Self-Awareness - The 3 Keys to Achievement - Attitude, Action and Acknowledgment

"Learn to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want." ~Anonymous
Most people want to achieve success but it is important to be mindful that the definition of success may be different for each individual. In order to achieve what you want there are three important elements - attitude, actions and acknowledgments.

Attitude

The first step is to assess your attitude and how it helps or hinders your achievements. If negative beliefs keep popping up, it generally results in an unproductive outcome. Negative thinking can consist of constant worry, "what if" scenarios or not trusting yourself to manage and cope. Constant negativity tends to block creativity. When you assume the worst it is hard to think and complete things. Have you ever had one of those days when doubt keeps cropping up. Eg. "I'll never complete this project on time." or " I don't think my boss believes I am capable." With these kinds of thoughts on your mind, how effective will you be in completing your work?

A positive attitude contributes to a belief that you have the ability to handle situations. It does not mean that you always have a "happy, nothing can bother me attitude", but rather when stuff happens you are able to deal with it. You want to make sure that you do not magnify the positive and minimize the negative and thereby don't see the reality of a situation. As you move up the career ladder you will need to be able to accurately assess both the positives and negatives and then make decisions.

Actions

Actions are your behaviors, the things you do which move you toward your goals. Taking action is an important step towards achievement. People sometimes assume that only big things count as taking action. However it is often the small, steady actions which contribute to you reaching your goals.

Inaction is paradoxically a form of action. If you have difficulty or avoid making decisions because you want to be sure you only do the "right" thing, you often end up doing nothing. You may also choose to do nothing because you have determined that it is the right decision at the time.

Sometimes fear may prevent you from doing or trying things that will lead you toward achievement. Perhaps you have a fear of public speaking, but you need to develop the skill in order to move your career or business forward. It would be important to begin to take small action steps, doing things that will make you more comfortable with speaking in public.

Maybe you have difficulty saying "no" which results in you constantly taking on additional assignments leading to being overwhelmed. Your action might be to begin saying "no" or a variation of "no." This might be something such as, "that would mean two projects to be completed at the same time, which would you like me to work on?" or "In order to do that I would have to delegate some of my other work. Is that OK with you?"

Acknowledgments

Paying attention to what you have completed or accomplished and expressing gratitude for what you have and towards others are powerful strategies for moving you forward in your life.

There may be people you know who have difficulty accepting a compliment. They might either ignore or minimize it. This generally relates to someone's self image. If you do not consider yourself "worthy" of positives then you tend to discard them. This may be a remnant from childhood when perhaps you received a lot of criticism. It is important to remember when you disregard positive feedback, you are conveying a message of disrespect towards the person who is offering it.

Acknowledging and expressing appreciations is also important. Walking down the street and saying hello to people, holding a door open or saying thank you are small ways of acknowledging others. When you do things for others or have them done for you, how does it impact your mood?

Evaluate your definition of success. The three components of achieving the life you desire are your attitude, your actions and acknowledgments. Perhaps now is a good time to become more aware of how you use these qualities in your daily life.

Copyright 2008, Gail Solish. All rights reserved.

Visit http://www.actualizeyourgoals.com for more tips and information on communication skills and developing positive business and personal relationships. You can also subscribe to the monthly newsletter, Actualize Your Goals.

Creating Your Electricity

Creating your own electricity and generating your own power has always been one of my dreams. Having a self sufficient home, not only a house that takes care of itself by generating its own electricity through windmills or solar panels but the satisfaction knowing that no matter what happens to the electrical companies you will always have electricity at your home.

What a wonderful feeling it would be to get a check back from the utility company instead of paying them every single month. I don't know about you but my utility bills are ridiculous and seemed to be going up in price constantly. I can't believe all the fees they have been charging for years to all of their customers. If you add all the fees for every person in the city or county this comes to a large, a very large number and it's getting worse not better.

Generating your own electricity with solar or wind power is definitely green thinking. This is going to be the wave of the future as fuel used to create electricity continues to rise in price. I really can't imagine what the price of electricity is going to be like in 10 years as the mass consumption continues to rise in developing countries.

We have got to start taking care of our own needs through solar or wind power. We have got to start creating our own electricity to become self reliant. The more self reliant we become as a nation the less dependent we will be on major corporations, especially large power conglomerates.

Creating our own electricity can also be used for electrical cars that can be purchased in the future. Think of the money you will say in fuel costs as the price of gasoline continues to increase as well as less pollution into our environment.

This is definitely the wave of the future and common sense tells us this. I suggest you read this article again if you haven't figured out some of the problems coming our way in the future.

Think green and together we can start saving the planet.

While searching for new alternatives and trying to get some advice on creating your own electricity I came across a book you can purchase in digital format. This book seems to have quite a bit of information on creating your own electricity for a totally self sufficient home.

This book has been created in digital format to reduce the consumption of trees and the waste involved in creating a regular book. What a wonderful idea for helping our environment in quite a few ways.

While searching for new alternatives and trying to get some advice on creating your own electricity I came across a book you can purchase in digital format. This book seems to have quite a bit of information on creating your own electricity for a totally self sufficient home.

This book has been created in digital format to reduce the consumption of trees and the waste involved in creating a regular book. What a wonderful idea for helping our environment in quite a few ways.

For more information visit http://www.gregvan.com and look for Get Earth4Energy Here Create your own electricity! Save 1000's with Earth4Energy

Impact Of Christian Mentors

Sports Psychology - How to Build Self-Confidence - 4 Things Parents, Coaches and Athletes Must Know

There are many text books, self-help books, journal articles and magazine articles on building self-concept, self confidence and self-esteem. Because I coach many athletes, I tend to spend a lot of time helping these clients to strengthen their self-confidence.

However, believing in one self is useful and important for just about everyone. It is important for Barack Obama. It is important for kids. And it is probably important for you.

Over the years, I have studied and developed many strategies and techniques for helping people to believe in themselves. When people feel positively about themselves, they tend to grow and they are better able to have rich and fulfilling lives.

Dr. Albert Bandura, of Stanford University, identified four components or life experiences which contribute to building one's self-confidence.

Mastery Experiences-Having a history of doing well at some event, some skill or some task can help to grow your confidence in yourself. So, it is useful to remind yourself of times when you felt you mastered some task or some skill.

Vicarious Learning-Seeing someone else who you can relate to do well at something or succeed at something can help you to believe that you, too, can succeed. A child seeing his friend hit a baseball can start to believe that he can put his bat on the ball with some power too.

Modeling Someone Who Inspires You-When you see someone who you admire do something well, you can imitate his or her actions. Watching a singer perform a song brilliantly can inspire a young artist to do the same thing. This "modeling" can help to grow your self-confidence.

Social Persuasion-Receiving encouraging words from a parent, a coach or someone you trust can help you to feel like you can do something successfully. This, too, can strengthen your self-confidence.

People who do not get any of these kinds of experiences are likely to have little or no self-confidence.

So, if you want to build self-confidence in yourself, in someone you care about or your child, consider facilitating one or all of these kinds experiences. If you do, confidence can build in a short period of time.

Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and the founder of http://www.stayinthezone.com He has written several books and developed several programs to help people perform to their fullest potential at sports, at work and at school. Dr. Granat, a former university professor, has appeared in The New York Times, Good Morning America, AP, ESPN, Golf Digest, The BBC and The CBC. He can be reached at info@stayinthezone.com. His books include Zone Tennis and Get Into The Zone In Just One Minute. He is also the author of How To Get Into The Zone With Sport Psychology And Self-Hypnosis, How To Lower Your Golf Score With Sport Psychology And Self-Hypnosis, 101 Ways To Break Out Of A Hitting Slump and Bed Time Stories For Young Athletes. Golf Digest named Dr. Granat one of America's Top Ten Mental Gurus. He was recently featured in a documentary film on long distance running. Dr. Granat writes a weekly column for three newspapers. He just released a new program for bowlers.

Nailing Or Screwing Drywall

Nails versus screws who will become the winner. When drywall first came out the installers used everything from regular steel nails to galvanized roofing nails. After a short amount of time they started to develop major problems from nails popping out of the finished drywall.

Nail popping results when the nail is driven into moist lumber and as the lumber shrinks the house settles and nail can actually pop out to the walls. Hard to imagine the nail could actually pop out of the drywall as the wood was drying out.

