Attain Personal Success

Why 2008 will be a good year for you

2007-12-31T18:26:00.000-05:00

The answer is simple: Because it's a new year.

I hope that 2007 has been a year filled with good things for you, but if it hasn't, don't fret, it's over.

Yes, I know that sounds trite, but it's true. 2007 will be gone in a few hours. Everything that happened in 2007, whether good or bad, will soon be consigned to that category of events that we label "past".

Did you have a bad breakup? Did someone swindle you? Did you lose someone close to you? Did you make bad mistakes? Did you hurt someone? Did you....

Did you finally get that big promotion? Did you make your first million? Did you marry the love of your life? Did you...

If it was mostly bad, take a deep breath, cry some tears, and then get up, and move on. If it was mostly good, take a deep breath, smile, and then get up, and move on.

Don't get stuck in the past, and in what may or may not have been. Instead, look at the new year as what it is, a NEW year, a new beginning, life moving on. Embrace the freshness of it, and the opportunities and hope that any new and fresh brings into our lives, and go forward with no eye to the past, except to learn from your mistakes and to be a better stronger more positive person.

Here's to your success and fulfillment in 2008!

Are you keeping busy?

2007-11-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

I am. I have been keeping really busy the last few weeks with activities and demands of life. I have been a student, a worker, a partner, a friend, an advocate. I have been executing the roles of my office in all these categories, and it has consumed a good chunk of my time. Today, I sat down and thought about the last few weeks, and I was surprised at how truly busy I have been, and how being busy has kept me out of trouble.

I have not had time to worry, or fret, or listen to unnecessary information (read gossip), or fight, or fear. I have been about the business of learning and earning and giving and caring and sharing.

Idleness is not your friend. An idle mind truly is the devil's workshop.

Don't be busy for the sake of being busy. Find something useful, beneficial, caring, and kind, and set about engaging yourself in that thing with all your being. It will save you many troubles if you're out and about doing something positive with your time and your energy.

This is my thought for the day.

Are you still feeling sorry for yourself?

2007-10-09T20:56:00.000-04:00

If you are, then I want to give you something to think about. Watch this video in its entirety. It may give you a new perspective on life, on tenacity, and on living life to the fullest when you have it.

As a tribute to Randy Pausch, bloggers begun a series titled "One Last Blog Post." Below are some of the posts. They are inspiring.

Byron's One Last Blog Post
Mary's One Last Blog Post
Arnaldo's One Last Blog Post

Watch the video, and read the posts, and think about how your attitude impacts your success in life.

What do you do with problems?

2007-09-29T13:11:00.000-04:00

Well? What do you do with problems?

The intuitive answer is "solve them." I bet this is what you said - solve them, find a solution.

But here's my question to you - is that really what you do with problems? When you run into a problem at work, at home, at school, etc., do you start thinking of a solution, or if you can find one, start implementing it? Is that really your first thought? Be honest.

In my random observations of human beings and human behavior, I have found one thing to be almost universally true. The first thing most people do when they run into a problem is to COMPLAIN about it. When we find something that's not working, we complain, we whine, we find someone to blame, we ask who's fault it is, etc. Now it's important to find out why something went wrong, but not to place blame, but rather to prevent the same thing from happening again. But our first approach to any problem should be to find a solution. If you find the printer is jammed, don't just stand there and complain about the general incompetence of the people who should be taking care of the equipment, or how this is going to mess your day, etc. Unjam the printer, and if you can't, find another one, and move on with your day. If the toilet is clogged, don't start whining about how unsanitary everything is, and how people need to drink more water to not clog the toilet - find a plunger and unclog it, or find another toilet, call maintenance, or the plumber, and move on with your day. I could go on and on with examples, and I know you can add your own.

Why am I talking about this? After all, isn't complaining just part of human nature? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But do you have any idea how much energy is takes to complain? And how unproductive it is? Solving the problem is such a better way to spend your time and energy! It's such a better way to get your creative energies going and to be a positive influence in your environment.

If you are going to be successful in life it's important that you close the spout of complaints and whines, and open the fount of creative problem-solving energy in your life. Even if you only run into small problems like a clogged toilet, or a misplaced pen, promise yourself that you won't complain, but will instead find a solution. Try to do this intentionally each time you run into a problem, and you will start to notice a change in your thinking, your energy, your life, and the people around you.

