Show up! The first requirement in order to make progress in life, is to show up. In order to go up the corporate ladder, the earnings ladder or the personal development ladder, you have to show up. You may not be the best athlete on the field or the best trumpet player in the band, but unless you show up and perform to the very best of your ability, you will never move up in the lineup.
Be “in the right place at the right time” only works when you show up. Everyone talks about the “lucky breaks.” Lana Turner was discovered sitting on a counter stool in a soda fountain. Celine Dion was discovered singing in a tent in the rain. A famous field goal kicker was discovered playing sand lot football with his buddies.
First they had to “get up,” and take action by “showing up.” Life will not come searching for you. Take the responsibility for your own future. Show up! Take an active part in your life. Either you show up and take responsibility for your life or by default you are giving control of your life to someone else.
You do not have to do anything. You do not have to get out of bed in the morning, pay taxes or prepare a sandwich for yourself. Some people never do. News Flash! If you do not take any action, you have no right to complain about your lack of results.
The first manual to be completed in Toastmasters is the Competent Communications manual. There are 10 speeches emphasizing 10 different elements to be accomplished in order to earn your cc designation. Unless you show up at the regular meetings, you will not be scheduled to speak up. It is only fair that the members who show up and participate receive the coveted speaking roles. Yes, a rotation exists; however, with 34 members in the club and 3 speaking slots per meeting, preference goes to those who show up on a consistent basis. Show up in order to speak up.
Voting is a privilege extended to Americans. The economy in America is turbulent and unpleasant for most Americans right now. Unfortunately, the forecast does not hold any jubilant indications. Whether you like the President or not, we live in the greatest nation on the earth. We have the right to cast our vote each four years to help select our Presidential leadership. If you don’t show up and vote, you have no right to complain. We have more freedom of choice in the United States than any other country. Either show up and speak up, or shut up.
At the beginning of the economic decline in 2008, DuPont responded aggressively to the economic meltdown. Chief executive Chad Holliday met with the company’s top leaders and economists to form a crisis plan. Within ten days they had sixty thousand employees meeting with their managers. Everyone was asked to identify three action steps they could immediately implement to conserve cash and reduce costs. Who said major companies could not move quickly? DuPont acted quickly and produced positive results. They initiated an extremely important move; they included their employees is solution-oriented thinking. They asked their employees to show up and take part in saving their own jobs.
Amazon employed a similar technique by calling all of their managers together with the statement, “There is a big recession coming. Let’s miss it.” Amazon took positive steps to increase market share and improve the bottom line. While most other companies were whining about a terrible Christmas revenue in 2008, Amazon wore a smile a mile wide. Amazon showed up and took positive action.
Where are you in your life right now? Are you sitting on the sidelines? Are you showing up and taking an active part in creating the life you desire and deserve? For specific action steps to improve your life, contact me at www.Elaine4Success.com.
Showing posts with label take action. Show all posts
Showing posts with label take action. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
How to Get Your Life on Track
Every life has a few turning points. As humans, we have the unique ability to make a decision, act on it and turn on a dime. Animals are governed by impulse and instinct. Salmon return home to spawn, Geese fly south in the winter. Genetic code dictates and they obey. A lion couldn’t suddenly choose to be a vegetarian anymore than a cow could choose to win on a race track against thoroughbred race horses. Only a human can make a decision and change anything and everything about their lives. Press the reset button and do it over. Call a mulligan. Press ctrl, alt, delete, wipe the slate clean and start over.
Successful people will tell you, “I remember the exact moment when I made the decision.” “That was the decision that turned my life around and started it all.” “I’m so grateful I made the decision.” You’re screaming silently in your head, “tell me what the decision is and I’ll make it too.” An alcoholic remembers the turning point when they decided “no more.” They stopped drinking or popping pills or whatever their poison of choice.
For Andy Andrews it was being handed 3 biographies when he was twenty three years old. Winston Churchill, Will Rogers and George Washington Carver were the first three of some 200 biographies Andy read. Andy’s turning point was deciding to read those books and start getting his life back on track.
Some people reach that turning point at 15, others at 50, others over and over in life and some never at all.
Now is your turning point; your challenge is now.