How far the nail would actually pop out was determined by how far it was driven in to the framing studs or ceiling joists. Well pretty soon drywall installers started to use ring shank nails to eliminate this problem. This worked great but these nails were hard to drive in and would often break.

As time went on the nails improved and were made out of galvanized metal with cupped shaped heads and came in a few different sizes. The size of the nail used was determined by the thickness of the drywall. These new nails worked great and had good holding power and eliminated a lot of nail popping.

Using nails means driving them in with a hammer. If you miss the nail you damage the drywall. This seemed to be a big problem and was virtually eliminated with the screws.

Well pretty soon people started using screws which had greater holding power and pretty much nail popping. Another advantage to using screws over nails is the simple fact you need less screws than you do nails to attach the drywall to the metal or wood framing.

This means less labor installing and finishing the drywall.

There is one problem with the screws and that is they have to be set perfectly. They can not break the paper surface on the drywall but have to be set enough into the drywall so that it can be finished properly. Most screw guns have an adjustable setting used to get just the right depth for the screws installed in the drywall. But this also was a problem when screwing into a hard piece of wood you can actually snapped the screw head off, strip the screw head or break the screw.

Nails on the other hand can bend while driving them into a hard surface.

Who wins the nails versus screws while installing drywall? I have got to give it to the screws. That doesn't mean the nails just got screwed or the screws just got nailed.

I couldn't resist. I actually preferred the screws over the nails except for when nailing the drywall corner bead on. Some drywall professionals use nails to hang the drywall and go back with a screw gun and some screws to finish the job. The nails sometimes seem handier than the screws when installing the drywall.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and Carlsbad Home Improvement

Nothing Will Be Impossible

3 Steps to Make Your Dreams a Reality - Make Your Dreams Come True

I am in the process of looking for a house. How exciting, how exhilarating, how exasperating-depending on what I choose it to be. Making such a large purchase and significant decision in my life brings up an old story-the one I tell myself about not deserving or being able to afford what I really want. When I found myself saying to a stranger in the grocery store, "This is where I want to live, but I can't really afford it," I realized I needed to change my story.

The story you choose to tell, whether it is about buying a house, starting a new relationship, having a child-or whatever dreams or goals you're working toward-is true, because you make it true at some level of consciousness. We initially create our stories because we think they will protect us, but in the end they merely limit us, keeping us stuck. How empowering it is to know that our thoughts (stories) create our reality and we get to choose them!

Here are three steps to help you choose your new story:

Visualize it.
In your mind's eye, see exactly what you want and be very specific about what it looks like, feels like, even smells like. My perfect house is a bright, open, historically restored bungalow centrally located with a fenced backyard and walking distance to a park and coffee shop.

Tell it.
You anchor your new story by telling as many people as possible, with at least one new person every day. With each person I tell about my perfect house, I get clearer, so I will recognize it when I see it.

Act on it.
The first two steps are lost if you don't take action. I look for homes in neighborhoods I want to live in. I preview homes that meet my specifications and price range.

Keep visualizing your new story, telling it as many times as possible in a day, and then take action-even just a small step-to start making it a real part of you, ingrained at your very cellular level.

What do you want to change your current story about? Is it a relationship, your financial situation, job, or health and fitness? Follow these steps and let me know how it changes your life when you change your story. And I'll let you know when I move into my perfect house.

Diane Sieg is a sought after keynote speaker and wellness author, who has spoken to thousands of men and women in health care, sales, and education. Diane empowers people to breakthrough and take care of themselves before they break down.

Installing a 32 Inch Back Door

In some older houses you will find a 30 inch back door. Have you ever tried to move a refrigerator or some large furniture through a 30 inch door? Keep in mind most bedroom doors are 30 inches wide and are in 36 inch hallways. 30 inch doors and bedrooms make it tough to move some furniture in too.

Let's start with the price difference between a 30 inch door and a 32 inch door. The cost difference is usually going to be around $20. If you are building a hundred homes this could become quite an additional expense. So we can understand why the home builder installed a 30 inch door in the back of our home.

He got the extra money in his pocket, you got a headache.

Here's the big problem. If you ever want to install a larger door you will need to replace the structural door framing. Now this is where you could run into a little bit of an expense. Changing the framing for a wider door could become quite costly. It could actually cost over $1000 in some cases.

Now if the homebuilder would have originally installed a 32 inch door in your house it might have ran him as high as an additional $45. How can this be? I will give you the first clue. There is a good chance the homebuilder will not be moving into any of these houses. If for some strange instance he did move into the house, he would learn the same lesson whenever he needed to move a large item into the house.

I'm a contactor and learned this lesson in a long time ago.

If you are building a new home you might even want to consider installing a 36 inch back door. This door will give you plenty of room when it comes to moving large items in or out of your house. The cost difference between a 36 inch door and a 32 inch door is usually around $20 also.

When building a new home most people don't give very much thought about their interior or exterior doors. Here's a simple chart I made to help with some basic door decisions.

Bathroom Doors Should Be 28 Inches Wide Minimum.
Bedroom Doors Should Be 30 Inches Wide Minimum.
Front Doors Should Be At Least 36 Inches Wide
Back Doors and Garage Doors Should Be At Least 32 Inches Wide

If you are a professional football or basketball player don't use these numbers above.

If you have large sliding glass doors or French doors throughout your home and can use them to move large items into the house you can install whatever size doors you choose that are comfortable to walk through.

Give some thought when installing a new door on your next project and keep some of the above tips in mind..

If you are designing a home give some thought to the stairways and hallways in the home as well.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and Bay Window Ideas

Christian Articles

Dream Big - Self Help Tips

If you are going to dream you might as well dream big. Too many people want to play it safe. You have to have enough confidence or belief in yourself to take a chance. No one ever became successful by playing it safe. Playing it safe will get you just that, safe. If you want the big pay off you have to take the big risks. You have to be able to dream big and plan to fail. Everywhere you look there are examples of this. Let me share just one story of many. We all know who Rocky is or should we say Sylvester Stallone.

If you don't know his story it is one to be respected. Rocky/Sly as most people call him, had a dream. He wanted to make it in Hollywood. He wanted to be a famous movie actor. So he wrote this thing called a screenplay about this kid named rocky that had a dream to make something of his life. Sly packed up everything he had into his broken down station wagon and headed off to Hollywood. When he arrived in Hollywood he started to shop around his script. Everywhere he went people turned him down. Many even scoffed at him. Then one day a big movie producer said they would buy the script and offered Sly a million dollars for it.

The only catch was they were going to hire someone else to play the part of Rocky. He turned it down. At that time he had no money, was living in his car and someone just offered him a million dollars and he turned it down! Why, because it wasn't his dream. It wasn't about the money. You see he wasn't just dreaming, Sly was dreaming big. He could've played it safe and took the million dollars but fast-forward a bit. Someone eventually did buy the script with the conditions he wanted and he did play the role of Rocky. He was also the 1st actor to demand 20 million dollars a movie and the rest is history.

Oh, by the way I had a small role in the movie Rocky V so I did get to meet him and Sylvester Stallone, in my opinion, is a true leader, difference maker, and a Champion.

And by the way, he really does talk like that... "Yo Adrian" LOL

Sylvester Stallone wasn't afraid to dream big, he wasn't afraid to fail.

Are you willing to dream big?

Are you willing to fail?

Real is an expert at helping people achieve their dreams & Goals.

You might recognize him as Lt. Taggert from the ABC Show General Hospital.

http://www.realandrews.com

http://www.realmlmsolutions.com

"THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS CAN'T!"

"Oh by the way. YOU are a CHAMPION!"

Planning Your Bathroom Remodel Budget - Home Improvement Ideas

As a bathroom remodeling contractor, I get calls from people, that have no idea what they want or how much anything is going to cost. Here's some simple tips that can be very helpful when planning a bathroom remodel budget.

Bathroom Remodeling Investment

In 2008, the average mid-range bathroom cost around $16,000 and you could recoup around $12,000 of your original investment upon the sale of your home. According to a popular remodeling magazine, larger bathrooms using expensive fixtures, tile, bathtubs, woodworking, toilets and showers had an average of $52,000. Upon the sale of a home, you could recoup around $36,000 of your original investment.