Outstanding Personal Development Blogs

2007-09-25T14:04:00.000-04:00

While on the web today I discovered that James over at Visualized.Feel.Abundance has added this blog to his long list of Outstanding Personal Development Blogs. We are added right at the bottom, in the update, as a "rising star". Someone, I suspect one of my friends, submitted this blog in the comments, and we were added.

In the same spirit, I am going to name my most inspiring personal development blog, and then I am going to give you the whole list. That should give you a lot of sources to go to for personal growth and development advice. There is a lot of help out there to help us all grow and become successful in all the ways that matter.

I have to say that the most inspirational blog that I have read is Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users. Sadly, she stopped updating this blog after death threats were made at her. It's not a self development blog in the traditional sense, infact it's a little nerdy, but I have found it to have great value to me in my personal growth and in thinking about and being the person I want to be.

Personal Development List:

Aaron Potts at Today is That Day
Adam Alexander at Adam’s Peace
Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
Adam Khoo at Adam Khoo’s Philosophies and Investing Insights
Adebola Oni at Life Lessons
AgentSully at Life Learning Today
Al at 7pproductions.com

Alan Torres at Made to Be Great
Alex Shalman at AlexShalman.com
Alexander Kjerulf at The Chief Happiness Officer
Alexys Fairfield at Unraveling The Spiritual Mystique, and Speak The Speech
Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net

Albert Lee at My Journey to Living an Exceptional Life
Alvaro at Sharp Brains Blog
Amber at Amber Waves
Amber at Random Mangus
Amel at AmelsRealm
Amie Ragan at Psychology of Clutter

Amit Sodha at The Power of Choice
Amy Hedin at There is no Maximum to Human Potential
Andrea Learned at Learned on Women
Andrea J. Lee at Money, Meaning, and Beyond
Andrew Brunelle at Andrew Brunelle.com
Andy Wibbels at AndyWibbels.com

Anita Pathik Law at Power of Our Way
Anmol Mehta at AnmolMetha.com
Ann at A Nice Place in The Sun
Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand
Antonio Thornton at AntonioThornton.com
April Groves at Making Life Work For You

Argancel at C’eclair (for those who speak french)
Ariane Benefit at Neat & Simple Living
Ash aka Mr. Biggs at One Powerful Word
Ashley Cecil at The Painting Activist
Ask Lucid at Ask Lucid Spiritual Development

BK Diva at Bklyn’s Finest
Barb Lattin at Feels Like Magic
Barb Melloh at The Law of Attraction Info
Barbara Curtis at Mommy Life
Barbara Sliter at Creatorship
Bea Kunz at Bea’s Beatitudes

Belle Wong at Abundance Journal
Ben Casnocha at Ben Casnocha: The Blog
Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog
Benjamin at WOWNDADI
Beth at Butterfly Thoughts
Bill Perry at Lucid Blog

Billy Smith at The Organic Leadership Blog
Blogfuse at LifeDev
Bluskygirl at LifeGoddess.com
Brad Isaac at Achieve It
Brett Farmiloe, James Whiting, Noah Pollock and Zach Hubbell at Pursue The Passion
Brian Clark at Copyblogger

Brian Kim at briankim.net
Brian Lee at geniustypes.com
Brightfeathers at this time-this space
Brooke at Plain Advice
Bob at everyeveryminute
Bob Crawford at Bob Crawford Online

Bolly at Motivational Corner
Boston Gal at Boston Gal’s Open Wallet
Byron Katie at Byron Katie.com
Cam Beck at ChaosScenario
Tomas at Captain’s bridge
Cara Lumen at The Success Magnets With Cara Luman and Your Second Wind Blog

Cardin Lilly Routh at OptimistLab
Carlon Haas at Possess Less Exist More
Carol Skolnick at Soul Surgery
Catherine Carter at Continuum Wellness
Cheif Family Officer at Cheif Family Officer
Chris at The Philosophy of Change

Chris at One is All and All is One
Chris Brogan at Chris Brogan.com
Chris Cade at Spiritual Short Stories
Chris Cree at SuccessCREEations
Chris Marshall at Martial Development
Chris Melton at Soupornuts.com

Chris Owen at Pink Apple
Christina Katz at Writer Mama
Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com
Christine Valters Painter at Abbey of the Arts
Christy Z at Totally Fabulous
Clyde at Feeling Good