Statistics show that we only use a minute fraction of our brain power. Why would you leave a fortune lying there dormant? Why struggle when the solution is on your finger tips? You are far more capable, powerful, and talented than you realize; certainly more gifted than you have utilized to date. Draw a line in your mental sand. Cut off the past and begin anew. Courage represents the only thing separating you from your grandest vision, your dream of a better life. Take a deep breath, swallow your nervous butterflies or better yet, spit them out, and muster the courage to forge ahead.
2010 is a new year, a new decade, make the most of it. Glance back over your shoulder for just an instant and glimpse your last ten years. Were they everything you ever wanted them to be? Unless you choose a turning point right now, your next ten years will be the same or possibly less fulfilling. Is that a risk you are willing to take?
For some people, the turning point is a look in the mirror. For others it is balancing the bank account. For others it may not be their choice at all; “sorry but we are downsizing and your job is being eliminated.” Divorce creates many turning points. Medical reports force turning points. Why not decide to take charge of your life and your future?
There is a country song about skydiving, going 8 seconds on a bull name Fu Man Chu, and climbing to high peaks.
Decide to make January, 2010 as your turning point. Decide to make the most of your potential and your life. Every one of us was granted at birth with a wonderful creative mind and intelligence beyond our wildest dream. Every one of us possesses a skill or talent superior to anyone and everyone else. Never ever allow anyone to make you ever feel inferior again. You are unique; you are special. You are a wonderful creation.
Dive into your soul and discover your passion. Decide right here and now to go for the gusto and life the next ten years are the beginning of a fabulous future. Regardless of your age, you have the power to decide and take action.
Today is your turning point.
For help discovering your passion and your potential, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.
Successful people will tell you, “I remember the exact moment when I made the decision.” “That was the decision that turned my life around and started it all.” “I’m so grateful I made the decision.” You’re screaming silently in your head, “tell me what the decision is and I’ll make it too.” An alcoholic remembers the turning point when they decided “no more.” They stopped drinking or popping pills or whatever their poison of choice.
For Andy Andrews it was being handed 3 biographies when he was twenty three years old. Winston Churchill, Will Rogers and George Washington Carver were the first three of some 200 biographies Andy read. Andy’s turning point was deciding to read those books and start getting his life back on track.
Some people reach that turning point at 15, others at 50, others over and over in life and some never at all.
Now is your turning point; your challenge is now.
Statistics show that we only use a minute fraction of our brain power. Why would you leave a fortune lying there dormant? Why struggle when the solution is on your finger tips? You are far more capable, powerful, and talented than you realize; certainly more gifted than you have utilized to date. Draw a line in your mental sand. Cut off the past and begin anew. Courage represents the only thing separating you from your grandest vision, your dream of a better life. Take a deep breath, swallow your nervous butterflies or better yet, spit them out, and muster the courage to forge ahead.
2010 is a new year, a new decade, make the most of it. Glance back over your shoulder for just an instant and glimpse your last ten years. Were they everything you ever wanted them to be? Unless you choose a turning point right now, your next ten years will be the same or possibly less fulfilling. Is that a risk you are willing to take?
For some people, the turning point is a look in the mirror. For others it is balancing the bank account. For others it may not be their choice at all; “sorry but we are downsizing and your job is being eliminated.” Divorce creates many turning points. Medical reports force turning points. Why not decide to take charge of your life and your future?
There is a country song about skydiving, going 8 seconds on a bull name Fu Man Chu, and climbing to high peaks.
Decide to make January, 2010 as your turning point. Decide to make the most of your potential and your life. Every one of us was granted at birth with a wonderful creative mind and intelligence beyond our wildest dream. Every one of us possesses a skill or talent superior to anyone and everyone else. Never ever allow anyone to make you ever feel inferior again. You are unique; you are special. You are a wonderful creation.
Dive into your soul and discover your passion. Decide right here and now to go for the gusto and life the next ten years are the beginning of a fabulous future. Regardless of your age, you have the power to decide and take action.
Today is your turning point.
For help discovering your passion and your potential, join me at www.Elaine4Success.com.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Winning Choices
The economy is really getting people down right now. Even worse, it is income tax time. How many of your really enjoy the IRS and tax time? Unless you are a CPA, probably not. How would you like a fun suggestion?