Finding out How Much Things Cost

My first suggestion, would be to visit your local home improvement center, lumber yard or plumbing supply warehouse. Larger stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, seemed to provide you with value pricing but don't have a large selection. While doing some research on the Internet I noticed that some of their pricing is outrageously, outrageous. Some plumbing supply warehouses can provide value but beware others won't.

Create a List of Bathroom Remodeling Parts

You can get a good idea of your bathroom remodel costs for your budget by making a list of bathroom parts with pricing and then adding them up for a grand total. If you're a total bathroom remodel budget is $15,000 and you have a $6,000 bathtub with $4000 worth of tile, you could have a budget problem.

Figuring out the Labor

You will have to contact a contractor to get an actual cost for the labor. Sometimes you can double the cost of your bathroom remodeling parts to get a rough idea. If you have a list or a couple of lists and a few pictures of some sample bathrooms, this will make the contractor's job easier and often they can give you a labor price within a few days.

Give Yourself a Cushion

I would suggest leaving yourself a small financial cushion for any additional remodeling items. For example, you could see a different toilet, or instead of painting the walls, you now choose to wallpaper, you could incur additional expenses that you haven't planned for. If you know exactly what you want and stick to the original bathroom remodeling plan, you shouldn't need the cushion.

Financial problems often transfer into construction problems, so spend some time figuring out, how much money you want to spend on the bathroom remodel and try not to go overboard on the budget. I hate to see homeowners struggling with home improvement loan payments. Try to create a bathroom remodeling budget that is realistic and will not create a financial burden upon you or your family.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more bathroom remodeling or home building ideas.

Does God Make Mistakes

Persuasion Techniques

Don't you just envy how some people seem to get their way more often than not? These people always seem to have all the right words and all the right moves. However, if you take the time to actually study these people, you may be surprised to discover that they have more than just a few persuasion techniques in common.

These persuasion techniques allow them to easily get people to their side and persuade others to their way of thinking. And if you read the rest of this article, you too will be able to tap into this extraordinary power.

Know your audience

As wonderful as it would be to just magically convince another person to share your views, life doesn't quite work that way. You have to know where your audience is coming from in order for you to know which angle you can best appeal to.

If you're dealing with somebody who is more emotional, you can actually use feelings to plead your case. The chances of your success will definitely increase.

Turn weaknesses into strengths

During a job interview orientation, one of the moderators gave me a very helpful advice. She said that when asked for your weaknesses, try to position your statement into something more positive. Instead of, "I'm very shy and soft spoken," you can say, "I'm currently working on my communication skills."

By using persuasion techniques like this, you don't run the risk of scaring your customers away. In fact, they will be delighted to hear somebody with such a positive outlook on life.

Cite the positive facts

Naturally, you would want to tell your audience what the benefits are. People are generally happy to learn what they can gain from something.

You're not going to lie or make up stories. Those do not fall under persuasion techniques. When you persuade, you have to be certain that all your facts are true. Otherwise, your lies will come back to haunt you.

Even when you don't have magic on your side, these persuasion techniques will certainly help you win your audience over. Just follow these basic steps and you'll soon be able to talk your way through anything!

Discover how you can use the psychology of persuasion to change behaviors and influence anyone to your way of thinking! Get a FREE course that reveals groundbreaking persuasion secrets at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/secrets.htm

Slow Market Home Pricing Advice

Homes are going to be sold in good markets and bad. When times are good, people often forget that bad times will be coming eventually. During good times, people often get caught up in the hype of the real estate boom. During tough times, houses will be sold eventually, or taken off the market and sold later. If you need to sell the home as soon as possible, for financial or other reasons, you will have to adjust your price with the current market and don't get greedy.

This is the hardest thing for most people to do, lower the price of their home in order to sell it in a slow real estate market. Don't get caught up in the value of your home, six months or even a year ago. Last year's prices are not going to be this year's prices and you need to get that through your thick skull. If the average homes in your neighborhood are selling for $250,000 and you have a swimming pool or done some upgrades, maybe a room addition. Your home is going to be worth more than the average selling price.

Most real estate professionals will price your home according to the length of time you have to sell it. If you're in a hurry to sell, they don't have time to test the market. The price of your home would need to be competitive or lower than homes selling in the area. Whether homes are selling fast in a good market for selling slow in a bad market, if you have time, you can ask a little bit more for your home. If the market hasn't reached the bottom, waiting could actually hurt you, because the prices of the homes in the area would still be dropping.

Listen to your real estate professionals advice when pricing your home. That's what you're hiring them for, they are in the real estate business. Your neighbors, relatives, friends and people you work with, will probably be guessing if you asked for their opinion on pricing your house.

Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Finding that person is the key to selling your home, finding that person as soon as possible could give you the illusion that you sold your home to cheap. Don't worry about it, your final objective is to sell the house.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If you really think your home is safe, check out these pictures about home water damage.

Are Christians Really Interested

Choosing Subliminal CDs Or Mp3s - The Real Deal For Self Help

It is a sad, but true, fact that there are people in business in society who are less than 100% honest and ethical in many sectors of our struggling economy. They don't need to look very far to find trusting individuals who will spend hard-earned money in exchange for promises of prosperity, health or improvement; happiness, success and even miracles! In our experience within the self-help world, we have encountered both- some genuine, and others who turn out to be selfish, aggressive organizations that are good at promising great things to good people who just need a little motivation or tools to meet their own particular challenges. Some products may be inferior; and in the case of subliminal audio, it can be hard to distinguish between effective and ineffective producers. But, as in any other market, ours requires a commitment to quality, dedication to our trade and exceptional customer service in order to prove to our customers that we are for real.

Just because subliminal audio cannot be consciously heard and evaluated easily does not mean that potential clients are helpless in the choosing process. Contrary, we invite you to shop and compare. There are company that will help walk you through the process, since not many are familiar with the technologies involved in digital, subliminal audio files and discs.

If you are considering the use of such a product, for whatever reason, there are some details you should know first. For example, who designed and created the content that you are trusting to 'whisper in your ear?' Are they qualified to compose and mix the audio that you will be using to influence your subconscious mind? This is important! Which type of subliminal messages are you buying? There are several. Is the seller open and willing to share and interact with you on an individual level? Are they discrete with regard to your choice of product and your personal data? Are they overcharging you? Do you have access to reviews from others who have tried the same products, and are these testimonials genuine? Do you have a variety of choices to make for each product? These factors and others are critical to your experience and success.

If you choose music as your preferred background, can you hear a sample first? Does your prospective provider offer nature sounds, ocean waves or Silent Subliminal technology? If so, do you know how to decide which is best for you? Again, if you make the right choices before using these excellent tools, you have a better chance at beating that fear or phobia, sleeping better or changing unwanted habits. Whatever your desire in real results might be, selecting the right tool in this quest is like any other task- it can really make the difference in your future success. It's up to you to choose wisely in such an important endeavor!

Some producers of subliminal self-help audio claim to stack hundreds of audio tracks for a simultaneous experience- that the subconscious can supposedly hear each instance, using the Law of Repetition to effectively brainwash the subject by volume. We don't subscribe to this method at all. In fact your unconscious mind is much smarter than that and if it detects such a trick, forget it- all bets are off, your suggestibility factor will shut down every time. Another outdated method used by some self-help companies is hiding their subliminal verbal content with volume; the loudness of the background music or sound, or noise, is higher than the words that may or may not be consciously heard at times. Subliminal audio uses the inaudible frequency 16.5 KHz which cannot be heard by the human ear, but the subconscious definitely hears it. That is also why silent subliminal tracks are now possible, with no music or audible sounds of any kind.

Music is important, though; in most cases, it is the best background to keep your conscious mind interested in following through with listening to each entire track (repeatedly). After performing an extensive survey of people interested in self help audio, we decided to go with New Age music as our background of choice. It is beautiful, inspirational, and it evokes deep emotions for the greatest percentage of the population. This serves to create a positive experience for the listener, making it most attractive for the subconscious to accept the subliminal message on each hidden 'silent' track. Those who reject New Age are welcome to select ocean wave sounds or silent subliminal, with which you can play other music on another device to enhance your experience if you like. Just turn the volume up on the silent subliminal CD or digital track in this instance. You will not consciously hear it, but your inner self will!