Colin Beavan at No Impact Man
Colleen Wainwright of Communicatrix
Conceive, Believe, Achieve at Conceive, Believe, Achieve
Confessing at 7Confessions
Cooper at Wonderland or Not
Corrine Edwards at Personal Growth with Corrine Edwards

Corey at Cooking With Corey
Crabby McSlacker at Cranky Fitness
Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker
Craze at Crazedreamer’s Thoughts
Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure
Cyres at Cyres Matters

Damian Carr at Soul Terminal
Daniel Roach at Daniel Roach.org
Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers
Danny Kohn at Be Inspired Everyday
Daria Black at Figmeant Writing Studio and Community
Darlene Siddons at Spirited Boutique

Darren Rowse at Problogger.net
Dave Pollard at How to Save the World
Dave Schawbel at The Personal Branding Blog
Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet
Davers at Language Trainers Blog
David Allen at The David Allen Company

David Bohl at Reflections on Balance
David Finch at David Finch.com
David Richeson at 360 Degree Success
David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence
David Seah at David Seah.com
David Zinger at Slacker Manager

Dawn and Ann at Twisted Sister
Dawn Goldberg at Write Well Me
Dawn Vinson at Daydreaming on Paper
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
Daylle Deanna Schwartz at Lessons from a Recovering Doormat
Dean Lacono at Law of Attraction for Beginners

Deb at Mind Body and Solar
Deb2012 at Fibromaylgia and Wellness
Debbie Call at Spirit In Gear
Debbie LaChusa at 10 Step Marketing Collection
Deborah aka Zephry1 at Climate of Our Future
Debra at 28 Years Later

Debra Moorhead at Debra Moorhead.com
Denise Mosawi at Destineering.com
Derrick Kwa at Sui Generis
Desika Nadadur at Desika Nadadur.com
Devlyn Steele at Tools To Life Guide
Diane Cese at Everything Yoga

Dick Richards at Come Gather Round
Dominic Tay at Personal Development for Winners
Don Simkovich at Hey Don
Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer
Donald Trump and others at The Trump Blog
Donna Karlin at Perspectives

Donna Steinhorn at Rethinking
Douglas Eby at Talent Development Resources
Dr. Charles Parker at The Core Psych Blog
Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog
Dr. Michael Shea at From Pain to Personal Gain
Dr. Tim Sharp at The Happiness Institute

Drew Rozell at Drew Rozell.com
Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity
E Murphy at The Active Life
Edward Mills at Evolving Times
Edward Smith at Bright Moment
Edith Brown at JETEAK PRESS WRITER BLOG

Edith Yeung at Dream Think Act
Elizabeth Badurina at Modern Gypsy
Elle Mgee at Ever Hopeful, Ever Thankful
Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business
Ellesse at Goal Setting College
Elly Jolly at Jolly Life Coaching

Emily G. W. Lilly at The Science of Waldorf Education
Emmanuel Lopez at The Adventures of Motivatorman
Enoch Tan at Mind Reality
Eric Boehme at The Blogging Boss
Eric Napier at Quotation Collection
Erin Pavlina at Erin Pavlina.com

Ev Nucci at My Life is Murphy’s Law
Evelyn Lim at Attraction Mind Map
Evelyn Rodriguez at Crossroads Dispatches
Evolving Excellence at Evolving Excellence
Farouk Radwan at 2KnowMySelf
Frank at Re/Transformation

Frank Kanu at Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership
Frank Roche at KnowHR Blog
Galba Bright at Tune Up Your EQ
Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen
Gary at Personal Strategic Plan
Gary Evans at Good to Feel Good.com

Gerri at Absolutely True
Gilad Buchman at Sigsug
Gleb Reys at Personal Development Ideas
Glenda Watson Hyatt at Do It Myself Blog
Grayson at Modern Worker Blog
Greg Butler at holistic-personal-development.com

Greg Frost at ChargedAudio.com
Geoff R at Gearfire.net
George Vasu at 360
Golbguru at Money, Matter, and More Musings
Gretchen Rubin at Happiness Project
Gustav at Success-is-in-you.com

Guy Kawasaki at How to Change the World
Gyanish at Diethack
Halina Goldstein at The Inner Travel Journal
Hatter at Dreaming to Infinity
Hilda Carroll at Living Out Loud
Heather Goldsmith at A Creative Journal

Helgi Pall Einarsson at Everyday Wonderland
Henrik Edberg at The Positivity Blog
Holly Jo at Evolving Blueprint
Holly Sumner at The Abundance Place
Honman at Open Your Mind to Prosperity
Hueina Su at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul

