanks a drive, for example.
Recently, I asked some PPC experts to share their greatest mistakes (anonymously, of course). One of them sent me seven mistakes and said he had made all of them in the lastyear! I know I've committed my own share of mistakes, too. With that, here are five common mistakes PPC advertisers made, and how to avoid them.
1. A lack of keywords in your ad text
When you are writing descriptive ad copy, it is important that you manage to include your keywords into your title and description while maintaining a delicate balance between relevance and clarity. Your ad copy should be created in such a way that as consumers read it, they understand exactly what they can expect when they click on your ad. Creating an ad that contains random words, as opposed to one which describes your site's content and the products or services you offer, will represent a complete failure of a PPC campaign and wasted money.
2. Not having a suitable landing page
It is pointless sending visitors to your website if those visitors don’t like what they find there. If you are advertising for conveyancing services in London, sending the visitor to a Personal Protection Insurance claims web page is misleading and will result in the visitor clicking straight out since the web page is irrelevant.
If you are looking to boost your conversion rate, and with PPC search advertising, you should be thinking about building a specific landing page for each campaign or product or service that you are advertising. People searching for conveyancing services seeing a page dedicated to conveyancing; and people searching for personal protection insurance claims seeing a page specifically for PPI claims. Sending people directly to the home page of your website, unless this is well optimized for conversions can also lower your conversion rate.
3. Failing to track results
In order to have any idea about your PPC campaign’s performance, you must be able to identify which keywords work and those that don't. Bing Ads and Google AdWords supply a vast array of useful conversion tracking tools to help you track how your ads and campaigns are achieving your goals. No PPC conversion data at any level means that a campaign is essentially flying blind.
I can't over-emphasize the importance of creating goals for your PPC campaign; and then comparing your actual performance against these goals so that you can measure your success. Determine both the negative and the positive points of your campaign in order to make it better and avoid spending money unnecessarily.
4. Creating a long list of less than targeted keywords
When you first set out to create your PPC campaign, it’s important not to go "keyword mad" This means that you don't create an endless, useless list of keywords that will only increase the cost and bring you little to no result in return. Only use keywords or phrases that are absolutely relevant to your business and are an indication of what people will find on your website. It’s important to identify your specific niche, and to market directly to users who want the products and services that you offer. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that broader is better. That's just not true.
5. Failing to identify unique aspects of your product or service
Before deciding to go for a PPC advertising campaign you need to make sure that you are clear on what differentiates you from the competition. Once you have identified your unique products or services you will know which keywords or phrases are unique to your business. It is highly recommended to analyze the competition, see what they are offering and which keywords they are using. Next, determine which products or services you offer will give you a competitive advantage over the competition. When creating the ads it is so very important to maintain a balance between keywords, relevance and clarity.
Conclusion
PPC Search marketing is an incredibly powerful way to attract targeted visitors to your website and if managed the right way can provide a large portion of your qualified visitors, leads and sales. So, do your homework and make sure that you get the best possible return on your investment. It is always important to remember that campaign results can often times drastically improve by simply avoiding several common mistakes.
Got any questions or comments? Post them below in the comments section.

Book Review: H.E.L.P. (Healing Emotionally Living Prosperously) by Keith Cook

H.E.L.P. (Healing Emotionally Living Prosperously) is a book that is equal parts personal biography and an aid in building self-esteem and confidence through personal development.
The moving book lays out the life of Keith Cook in an honest and gripping way, laying bare the problems with low-self esteem, depression, personal betrayals and more… allowing the reader to get a true idea of the struggles he experienced in his life and the ways in which he changed and enriched himself.
The book illustrates everything from daily affirmations to self-awareness, building rapport with those around you and even the science of getting rich. It’s a straightforward and truly insightful guide to “Healing Emotionally, Living Prosperously”. This was a wonderful read and definitely something I recommend to friends as it is a beautiful, honest and helpful life coaching guide to growing and prospering personally and professionally.
To download the book today, simply click the link below.