If you have ever considered attending a motivational seminar, hypnosis or pro therapy, for any reason -performance enhancement, habit improvement, or success and wealth- you might want to try our subliminal audio first- because, It's All self-Help Anyway (IASHA)! And again, feel free to research for yourself; creative visualization really works to make each of us happier, healthier and more successful.

Yes, that's what each of our futures depends upon- creative visualization. Nobody ever created a fulfilling, satisfactory life without first dreaming about it. Once you define the details, deeply, and believe in them, your subconscious will get you there by inner determination. Sprudio Subliminal Audio may well be the most effective, economical tool to get you motivated and keep you that way- never, ever give up!

For more resource and subliminal cds and mp3s visit Sprudio website. For more then 4 years we helped people understand their inner behavior.

It's All self-Help Anyway http://www.sprudio.net

Dangers Using Wood Stair Cleats - New Stair Construction

I would imagine most people don't even know what it wood stair cleat is, in construction we have so many words that describe the same thing. A stair cleat is another word for a thread bracket. In other words it's the part of the stairway that connects the stair stringer to the stair step. These have been used for years and over time, most of them will develop the same problem.

Most wood stair cleats loosened up and create a safety hazard. If the stairs are located outside in extreme weather conditions, for example, if it rains or snows a lot, extremely humid humid weather, or extremely hot and dry temperatures, your staircase might not last that long, if it is or isn't maintained properly. It's not a bad idea to use steel or concrete for stairways in these climates.

If you're ever walking up a set of stairs with wood cleats and the stair steps feel a little loose or wiggly, make sure you examined the stair cleats for safety. It's not uncommon for someone to be walking up or down a set of wood stairs and having the stair step or tread giveaway because the wood cleats has loosened.

If the wood stair cleats are nailed to the stair stringer, the nails can loosen up, causing it to become loose, as you walk up and down the stairs applying pressure to the stair cleat, this will create movement in between the stair step and the stair stringer. This could cause the cleat to crack, break and separate the connection between the stair step in the stair stringer.

I would suggest using metal brackets instead of wood cleats. The metal brackets will not crack or disintegrate like some wood cleats. Stair building brackets of course can loosen up and should be maintained regularly.

If you decide to use wood stair cleats, I would suggest using screws instead of nails and drilling holes in the wood stair cleats, most of the time this will prevent cracking the cleat. Try to use a thicker material for the stair cleat, for example using a 2 x 4 with lag screws and washers would be better than using a 1 x 4 with nails.

If you're walking up a set of stairs and a stair step feels loose, contact the owner of the property and let them know, they have a problem with their staircase.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more stair building books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Nothing Will Be Impossible

How to Achieve Your Goals by Using Simple Proven Steps

Do you want to be rich? Do you want to live the kind of lifestyle you always wanted? Do you want to achieve the great success you always dream of? In fact, achieving great success is not as complicated as you might think. As long as you have the desire and willing to take the necessary action, it is possible for you to achieve what you want in your life.

If you are serious and truly want to achieve your goals, here are some simple and proven steps that you can follow right away...

1. You must be visionary and know what you want in your future. Many people live a mediocre life; they struggle through life without ever knowing why. The only reason for this is that they do not know what they really want in their life. Do you have dreams? Do you know what your goals are? Do you know what have any targets in your life? Knowing what you want is the first step to achieving it. You cannot hit a target that you cannot see.

2. Once you know what you want, you must then know why you want it. This is because without knowing why you want it, you will never achieve it. It is the reason that will propel you, motivate you and inspire you into taking action to make it comes true. If goal setting, visualization, law of attraction, affirmation, etc do not work for you, it is because your desire is not strong enough. Your desire will be backed up by the reason deep within you. So find out why you want to achieve what you want today.

3. After you follow through the first two steps, this step will be easy for you. You have to have the courage to venture out of your comfort zone and take the necessary action to make your goals and dreams come true. If you are just standing right there without doing anything, you will never reach another point of your life. You have to be willing to make the decision and take the action to achieve your goals.

These are the simple and proven steps how you can achieve your goals in your life. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Therefore, take the first step now to find out what you really want to achieve in your life, know the reasons and take the action right away.

Fail to achieve your goals or live the kind of lifestyle you desire? No problem. Just follow through my proven, step-by-step and FREE Success Blueprint system... You're about to discover how to master your mind, design your very own destiny and transform into living a successful life that you always desire

For more information, please visit http://www.TheMillionaireSecrets.net/success-blueprint.html

Need Help Remodeling In Carlsbad

What you are thinking about remodeling your house and you live in Carlsbad. Let me give you some advice about some local contractors and some of the people involved. I used a company called Service Magic to find a local heating and air conditioning contractor. All I had to do was go on the internet , type in some information about my self and what I wanted to have done to my home. This didn't seem that bad of a idea at the time. But look what I found out.

I went to their web site, filled in my information and with in minutes I had received the names of at least 4 contractors. Wow this is neat. I didn't even get to start calling any of them when my phone rang. It was one of the contractors secretaries. She introduced herself and asked what would be a good time for someone to come out to look at the work I wanted done.

I was surprised at the speed things were taking place but in a way glad that I had a reputable contractor from one of the largest construction referral services on the internet. I told her 10:00 would be fine. I got a call shortly after that from one of the other companies. He wanted to meet me that mourning at 8:00 if it was Ok with me. I told him of course, let's do this. Then the next one called and I thought great you can come at 1:00. Well you guessed it the next one was coming over at 2:30.

The first contractor showed up as scheduled at 8:00. We talked about what I wanted done and he whips out his note book and starts figuring out a price. This took place around 15 minutes into the meeting. This guys good I thought. Being a General Contractor in Carlsbad myself, for a job like this I would go back to my office and figure out a price and then double check my figures for a accurate estimate. It took this guy less than 5 minutes to create a proposal of around 10,700 dollars for every thing.

Well I was thinking to myself, the job should be around 7,000 dollars but what do I know about construction. I informed him that I would think about it and that I was going to meet with a couple of other contractors that day. He ask me who the other contractors were. I proceeded to tell him that I probably shouldn't tell him who they were. Well your not going to believe this. He put on his physic hat and told me who was coming over. The only thing he didn't know was what time they where coming over.

Oh I forgot to mention before he left he told me he would knock ten percent off the job if I signed the contract right now. I pretended like I was excited just to see his reaction. He looked at me like he had won the gold metal in sales. I told him thanks but I bet your new offer with the ten percent discount will be good for the next few day. Right I asked. He wasn't looking that excited any more as he replied with a Yes it will be good for a while. I thanked him and he went on his way.

My 10:00 never showed but his secretary gave me the old, " He had to go do a emergency job and could he reschedule tomorrow at the same time. I said that would be fine. As a contractor myself I have always put the work I had to do first and foremost.

About 12:30 I get a call from my next heating and air conditioning contractor. He is running late but will be there at 1:30. I appreciate the call and I will see you then. The only problem now is that I have another contractor coming at 2:30. That give the next contractor less than one hour before the next guy shows up. I never liked going over to someone's house and running into another remodeling contractor.

The next contractor was very informative and knew his stuff. I listened and learned. He told me he was going to have to go back to his office and would have a price back in the mourning. Great I told him as I hurried him out the door.

The last contractor of the day shows up and wants to know whose been over to the house, was it these guys or those guys. I told him I wasn't going to tell him who was over. Now this guy was a salesman. He did a little more probing before he let me in on the fact that his company doesn't do complete home installations. He made up some story that his company only replaces the forced air units. I could tell he didn't want to do the job once he found out I knew what I was talking about. So I said my good byes to Mr. Salesman.

The bad part about him was latter on that week his company sent us some mailers. The kind that doesn't have your name on it and everyone in the neighborhood get's one. I couldn't believe my eyes when I started to read this letter. It said we would be glad to give you an estimate on all your heating and air conditioning needs or services. " We Do Complete Installs". I told my wife we could have used this a few weeks ago. Then I recognized the name of the company and now knew that the salesman had lied to me for sure.

That night I started to think about what was going on here it seemed like I was being set up. Everyone knew what was going on but me. It seemed clear to me that these people knew each other.