Ilyria at Finding Norway
Inkedmn at The Cranking Widgets Blog
Irene Becker at Just Coach It
Isabella Mori at MoriTherapy
Isha at Isha Yoga
Itzy Sabo at Email Overloaded

JC at Job Life Upgrade
Jacin Steele at Jacin Steele.com
Jack Vinson at Knowledge Jolt with Jack
Jackie at The Painted Veil
Jackie Ford at The Vegan Diet
Jacklyn Ker at Inspiring and Empowing Lives

James and Karen at visualized.Feel.Abundance
Jarle Husefest at The Personal Development Blog
Jason and Michael at Black Belt Productivity
Jason Ivers at A Miracle a Day
Jason Womack at Fit and Effective
Jay White at dumb little man tips for life

Jean Browman at Transforming Stress Into Power and Cheerful Monk
Jeane Michelle Culp at Binding Ink
Jeanne May at Aspirations Plus
Jeannette Maw at Good Vibe Coaching
Jeanie Marshall at Empowerment and Meditation Blog and DailyAffirm: Positive Affirmations Day by Day

Jeff Davidson at Breathing Space Blog
Jeff Lilly at Druid Journal
Jeffrey Phillips at Think Faster
Jenna Glatzer at Hot Diggity
Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness
Jennifer Mannion at Heal Pain Naturally

Jenny Ryan at Using My Powers For Good
Jenny and Erin at Jenny and Erin
Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategy by Jeremiah
Jerry Hart at Blue Print to emarketing
Jerry Lopper at Personal Growth
Jessa at clairvoyantGuidance.net

Jessica Hagy at Indexed
Jim and Emma at Go Smell The Flowers
Jim stroup at Managing Leadership
Jim Walton at Black In Business
JoLynn Braley at The Fit Shack
Joan Schramm at Accelerating Momentum

Joanna Young at Coaching Wizardry
Joanne at I’m Happy Fish
JodeeB at You Already Know This Stuff
Joe Vitale at Dr. Joe Vitale at Zero
Joel at Fearless Dreams
Johann at Johann The Dog, The Days of Johann, and Rescue Me

John Allison at Technology for Living
John Chow at John Chow Dot Com
John Pratt at John Pratt International
John Place at John Place Online
John W. McKenna at The Leadership Epidemic
John Wesley at Pick The Brain

Joi Sigers at Self Help Daily
Jon at Join The Secret
Jon King at The Effective Life
Jon Willis at Self Happiness
Jonathan at Smart Wealthy Rich and Freelance Folder

Jordan at The Abe Blog
Jory Des Jardin at Pause: Meaningful Work
Josh Bickford at Reach For Magnificence and Reach for Magnificence
Josh Kaufman at The Personal MBA
Joshua Denny at Catalyst for Change

Judy Martin at The Work/Life Monitor
Julia Rogers Hamrick at Julia’s Blog: Journal of the Journey Home to Eden
Julie Bonner at Declutter It
Kailani at An Island Review
Kammie Kobyleski at Passion Meets Purpose
Kara-Leah Masina at Be Conscious Now

Karen at Journey with Water Learner
Karen at Square Peg People
Karen Lynch at Live The Power
Karen Putz at A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
Karen Wallace at The Clearing Space
Karl Moore at Karl Blog.com

Karl Staib at Karl Staib.com
Kathy Mallary at Coaching Biz Tips
Keith Ferrazzi at Never Eat Alone
Kelly at Kellymentology
Ken Dow and Martin Cooper at Creativity Happens
Kenton Whitman at kentonwhitman.com

Kevin Kinchen at Creative Power of Thought
Killeris at Attitude, The Ultimate Power
Kim and Jason at Escape Adulthood
Kim George at Doing What You Can Do
Kimber Chin at Client K
Kirk Nugent at Kirk Nugent.com

Krishan Singh at Kundalini Yoga Blog
Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin
Krishna De at Biz Growth News and Todays Women in Business
Kristen King at Lively Women
K.L. Masina at Be Conscious Now

LJW at Heavenly Inclinations
Lauchlan Mackinnon at Think Differently
Laura at Heaven is Inside
Laura at Orgjunkie
Laura Howard West at Cafe Entrepreneur
Lawrence Cheok at A Long, Long Road