Find the humor in situations. Restore the creativity and levity to life. Make a specific decision to enjoy life. Choose to have a positive attitude and an enjoyable life.
The operative words for success are “Winning Choices” rather than taxes, government policies, jobs or taxes. It’s not the economy; it’s our choices in dealing with the situations of life. Make no mistake, by choosing to take action or sit back and wait for others to make the choices for us; we are creating our personal economy. Choose or by default some one else chooses for you.
There are so many choices out there. The internet has been a blessing and a curse. The World Wide Web has brought you a tangled web of choices; so many that you may not know where to turn. The people who thrive especially in a bad economy are the people who make winning choices and follow them through. Failures will procrastinate.
I thought about talking about procrastination earlier but decided to put it off until now.
Success belongs to those who take action. Would a baby ever learn to walk by laying there and saying “you do it for me.” Would you have learned how to swim, ride a bike or catch a ball by sitting on the sideline?
Wining choices. How can you tell if it is a winning choice or a losing choice until you make a choice and take action? Mistakes are a part of life.
Tom Watson, American golfer, said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your rate of failure.”
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved,” by William Jennings Bryan, American politician and orator.
Now about that fun approach to paying taxes which was mentioned earlier . . .
Want a fun way to pay your taxes? Life revolves around creativity.
Dear Internal Revenue Service:
• Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper, dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.
• I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued at $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued at $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election fund,” as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5” Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U. D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5” Phillips Head screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience.
• It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.
Sincerely,
A Satisfied Taxpayer
(Author unknown)
This approach is not necessarily recommended for you to do, but it does present a fun thought. . . It’s not the economy which is getting us down and keeping us down. It’s not our even our taxes or our income, it’s our choices.
Determine what it is that makes you blood boil with passion. What is so important to you that you are willing to stand up to your mother-in-law and declare it? Well, maybe that’s unrealistic, but be willing to use it as an example for your kids. Do you want to leave it as part of your legacy.
For fun and information about making your life more productive and creative, join me at wwwe.Elaine4Success.com.
Find the humor in situations. Restore the creativity and levity to life. Make a specific decision to enjoy life. Choose to have a positive attitude and an enjoyable life.
The operative words for success are “Winning Choices” rather than taxes, government policies, jobs or taxes. It’s not the economy; it’s our choices in dealing with the situations of life. Make no mistake, by choosing to take action or sit back and wait for others to make the choices for us; we are creating our personal economy. Choose or by default some one else chooses for you.
There are so many choices out there. The internet has been a blessing and a curse. The World Wide Web has brought you a tangled web of choices; so many that you may not know where to turn. The people who thrive especially in a bad economy are the people who make winning choices and follow them through. Failures will procrastinate.
I thought about talking about procrastination earlier but decided to put it off until now.
Success belongs to those who take action. Would a baby ever learn to walk by laying there and saying “you do it for me.” Would you have learned how to swim, ride a bike or catch a ball by sitting on the sideline?
Wining choices. How can you tell if it is a winning choice or a losing choice until you make a choice and take action? Mistakes are a part of life.
Tom Watson, American golfer, said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your rate of failure.”
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved,” by William Jennings Bryan, American politician and orator.
Now about that fun approach to paying taxes which was mentioned earlier . . .
Want a fun way to pay your taxes? Life revolves around creativity.
Dear Internal Revenue Service:
• Enclosed you will find my 2005 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes. Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper, dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.
• I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued at $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued at $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00. Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election fund,” as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one (1) 1.5” Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U. D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5” Phillips Head screws). One screw is enclosed for your convenience.
• It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.
Sincerely,
A Satisfied Taxpayer
(Author unknown)
This approach is not necessarily recommended for you to do, but it does present a fun thought. . . It’s not the economy which is getting us down and keeping us down. It’s not our even our taxes or our income, it’s our choices.
Determine what it is that makes you blood boil with passion. What is so important to you that you are willing to stand up to your mother-in-law and declare it? Well, maybe that’s unrealistic, but be willing to use it as an example for your kids. Do you want to leave it as part of your legacy.
For fun and information about making your life more productive and creative, join me at wwwe.Elaine4Success.com.
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