Well as time went on we ended up hiring the first guy that came over. He seemed to have the best product at the most reasonable price. His company also did a great job. Keep one thing in mind here out of five contractors that I gave the opportunity to bid the job. Only three showed up and from them I only got two bids. Why didn't I get more bids? Quite frankly I was to busy working at the time and of course the other two guys were always going to show up and that kind of strung me along. My mistake.

Here's the kicker to all of this. Service Magic calls me up one day to tell me they would like to start sending me construction leads as a General Contractor.

I listened to what they had to say and was almost ready to sign up with them again. That's right, I was signed up with them when they first started until they changed the rules on me. The salesman that originally contacted me said if I paid them the 100 dollar sign up fee they would let me pick what jobs I wanted to do. That lasted about 5 months before I noticed that they were not sending me siding referrals to pick from. I called them up only to talk to someone who didn't understand the State Of California Contractors Licensing Board.

Well I wasn't about to reinvent the wheel. I simply told them that I should a least get my money back, right. They said they would look into it further as I never heard from them again about my 100 dollars. Well things have changed at Service Magic since I was with them when they started.
As a home owner you don't think you are paying Service Magic because all you do is fill out a simple form giving some information about yourself.

I found out that Service Magic sent all four of these contractors my original information. Each contractor then had to pay 55 dollars each to Service Magic for a total of 220 dollars. All I have to say is how are they getting away with charging this much money for sending a out a simple referral to these contractors.

The contractor unfortunately passes this expense on to his customers. You as the home owners end up paying these fees as a cost of doing business with them. Some contractors think this is a great way of doing business but you might think differently in the future if you start paying over 100 dollars for a simple construction referral.

Greg Vanden Berge has been in the home building and remodeling business for over 30 years. With this knowledge he has created a few websites that provide useful information for home owners as well as contractors. His main goal is to educate professionals in the home related businesses, dealing with problems that can easily be avoided with just a little bit of information.

His website http://gregvan.com provides all kinds of answers to remodeling and new house building issues that could create major damage as well as possible damage to your pocket book.

Visit us now for Home Improvement Tips

Questions To Ask Your Pastor

The Future of World Religions at the Cross Roads

The Catholic Pope is now under fire from Islam for comments made during a speech, which was like a history lesson about the wars between religion of the past and why they should be reviewed and prevented in the future. Unfortunately, it was misinterpreted by the Islamic Clerics and now we have yet another issue akin to the cartoons that offended the Muslim World. Is it the Catholic World we should scold for the comments of the Pope or should we scold the Muslim World for blowing it up out of context?

This clash of religion and wars has gone on too long. Who is at fault? Well we all are for allowing these conflicts to permeate our minds, TV sets and the World Mass Media, but really all-religion is problematic, Mankind needs to grow up, ditch religion and experience a little acceleration in forward progression of this species.

Some say we are moving too close to WWIII others say it has already started. Yes we are in the midst of WWIII; the conflict in Israel and cease fire and then the attack on US Embassy in Syria, kind of says it all, negotiation is not possible, so action must be taken Carl von Clauswitz style. Meanwhile if Islam does an international terrorist attack on Vatican, then the Italians will indeed strike at the heart of Islam. Do we really need to destroy human culture and history or can we agree to ditch religion without the scattering of human sacrifice across the desert sands? Consider this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

When We Choose Misery Over Happiness

I am not one to feel sorry for most people. They seem to have a unique ability to cause themselves the most damage during certain parts of their lives. I have met some pretty self destructive people in my life. Being raised by a mother that lived in misery and love.

My mother had a difficult childhood. It seemed as if every corner she turned there was a obstacle either right in front of here or waiting just around the corner. Her father died when she was 12 year old. He was a farm laborer and didn't make much money. In other words they were poor...... She got sent to live with a few foster families and according to her she was molested by one of the fathers she lived with.

Soon her older sister invited her to live with her. My aunt was married to the owner of a pottery business and had 2 children about 10 years younger than my mother. My aunt soon realized she had a live in baby sitter that allowed her to stay out drinking most of the day.

My Uncle was what you would call a drunk back then, now we call these people alcoholics. Well any way I think you are starting to get a picture of my mothers life up to this point. It is probably safe to assume that this isn't the ideal life for a young woman.

The next event to happen in my moms life was for my uncle to fall in the shower one night after tying one on that night. He died soon after but my aunt seemed to make a another good choice and ended up marring the owner of the bar that they spent most of their time in.
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Allan K. Chalmers

By this time my mom was in High School and met my future father. It wasn't exactly a marriage made in heaven. My dad was always an easy going man. He seemed to let most stuff go in one ear and out the other.

As you guessed it they had a few children. Nice one Dad and Mom. According to the books I have read on Angelic beings. People that believe in the after life and angels. They tell me I had a choice and was able to choose my parents....... What was I thinking...... I should have choose someone with some money and a couple of parents that were deeply in love .

How did I end up here in this situation.

I ended up loving my parents like most of us. They seemed to be doing the best that they could possibly do raising me, my bother and my sister. My mom and dad ended up getting a divorce and I went to live with my father.

My Father is remarried to a wonderful woman that seems to bring him a lot of happiness.
I haven't seen my mother for a while now. She lives with a life of excuses and misery. Her childhood was not the greatest but that doesn't give her the right to bring misery into other peoples lives. She has made a conscious choice to live what seems to be a painful life. Maybe her choices in life have made me choose happiness over misery.

I have always wondered what it is that motivates someone to live a life of true unhappiness when it takes the same amount of energy to live a life of joy. Life is meant to be full of joy and happiness so start today by making the right choices to live a fulfilling life of happiness.

If you are reading this and can't make up your mind what kind of life you truly want to live visit me at http://live.spiritualideas.com/ . Change your thinking and change your life.

Greg Vanden Berge will help you create a new approach to life and discover talents you never knew you had. We can help you get the most out of yourself all the time. Start developing your innate strengths and abilities to start enriching your life TODAY !

Does God Make Mistakes

Manipulate Anyone With Revolutionary Form Of Hypnosis

Imagine if you could manipulate anyone you meet through the power of conversation. How different would your life be? Conversational hypnosis is a revolutionary form of mind control which allows users to place anyone under a spell, and get them to do exactly as you want, when you want. This may seem like a scam from the outset, but I assure you it is a legitimate form of mind control, only practiced properly by a select few.

How Does It Work?

All of us have experienced some form of mind control at various points in our life. Politicians, salesman and advertising companies are well aware of this phenomenon and use it to their advantage wherever possible. Did you ever wonder why you had a sudden urge to buy that Ab Cruncher at 3am? You hate exercise and have a bad back - but for some reason you could not resist the sound of that voice. The human language is full of inflections, tones and emotional triggers which can all induce a trance when used effectively. Once someone is place under a trance, it becomes relatively simple to command them, manipulate them, and get them to do exactly as you wish.

Where Do I learn It?

It used to be very difficult to find teacher of conversational hypnosis. Recent developments in online courses have produced some fantastic results. There are most certainly some things to watch out for - as like anything on the internet - there are scams to be aware of.

Firstly always seek a course designed by a real life practicing hypnotist who comes with some form of qualification and reputation. Secondly always seek testimonials from people who have used the course and are succeeding - be aware of unrealistic scenarios- many people fake testimonials online. Finally one of the most crucial things to seek in a hypnosis course is that it is delivered in audio format as well as written. Believe it or not there is no better way to learn conversational hypnosis than via cd.

What Results Can I Expect?

If you truly master conversational hypnosis you will be able to gain control the minds of almost anyone you meet. You will be able to manipulate people in reason - you will not be able to force them to do things that are harmful or against their morals. You will however be able to easily convince them to things which seem plausible. This could be a promotion or raise from your boss. It could be finally getting the girl or guy of your dreams. It could be influencing your bank manager to lend you another $100,000 for your home loan. These decisions will be for you to make once you can manipulate anyone who crosses your path with the power of conversational hypnosis.