Laura Young at The Dragon Slayer’s Guide to Life
Leah Maclean at Working Solo
Leigh at The Lab
LeisureGuy at Later On
Lee Nutter at bmindful
Leo Babauta at Zen Habits

Lianne at Excessively Diverted by Divine Mojo
Liara Covert at Dream Builders
Life Reflection at Universe in a Single Atom
Lilifixt at Feel Happy
Lillie Ammann at A Writers Words, An Editor’s Eye
Linda Hernestal da Silva at Daily Power Walk

Linda Salazar at Awaken The Genie Within
Lisa Braithwaite at Speak Schmeak
Lisa Gates at Design Your Writing Life
Lisa Haneberg at Management Craft, Two weeks to a Breakthrough Blog, and Chile Pepper High
Lisa McGlaun at LifePrints - Good News for a More Compassionate World

Lisa Mills at Work at Home Mom Revolution
Lisa Q at 40s Singleness-Dating in Your 40s
Lisa Van Allen at Finish Strong
Liz at Internet Marketing Strategies
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
Lodewijkvdb at How to be an Original

Lola Fayemi at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development
Lori Grant and Debbie at Smart Lemming
Lorie Marrero at The Clutter Diet Blog
Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living
Luciano Passuello at Litemind.com
Lucid at Spiritual Suggestions

Lumosity at Brain Health Blog
Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life
Lyndon Antcliff at LyndonAntcliff.com and Cornwallseo.com
Lynn McTaggert at Living The Field
Lynne Morrell at Lynn Morrell.com and Musings From The Edge

MT at MindTWEAKS
Madame X at My Open Wallet
Maddy at Illuminated Minds Want to Know
Maki at Dosh Dosh
Malathy Badri at Laws of Universe
Malcolm Campbell at The Round Table

Mallika, Gotham, and Deepak Chopra, and Shekhar Kapur at IntentBlog
Manny at Success Books
Maria Gajewski at Never The Same River Twice
Maria Garcia at Get Organized Now
Maria Palma at The Good Life
Marianne Williamson at Journal

Marion at Herbal Connection
Marilyn Jenett at Feel Free to Prosper and Feel Free to Prosper Ryze Network
Marney K. Makridakis at Artella
Mark at The Naked Soul
Mark Forster at Get Everything Done

Mark LaPierre at The Winding Path
Mark McManus at Build Your Life To Order
Mark Sanborn at Mark Sanborn.com, and You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader
Mark W Shead at Productivity 501
Martin Avis at Kickstart Daily

Mary K at Becoming Your StellarSelf
Matthew Cornell at Matt’s Idea Blog
Matthew M. Costello at The Winning Attitude
Max Coutinho at Max
Meg Haworth at Life Lessons From Your Soul
Melanie Benson Strick at The Success Blog

Merlin Mann at 43 Folders
Mert at Almost Somewhat Positive
Meryl K. Evans at Meryl.net
Michelle at aMusing My Genius
Michelle at Binding INK III
Michelle Moore at Happiness Blog

Michael Port at The Think Big Revolution
Michael Vanderdonk at TOACH Performance
Michael Werner at Dream Jobs Dialog
Mike Janssen at Opgestroopte Mouwen
Mike Kemski at BANABU
Mike St. Pierre at The Daily Saint

Millionaire Mommy Next Door at Millionaire Mommy Next Door
Mimi Lennox at Mimi Writes
Mizzy Bohemia at Miz BoheMia’s Rhapsody
Mona Grayson at Question The Mind
Monte Ladner at Fitness Rocks
Moneymonk at Moneymonk

Mr.Wang at Mr Wang Says So
MsJayy at Jackie Young Writes
My Everyday Planner at My Everyday Planner
My Mind on Books at My Mind on Books
Mystical Monkey at One Mystical Monkey
NCN at No Credit Needed

Nancy Mills at The Spirited Woman
Nancy Tierney at Unconditional Confidence
Neal Donald Walsh at Conversations With God
Neil Patel at Quick Sprout
Nic Askew at Monday 9AM Blog
Nick Smith at Life 2.0

Nita at Moments
Nneka at Balanced Life Center
Ordinary Mystic at The Ordinary Mystic
Organize-It at Organize-It
Pamala Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation
Pamm Larry at My Secret Spiritual Dance

Patrick Combs at Good Thinking Co.
Patricia Klingler at Remarkable Women Speak
Patricia Singleton at Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker
Patti Digh at 37 Days
Paul at Paul’s Tips
Paul Piotrowski at Self Help Wisdom

Paula Kawal at Paula Kawal.com
Peggy Payne at Peggy Payne’s Boldness Blog
Penelope Trunk at The Brazen Careerist
Peter at I Will Change Your Life
Peter Aldin at Great Circle
Peter Haslem at Necessary Skills

Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great
Philip J Eby at Dirt Simple.org
Philippe Matthews at Shockwealth
Pia at Courting Destiny
Polli at Polliwog’s Pond
Prem Rao at People at Work and Play

Priscilla Palmer at Personal Development Demands Success
Priya Florence Shah at Soul Kadee
Quint Jensen at Win Your Mind
Ray Dotson at Fresh Blog
Raymond Salas at Zenchill Powertools
Real Modern Man at Real Modern Man

Reg Adkins at ElementalTruths
Rhonalala at The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Am
Ricardo at Wake Up Tiger
Rich Schefren at Strategic Profits
Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness
Rick Cooper at The PDA Pro

Ririan at Ririanproject
RivKaz at Waterlearner
Rob at 7Breaths
Rob Cooke at Leave the Office
Robert at Compassionate Council
Robert at Myselfdev

Robert Ashcroft at PDSS Online
Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings
Robin Skeen at Robin’s Reflections
Robin Yapp at Yapp 3.0
Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz
Roger Von Oech at Creative Think

Rolf F. Katzenberger at Evomend
Rosemary at Parkinson’s Disease and Peripheral Neuropathy
Rosa Say at Managing With Aloha Coaching
Ryan Marle at The Alpha Project
S.J. Yee at Personal Development for the Book Smart
Sam at Aquire Wisdom and Live with Passion

Sammy Simpson at The Tune In.com
Sandee at Comedy Plus
Scott Adams at The Dilbert Blog
Scott Andrew Bird at Scott Andrew Bird.com
Scott Berkun at Berkun Blog
Scott Bernadot at Keeping The Secret

Scott Ginsberg at Hello, My Name Is Blog
Scott H Young at Scott H Young
Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant
Secret Simon at The Secret of Life
Self Pursuit at Self Pursuit
Senia at Senia.com Positive Psychology Coaching

Seth Godin at Seth’s Blog
2 Know My Self at 2KnowMySelf
Shane Navratil at Zoomstart
Shaun Boyd at LifeReboot.com
Shauna Arthurs at Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path

Shaheen Lakhan at GNIF Brain Blogger
Simone at Dynamic Living
Simone and Mandy at Outfit Inspirations
Single Ma at Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials
Slade Roberson at Shift Your Spirits and Spiritual Blogging

Sleeping Dude at How to Wake Up Early
Sonora Jayne Case at Positive Realities Coaching
Sophiagurl at Life is Just Around the Corner
Spike at Organize It
Spiritlifter at Intentional Abundance
Stacy Brice at Virtualosophy

Start Up Coach at Take Charge of Your Life
Stay at Home Mom at Insanity’s Oasis
Stephanie and Jeffrey at Brains on Purpose
Stephen at HD bizblog
Stephen Hopson at Adversity University
Stephen Shapiro at Stephen Shapiro.com

Steve Beisheim at Jumping Ship Happens
Steve Grossman at Why I failed
Steve Harper at The Ripple Effect
Steve King at The Green Geek
Steve Moore at Personal Development Blog
Steve Olson at Steve-Olson.com

Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com
Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace
Steven Aitchison at Change Your Thoughts
Success Current at SuccessCurrent.com
Sue Ann Edwards at Always Embraces All Ways
Sunny Schlenger at SunCoach.com

Surjit at Gurushabad
Susan at Got2BeGreen
Susan R. Meyer at Life Work Cafe
Susan Sabo at Productivity Cafe
Susie at The Accidental Environmentalist
Susanna Kompogiorgas at Flowing Chi

Suzanne Bird-Harris at Learning Curve Coaching
Suzanne Falter-Barns at Discover Your Joy
Takeshi at Nakayima
Takuin Minamoto at Takuin.com
Taylor at Mom’s Out There
Ted Demopoulos at Blogging For Business

Teesha Moore at TeeshaMorre.com
Tejvan at Sri Chinmoy Inspiration
Terry Starbucker at Ramblings From a Glass Half Full
Therapy Doc at Everyone Needs Therapy
Thom Quinn at Qlog
Titus-Armand at Project Armand