Want to learn more about The Power Of Conversational Hypnosis a revolutionary conversational hypnosis course which shows you how to manipulate anyone, skyrocket your income and get the girl or guy of your dreams? Please Visit: http://learnhypnosisreview.com/Power_Conversational_Hypnosis.html

Putting God on Trial

I was listening to something interesting the other day when someone mentioned putting God on trial for some of the atrocities in the world. If God is the creator of the universe and all that is, or all that ever will be, how can we put him on trial, he's our creator. We can't put our spiritual master on trial can we, he'll just escape anyway if we convict him, won't he. He's got to be smart enough to break out a prison.

As a child I often thought about God and why he would allow such suffering throughout the world. It never made sense to me when I was child and it still doesn't make sense to me today. Why would the creator, want us to suffer, with even the littlest of problems. Other religions have explained it as if God was teaching us a lesson and that's why we have hardships in our lives.

Do you think God ever went through these hardships? Did God have problems finding a job or gathering some food? Does God even eat? Okay now I'm getting off the topic here,(I wonder what God does eat)... if children do something wrong, most of the time their parents will discipline or correct them. If adults to things wrong, the government will discipline and reprimand them. Sometimes these punishments can be severe. It depends on the crimes committed.

If man has to be put on trial for committing crimes like murder, genocide, and general atrocities towards mankind, should God also be put on trial or is he above man because he's God. I can't imagine the creator of the universe ever being put on trial for man's crimes against humanity or other men, but it seems like someone who is all powerful and all knowing could help his children out of this little mess that we're in today.

Couldn't God help us like we help our children. We as parents might not have all the answers, but we do not claim to have them. We are not all powerful and all knowing, like we would assume God to be. When is God going to help us solve some of our major world problems, like genocide and starvation.

Putting God on trial might not solve all of our problems today but it would be nice to have some help with our problems. If he created us to please him, do we have to go on trial one day, for all the things we did or ignored while we were alive. Something to think about isn't it.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development. Check This Out What Happened to the Wise Men's Gifts

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Questions To Ask Your Pastor

Mind Reading Tricks - 3 Amazing Mind Reading Tricks You Can Easily Do to Impress People

Mind reading tricks are not solely for those gifted with ESP anymore. There are ways to get around that inborn gift clause thanks to the power of Science and observation!

But what purpose do mind reading tricks serve? Well, knowing what's on other people's mind can be pretty convenient when it comes to closing a deal or making a decision regarding a relationship. If you're interested to learn more, read on!

Mind Reading Tricks Number 1: Enlarged Pupils

Alright, so you don't have ESP. But you were born with eyes, remember? Use your powers of observation and focus on the pupils of the person you're talking to.

When their pupils enlarge, that means they are interested in what you have to say or in your personality. It's a positive thing so you can merrily continue doing what you were doing.

Mind Reading Tricks Number 2: How Close Can You Get

Mind reading tricks are most evident when two people know each other very well. It's like saying you're so close to that person you can even read their mind.

Well, the logic behind this concept is that you have been observing this person for a long time already. You know the mood swings, the attitude and the preferences of that person.

So when something is bothering your close friend or family member, you already have a pretty good idea of what's on their mind.

Mind Reading Tricks Number 3: Priming People

Another way to get around ESP and exercise mind reading tricks is through priming. When you prime people, you already have a basic idea of what they're going to do. You set them thinking of something related to the main question you want to pose to them later on.

For example, if you drill people on the importance of the environment and then ask them which candidate they're going to vote for, they would most likely go with the candidate who cares more about the environment. But you should already have predicted that.

Mind reading tricks can be very fun to apply. They can help you make all the right moves and even amaze the people around you.

Now you can easily amaze anyone with 11 secret mind reading tricks you can easily perform, and easily make people do anything you want using proven mind control techniques.

Planning Your Bathroom Remodel Budget - Home Improvement Ideas

As a bathroom remodeling contractor, I get calls from people, that have no idea what they want or how much anything is going to cost. Here's some simple tips that can be very helpful when planning a bathroom remodel budget.

Bathroom Remodeling Investment

In 2008, the average mid-range bathroom cost around $16,000 and you could recoup around $12,000 of your original investment upon the sale of your home. According to a popular remodeling magazine, larger bathrooms using expensive fixtures, tile, bathtubs, woodworking, toilets and showers had an average of $52,000. Upon the sale of a home, you could recoup around $36,000 of your original investment.

Finding out How Much Things Cost

My first suggestion, would be to visit your local home improvement center, lumber yard or plumbing supply warehouse. Larger stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, seemed to provide you with value pricing but don't have a large selection. While doing some research on the Internet I noticed that some of their pricing is outrageously, outrageous. Some plumbing supply warehouses can provide value but beware others won't.

Create a List of Bathroom Remodeling Parts

You can get a good idea of your bathroom remodel costs for your budget by making a list of bathroom parts with pricing and then adding them up for a grand total. If you're a total bathroom remodel budget is $15,000 and you have a $6,000 bathtub with $4000 worth of tile, you could have a budget problem.

Figuring out the Labor

You will have to contact a contractor to get an actual cost for the labor. Sometimes you can double the cost of your bathroom remodeling parts to get a rough idea. If you have a list or a couple of lists and a few pictures of some sample bathrooms, this will make the contractor's job easier and often they can give you a labor price within a few days.

Give Yourself a Cushion

I would suggest leaving yourself a small financial cushion for any additional remodeling items. For example, you could see a different toilet, or instead of painting the walls, you now choose to wallpaper, you could incur additional expenses that you haven't planned for. If you know exactly what you want and stick to the original bathroom remodeling plan, you shouldn't need the cushion.

Financial problems often transfer into construction problems, so spend some time figuring out, how much money you want to spend on the bathroom remodel and try not to go overboard on the budget. I hate to see homeowners struggling with home improvement loan payments. Try to create a bathroom remodeling budget that is realistic and will not create a financial burden upon you or your family.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more bathroom remodeling or home building ideas.

Personal Development

10 Keys to Designing A Personal Lifelong Learning Process

A Lifelong Learning Plan is a conscious, continuous engagement in acquiring, assimilating and applying knowledge and skills in the context of authentic, self-directed growth and challenge. It is rare for individuals to take this initiative. Most people operate on a "what they need now" plan and typically attend educational institutions for their training.

Lifelong Learning is a philosophy of approaching learning as an integral, inseparable part of our lifes activities. Here are ten guidelines to help you formulate your own personalized Lifelong Learning Process.

1. Commit to approach learning as a lifelong journey. Choose to keep it alive throughout your lifetime. You don't need to attend formal educational institutions for this process. In fact, you can learn more in small, consistent spurts than you can in a classroom, if you set up your plan correctly.

2. Maximize your resources. With lifelong learning, there isn't a structure like you had in school, so its easy to ignore and procrastinate. If you allow this, eventually the "you snooze, you lose" theory will catch up with you. A prime example is how changes in the national economy have hit the IT industry these last few years. The companies that priorize learning are still in the game, whereas their competitors who focused on "what we need now" are out of business. Create a system and plan that works and can last a lifetime. Keep learning journals for each topic.

3. Maximize your environments. Identify and create settings that support and inspire you both inside and outside your home. How does the library spark your learning? How about the mall, the park, or even McDonalds! Explore different environments and label each one (e.g., "inspiring," "relaxing," "great for concentration.") What supplies help you keeping your energy up? Do you need quiet for some learning and busy environments for others?

4. Know how you learn. To learn effectively, know how you learn. How do you take in information, process, and retain it? There isn't one best way. Tie everything into a learning purpose and vision. When and how often does you mind need a break? Do you have reading spurts? How do you retain the information -- by reading aloud, notes, summarizing in memory, or sharing with others?

5. Tap into the power of your mind. Your minds power is evident in everything you do. Analytical, critical and creative thinking enables the mind to process, store, and create all the facts and ideas it encounters. By practicing different types and ways of thinking, you keep your mind strong and flexible. Consider it "going to the gym" for your mind! (Talking about how the mind works is the subject of a huge tome, not a Top 10!)

6. Harness the power of words and ideas. Words, when joined, form ideas, and are tools with enormous energy. Whether writing a memo, letter, e-mail, article, or journal entry, make each an opportunity to fulfill a learning goal. Each is a chance to work toward improving and using words to construct understandable ideas. Learn to express ideas in writing. This will evolve into clearer thinking. Keep an idea journal by theme or topic.