Tiffany at Little Red Suit
Tim Ferris at 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog
Tim Taylor at My Agapic Life
Tim Warren at Personal Development4U
Tina Su at Think Simple. Be Decisive
Tish at The Kat House

Todd Goldfarb at We The Change
Tom LeDree at Tom LeDree.com
Tom Peters at Tom Peters.com
Tom Spanton at TRCoach
Tom Van Brunscot of Transformation Economy
Tony Brigmon at Smile Notes

Tony Chimento at Living Forward
Tony D Clark at Success From The Nest
Torlink at You Create Reality
Travis A. Sinquefield at Disorganizational Behavior
Travis Wright at Cultivate Greatness
Tricia at Blogging Away Debt

Tricia at Loving Farewells
Trisha at Insanity’s Oasis and Fat Insanity
Trizoko at Trizoko.com
Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar
Trevor Gay at Simplicity is the Key

Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
Tuck Self at Rebel Belle Blog
Tupelo Kenyon at Tupelokenyon.com
Ubertech at Geeks Guide To GTD
Vanessa Vinos at Musings from a Life Coach
Vera Nadine at Vera Nadine.com

Vickie at Contemplate This
Wade Millican at The Middle Way
Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership
Walksfarwoman at Kissing The Dogwood
Wan Qi at Meditation Forum Mantras
Wanda Grindstaff at Creating Abundant Lifestyles

Wendy Betterini at Wings For The Heart
Wild Bill at Passionate Blogger
Winsome at Winsome Gunning Art Walk
Zale Tabakman at Success Through Balance
Zorka at Essential Life Skills
and these collaborated sites:

Blogher’s Religion and Spirituality “department”
Burst Blog
Change This
Change Your Thinking
Daily PlanIt
Did I Get Things Done
GTD Wannabe
Jobman2
Joyful Jubilant Learning

Life Coaches Blog Stratagies for a Greater Life
Lifehack.org
Lifehacker.com
Phattitudes.com
TED Blog
Transformational Girlfriends
Transfoundation
Unclutterer
Winslowscalling

And these for those of you who speak Russian:
Anatoly Tikhomirov at Personal Efficacy
Armen Petrosyan at Thought Storage #428
Irina Chelnokova at Women Path
Michael Subach at LifeIdea.org
Sergey Biryukov at Personal Development in Russian
Vitaly Kolesnik at Kolesnik.ru
Vladimir Rundan at Living is Great!

Forums:
The Community for Excellence
Personal Development Partners
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Attain Personal Success

Don't feel sorry for yourself - the perils of self pity!

2007-09-21T18:17:00.000-04:00

One of the keys to living successfully and developing a strong sense of self, in my opinion, is to not feel sorry for yourself.

Does that mean you can't be sad? No. Does that mean you can't cry? No. Absolutely not. You CAN feel sad, you CAN cry, that's okay. These are useful emotions and acts. It's an appropriate response when we're hurt, or when bad things happen.

What you absolutely should get out of the habit of doing is feeling sorry for yourself. I use the word "habit" intentionally, because we all have the occasional bout of self-pity, of feeling sorry for ourselves, and that's okay. But chronic and constant self-pity is one of the most demoralizing emotions that you can indulge in. It puts you in a position of weakness and can easily spiral you down the road to depression if you aren't careful.

Why do people indulge in self-pity when it feels so bad? Well, one big reason is because it gets attention. Whining about your lot in life gets you attention. People listen to you, they pay attention to you, feel sorry for you, perhaps even try to do what they think will make you happy... at least at first. And for some people, especially people who crave attention, that can feel good, because it fills a need that they have. But in the long run, you run out of an audience, and no one wants to listen to you or to be around you anymore, because listening to self-deprecating and self-pitying talk can be depressing to the listener. Most people want to be around upbeat people, positive people, people who are living positive lives, and changing things around them.

So if you want to be successful, start by stopping. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop whining, stop pouring your sob story to any ears around you. Be positive, be real, be strong. Find the good and work on it. Don't fake it, don't pretend it's okay when it's not. It's okay to not be okay. Strive for balance. If you're sad, say you're sad, but that you're working your way throught, it and move on to something else, something better, something positive.

One of the keys to success - stop feeling sorry for yourself!

Getting off track and what to do about it

2007-09-12T17:45:00.000-04:00

A big part of the process to attaining success in life is recognizing when you're losing track. The second side to that coin is taking steps to get back on track.

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. I've been engrossed in a lot of different personal and business ventures that I got distracted from carrying on with my thought process and sharing my thoughts on success and what it means, and what you have to do to get on the road to being successful. And I recognize this. So this post is my first step... recognizing that I have lost track.

The second step, as I mentioned above, is taking steps to get back on track. I am working hard not to lose the introspective part of myself as I get busier and busier. Today I want to share with you an interesting post that I read. I will share my thoughts with you about this in my next post, but first I want to encourage you to read it and think on it, especially on the last few paragraphs. The post is from a personal blog and is titled On school and the NCLEX-RN Predictor Exam, and in it the author reflects on taking a calculated risk and the lessons derived from it.

Read it and share your thoughts with me.

What is success to you?

2007-07-16T22:29:00.000-04:00

What does success mean to you? Let's look at a dictionary definition:

Main Entry:
suc·cess
Pronunciation:
\sək-ˈses\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Latin successus, from succedere
Date:
1537

1obsolete : outcome, result
2 a: degree or measure of succeeding
b: favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence
3: one that succeeds

I pulled this definition from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. The definition there that speaks to me is 2b. "favorable or desired outcome." As I chew and ponder on this definition, it occurs to me that as we begin this journey there are two words we must pay particular attention to: "desired" and "outcome". I will explain in a moment why I feel that those two words are very crucial to our laying the foundation for attaining personal success. First, let us return to Merriam-Webster to define these two words.

Main Entry:
¹de·sire
Pronunciation:
\di-ˈzī(-ə)r, dē-\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
de·sired; de·sir·ing
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French desirer, from Latin desiderare, from de- + sider-, sidus heavenly body
Date:
13th century

transitive verb1: to long or hope for : exhibit or feel desire for <desire success>
2 a: to express a wish for : request desire an immediate answer>
b archaic : to express a wish to : ask
3obsolete : invite
4archaic : to feel the loss ofintransitive verb: to have or feel desire

Ignore the archaic and obsolete definitions and focus on the transitive verb - to long or hope for. What strong and beautiful words those are. When do you hear the words "I long for..." - when someone is missing a loved one, or a loved place, when a suitor is wooing a lover... "I long for home...", "I long for your kisses..." To desire something in the true definition of the word is to long for that thing deeply and with feeling.

Let us look at the second word: outcome

Main Entry:
out·come
Pronunciation:
\ˈau̇t-ˌkəm\
Function:
noun
Date:
1788

: something that follows as a result or consequence outcome> outcomes of bypass surgery>

An outcome follows as a consequence of something... it is not an entity in and of itself, but rather must be preceded by something else.

Why have I meandered through this little adventure of looking at words? Because I believe that words are powerful, and that power, if harnessed by the strength of focused minds, through deliberate and conscious thought, can bring forth great results. But here is my purpose for this post, to ask you if you know what success means.

Success is a favorable or desired outcome. To pursue and attain success, you must have two things:

You must have a desired thing that you long for, that you have deep feelings about, that you want to see happen. This is something that causes you to toss in bed at night, to sit in pensive thought, to engage in purposeful endeavors, hoping, dreaming, fearful of failure, but trying nonetheless. This must be something that you want, that you feel will make your life that much more fulfilling. You are the only one who knows what this thing is.
You must have an action... something that will lead to the outcome. You cannot be in limbo, for there cannot be an outcome without an action.

Ponder on this. When you say you want success, what do you really mean? What is it that you're seeking? What is that desired and longed for outcome?

This is one of the corner stones. You must start here.

Attaining Personal Success

2007-07-16T14:41:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Attaining Personal Success, a blog aimed at helping you, and me, the girl next door, and that guy across the street, to grow and move towards greater levels of personal success and satisfaction.

My aim in this blog is to share with you, and invite you to share with me, thoughts and ideas about how to live consciously, and deliberately, and how to move towards Marslow's highest peak - self-actualization!

Maybe you want to become a millionaire, or a president, or an opera singer... or maybe you want to be a better parent, friend, sister, lover, person... whatever your goals are, this blog is intended for you. There are no secret tips here, no hard and fast rules. I am not a guru, nor am I a master. I have not achieved self-actualization. I am an ordinary person, with dreams, and fears, failures and successes, virtues and vices... I am that person next door, that colleague in the cubicle two rows down, that nurse with the bright orange scrubs...

I am taking this journey with you. Your thoughts are valuable, share them with me.