7. Absorb, retain, and demonstrate knowledge. What do you do with the facts, opinions, and stories that you accumulate daily? Listening helps absorption and memory skills, which enables retention. Listen to a teleclass or book on tape, then write your own version and master what you learned by moving it into long-term memory. Listening can be compared to using a camera. First, you view the image and focus (listening). Next, you snap the picture (remembering). Finally, you print the image (demonstrate knowledge). Mastering knowledge means being able to apply it in other situations.

8. Value diversity. The greater part of our day involves interacting with others. Experiencing other peoples communication styles, learning methods, and the roles played in groups and teams helps us to grow, prosper, open our minds and develop new perceptions. Dealing with conflict, criticism, and any points of vulnerability strengthens our ability to use any situation as an opportunity to learn.

9. Take exceptionally good care of yourself. Physical and mental health affects learning. Examine these aspects and set up contingencies within your plan to identify and work through all health challenges as soon as they appear.

10. Map your course. Maximize time, energy and focus by defining a yearly learning theme. Subdivide into monthly topics with time commitments. (Example: Ten years ago, I defined a learning goal of three new computer steps in no more than 15-minutes per day. It has compounded and saved time and money ever since.) Minimize distractions by learning to "table the other topics." Create a "next year" folder to contain those great ideas and set up a review month of tabled topics to decide how to use them in the following year.

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Checking the Building For Square

The most important thing when building a home is the ability to keep everything as square, plumb and level as possible. Starting with the foundation, if the foundation is not square or level, the rest of the house is going to be out of alignment.

You've probably heard the saying, start with a good foundation. This applies to the building industry as well. There are quite a few ways to build a square foundation, it all depends on what kind of tools you have, to build it with.

Some of these tools can be quite expensive but it used every day can save you a lot of time and of course time is money.

You don't need expensive tools to build a square foundation. You could actually build a square foundation with less than $100 worth of tools. It might take you a little longer but could be done.

Let's start with the 3 - 4 - 5 rule.

Okay lets see if I can explain this in layman's terms. If no West side of the foundation is 3 foot and the north side of the foundation is for foot, then the diagonal measurement from the southwest corner to the northeast corner would be 5 foot. Out of square building can create foundation problems

This can also be done using 30' x 40' should equal 50 foot. You can use this if the building is large and you need to check it for square.

By measuring the foundation diagonally from each corner, the measurement should be exactly the same. If it isn't, the building is out of square and should be adjusted before the concrete is poured. This measurement should always be checked before you get too far along in the form building process.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your having problems in your attic, find out more at concrete contractor basics and home building ideas.

Wrong With Bible Verse

Learn Something About Time Management From the American Indians

I don't consider myself an expert on the American Indians but I would like to share a thought about their lifestyle. I was listening to an audio book on the American Indians eating habits, when it got me thinking about something the author said. This might not be a topic of interest for most people but I found it fascinating.

While listening to the audio book, the author made a statement about the American Indians I will never forget. He said "American Indians spend about four hours each day working, gathering and preparing food." If you think about it, that's not too bad of a lifestyle.

I would imagine that we have a better selection and larger variety of food to choose from than they had. This of course would be a benefit to living in our society instead of theirs.

American Indians often spent a lot of time outdoors and for some reason, spending time in nature seems to be a good thing. I know a lot of people that would rather be outdoors than indoors, walking, jogging, hiking, camping and even gardening. It almost seems more natural for us to be outdoors than indoors.

Now with the Indians working about four hours each day, this is a little bit different then our standard workday. Most people spend at least 9 to 12 hours each day driving to and from work and actually working. I would imagine our standard workday would actually be easier than that of the American Indian. I can't imagine some of my friends or family members chasing after a Buffalo with a spear.

Does this mean the American Indians had it right, just because they worked four hours each day and spent more time in nature were doing what they truly wanted to. Know I can't truly say that they had it right, but I can say that they seem to do just fine living with nature.

Some of these civilizations lasted for centuries.

Something to think about, on your daily travels to and from work as you desire to be at the beach or hiking in the mountains. The philosophies we often associate with a good life, could actually be better instead of progressively adding unneeded stress and frustration to it.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, You Can Have It All

Attic Odors and Strange Smells

If you've ever opened up your attic access hole, only to find one of the worst odors you have ever smelled in your whole life, I've been there too. What causes these horrible smells and what can you do about them?

Let's start with the cause of these smells, moisture, dirt, mold, mildew, dead animals, animals that make their home in your attic and the biggest problem of all is normally poor ventilation.

Poor ventilation is the biggest problem with musty smells in the attic. These smells are often caused from moisture accumulating in the building materials over time. If there is enough moisture in the attic, the wood will start to rot but this wouldn't be a normal situation, unless there was a roof or water leak.

Roof leaks can cause a constant supply of water to one part of the attic. This constant supply of water will eventually rot the wood and damage the ceiling. Water leaks from pipes can provide a steady supply of water and the situation can attracts termites and mold. Not a good thing.

One of the worst possible smells or odors in your attic would be a dead animal. Don't under estimate the size of some of these animals, they have found dead raccoons, cats, snakes, large birds, squirrels, rats and mice in some attics. These animals usually enter through damaged access holes or vent blocks, roof vents, large gaps, holes and even fireplace chimneys.

Once these animals die, their bodies start to decompose and produce one horrible odor. Once the body is completely decomposed, the smell usually goes away if the attic is ventilated properly. These smells can seep into the homes living area, often creating a room that no one wants to enter.

Home peststhat make their home in your attics, often create smells from urinating and defecating in the areas around their nest. Large birds like owls can become a problem over time.

Now that we've figured out some of the causes for attic odors and strange smells, what can we do to prevent this from happening and if it's already happened, how can we get rid of the smell.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your having problems in your attic, find out more at pest control books and home building ideas.

Religion Articles

10 Tips For Great Goal Setting

Less than 3% of people write down their goals. We are statistically more likely to spend time organising exactly what we want from the supermarket instead of working out what we want from life. Crazy but true.

The chances are that you commit most of your working day to helping your boss to achieve their goals, instead of spending time working on your own.

One way to enhance the quality of your life is to learn how to apply an effective goal setting program. These tips will help you on your way to doing this.

1. First of all why set goals?

The biggest predictor of success is direction. If you dont have something to aim for in life, the chances are you will end up achieving very little. Almost every successful person in the world started with a clearly defined goal in their mind of what it is they wanted to achieve. This provided them with a fundamental sense of purpose and direction.

The beauty of setting goals is that they help to streamline your life, adding a focal point and something tangible for you to work towards.

In some ways goals are like beacons helping you to stride through life towards something that holds special importance to you. What that special something is, is up to you.

2. Working out what you want

It amazes me how many people work towards goals that they dont really want.

Usually the motivation to achieve these goals comes from a feeling that you should want them. Fame, recognition, and a high status job, are some of the modern day desires that society conditions people to think that they want.

It is important that all goals and aspirations come only from a place of wanting and not from a place of should.

When you cut out all the noise that society deafens you with, and directly ask yourself, what is it that you want? honestly and whole heartedly, you are able to generate goals that come from a place of inspiration, and not from a place of conditioning.

It is from inspiration that all worthwhile goals are created. When you work from here your commitment to your goals is full of desire, passion, and zest.

Set goals based on your values

Working out what your goals are is often the hardest part of the goal setting procedure, and the part which requires most thought.

The first step to working out what you want is to establish what is important to you in life.

If for example you value your friends and family above anything else, then it makes sense to set a life goal of spending as much quality time with these people as possible.

If financial independence is valued highly you may chose to construct a goal that focuses on reaching a specific sum of money within a set time frame.

Ask yourself a series of incisive questions that force you to address who you are and what is important to you in your life.

Consider answering the questions below and start devising goals around the answers you produce:

What would you want to achieve if you knew you could not fail?

If you could leave one message to the world what would it be?

Who are you when you are at your best?

If you had one day to live, what would you do?

The responses to these questions should provide you with some information about what is important to you in your life and aid the goal setting process.

3. How will you know when you have reached your goal?

Your goal needs to be clear and precise so that you know exactly when you have reached it. One way to do this is to set the goal as a numerical figure. If you can produce a clear yes, or no response to whether you have reached your goal then you have successfully created a measurable objective.

For example, consider the goal of generating a financial target of ?100,000 by the end of the year. The numerical and precise nature of your goal allows you to effectively evaluate whether or not you have successfully reached your target when the end of the year arrives.

4. Does your goal make you go wow?

It is important that the goal you set is wildly ambitious.

Old schools of thought believe that goal setting should be realistic and attainable, avoiding excessive ambition. On the surface this makes perfect sense, because you want to set goals that you have a good chance of hitting. And arguably, failing to hit your goals because of aiming too high may leave you feeling little despondent.

The reason why I suggest that goals should be set as high and as ambitious as possible, is because there is no logical reason why you cannot achieve whatever it is that you want.

It is only through your negative internal belief systems that you decide what is and what isnt realistic. Years of conditioning, of being told what you can and cannot achieve have encouraged us to construct a warped view of our true potential.

This is why unrealistic and wild goals ironically are sometimes closer to what is realistically possible compared to your conditioned view on what is realistic.

If you set the ambitious goal of making ?1,000,000 in 1 year, work with dedication and drive and end up making ?600,000, I am pretty sure that you will not feel despondent at the end of the year.

It is certainly better than aiming to make ?50,000 within the year, and hitting the target easily, without having to push yourself in any way.

Aim for the stars and you will catch the moon

5. Have you written down your goal?

Once you have precisely and clearly established what it is that you want to aim for, write it down.

Your goal needs to be written down in a specific style in order to be successful.

Although goals are inherently in the future write your goal in the present tense. For example; instead of writing I will have a successful business, write I have a successful business. This will add immediate impact to the strength of your goal.

The second point is to make sure when you write down your goal it is something you want instead of something you dont want.

If you focus your energies on what you dont want unfortunately you will attract what you dont want into your life.

It is always more powerful to move towards something, instead of away from something.

For example wanting to make more money is much more effective than focusing on getting out of debt.

6. Is any goal better than having none at all?

Even if you do not master an effective goal setting program at your first attempt, devising a bad goal setting program is better than producing nothing.

Setting any kind of goal is better than relying on the lap of the gods to decide your fate.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, in any moment of a decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

Even if you obtain a goal that you realise you did not actually want, at least you are one step closer to finding what it is you really want. As Tom Watson (Founder of IBM) famously said; if you want to be a success, double your rate of failure.

7. Have you fallen into the trap of setting too many goals?

An easy trap to fall into is setting too many goals. Successful people usually only set one goal at a time. This focuses their efforts on one target, speeding up the actualisation of their goal. Once the first goal is completed, you can then look to tackle your next one.

If you set too many goals in your life, the danger is that your focal powers will become so spread out that you end up achieving nothing. As the old proverb states; if you chase two rabbits both will escape.

8. Are you in the right state?

The meaning of the word goal is outlined as a clearly and well defined measurable state. The goals you aim to achieve in life-whether it is to marry and have a family, to build a multi-million pound business, or own a mansion in the middle of the country are strong motivations because of the way you envisage they will make you feel once you have obtained them.

If you believe that having a multi-million pound business will make you feel secure, powerful, and liberated, then these desired states are the driving force behind obtaining the goal..

Physical experiences are a bit like vehicles that are designed to take you from your current state to your desired state.

Before setting out to make your dream become a reality it is important that you associate with the internal state that you will experience once you have obtained your goal.

For example if building a multi-million pound business will make you feel secure and liberated, it is important that you generate these emotional states before you begin building your empire.

This will optimise and speed up the process of actualising your goal.

9. Have you taken action?

Unaccompanied, all the ideas in the world are worth nothing. However if you couple ideas with productive action, then your innovations can begin to take form.

It is common for people to spend a significant amount of time constructing worthwhile goals, but if you are not prepared to act on these intentions then nothing will ever be achieved.

All successful people have one thing in common; they get more done in the time given to them, than most people.

Whatever lofty idea you have in mind, you must begin working towards it the moment that your goal has been set.

It is important to develop a sense of accountability and commitment towards taking action, otherwise you may find that you talk yourself out of making your goals a reality.

10. Do you have a deadline?

Remember to give yourself a deadline to achieve your goal, otherwise you could end up spending a lifetime working towards it. Without setting a deadline you run the risk of becoming a procrastinator, always putting off the things you need to do. By constructing a concise time plan you streamline your focus, making sure that every second of your time up to this date is dedicated and organised to achieving your aim.

Remember: A goal is a dream with a deadline

Conclusion

If you are going to be successful, you need to make sure that you live your life with a real sense of purpose and direction. Creating goals is one of the most effective ways to do this.

Sam Kotadia is the managing director of Mindsport ltd. The company delivers extensive free resources to help a global audience get an edge in the realms of sport, business and life. All resources can be found at http://www.mindsportlive.com

The Concept of Feng Shui is Getting More Popular

Why is feng shui so popular nowadays? It comes from an eastern concept of balance, so why it is that in today, even the skeptical westerners are believing in this ancient Chinese way of balancing in harmony with the surrounding?

If you believe that every object gives out energy, chances that in some corners, these energies are going to "collide", and this is a bad sign to have. This is negative. So in short, feng shui is all about men trying to live harmoniously with the environment and gathering positive forces to improve the overall wellness in life.

Men are the same essentially, if you take away race and languages. Hence feng shui to me makes sense to anyone of us, no matter where you are from. It is a practice for better living that transcends beyond the human divides.

Thus today, feng shui has an important role when there is a new building to be constructed, a new business agreement to be signed to a baby to be named. The concept is applicable to nearly every aspect of life thus there is huge business opportunities in this area. Any outcome in life can be explained with feng shui.

One thing that it owes to is that feng shui is intuitive in nature and is practical. Sometimes people simply dismiss it as pure superstition, as craps, like how come a person's life improved just by looking at some dates or timings, or some weird looking animal statues.

For me, I personally believe in feng shui. While I may not be very particular as to where I shall have a mirror or I need to place a pot of goldfish at that dark corner of the hall, generally I take into the consideration of aligning my bed to the right feng shui direction.

There are still many things to learn here and if you are keen, you can always refer to many books about this topic in the bookshops or internet.

Mere T is a spiritual researcher, blogger, conservationist and freelance writer. She has benefited a lot from the guidance of psychic Maria Duval in the topic of spirituality. She lives in New Zealand with her family and she enjoys the serenity of her country as it helps her to build up on her spiritual bonding with the environment. Her Maria Duval blog is Maria Duval.

What Does the Word Soul Mean

What is soul, is it someone dancing around to some great music or is it something inside of us, find out what two people think about the word soul.

Question Your Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a religious help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Do You Lose Or Win In Christiani

Your Feng Shui Garden?

Feng Shui is the oldest form of gardening dating back many millennia to China. The fundamental traits of Your Feng Shui gardening are:. Feng Shui gardens are built to look as natural as possible. Mixing shapes and sizes is an imperative component in these gardend gardens. The Chi, or cosmic energy, needs to flow openly and smoothly through its vicinity to form harmony and balance in the garden.

The natural flow of energy from a feng shui garden allows for peace and tranquility, but also for keeping your mind focused by 'clearing away the clutter.' When you clear away the clutter in your home, you clear away the clutter in your mind as well. Having a feng shui garden can also be a great way to relax and to really have a chance to enjoy your back yard.

Yin and Yang energies are freebie to one another. The front garden is more Yang whilst the back garden is more Yin and the non-public side of your life. Hanging plants will lift energy or permit energy to flow. It isn't important what sort of unique home decor you have, or what your landscape and garden yard dcor is -- a wind chime will add charm, and can make a delicate sense of this Eastern mystique. A collection of correctly tuned wind chimes mixes in with the forces of nature to make a feeling of balance compatible to the feng shui philosophy. A collection of correctly tuned wind chimes blends in with the forces of nature to create a feeling of balance compatible to this ancient philosophy.

A feeling of calm and peace washes over each ear. With May fast approaching, tuned wind chimes also make perfect gifts for Mummy's Day.

Get Your Free Copy Of Feng Shui 101 at Your Feng Shui

Oprah Winfrey Show and the Movie the Secret

the Movie the Secret Was a Big Success, Watch Some Clips from the Oprah Winfrey Show on This Video

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a religious help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Choices We Make In Life