Find Inspiration Today » money

How to be More Successful

Mike — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 08:54:51 +0000

No secrets here – don’t let little miss above fool you. There are millions of articles, books, journals, classes, lectures and other mediums that can teach you how to become more successful – so what am I adding to those?

I’m adding what works for me – and a lot of times when we read books, or watch documentaries, etc. – it sounds all well and good but it’s not always easy to take that information and apply it to our own lives.

So here are my tips, from me to you only (not a regurgitation from a book or some website)…

Win the small battles.
Several times each day we are faced with decisions that heavily impact our lives when iterated day after day. For example, let’s say you want to be more successful at losing weight, you are making probably twenty to thirty decisions each day that directly impact whether or not you are ultimately going to be successful at losing the weight you’d like.

What I’ve learned is that I can get on a roll and build some momentum by winning the small battles. I can do “Option A” or “Option B” – I do what I know, in my gut, to be the “right” decision. Typically, we are faced with small decisions much more often than large, life-altering decisions. SO, if you can begin to win as many of these small decisions as possible, you are going to witness the difference it makes to the bigger picture.

Be proactive. Take a walk.
Sometimes, when the room is pitch black and you can’t see a thing, you still have to take a few steps before you get an opportunity to see any light. If you want to be more successful, you have to put yourself out there. Like my father always told me – you can get a hit unless you are swinging the bat!

So, whatever it is that you are wanting to be more successful at, you have to take calculated risks. You have to go out on a limb and just see what happens. A lot of what we do in life is a simple process of trial and error.

Failure is problem solving.
No doubt about it. When you fail, you are simply solving a problem and gaining a clearer picture of what you already knew. There are many times where failure is necessary, because it’s impossible to do everything right the first time around.

The point, do not let minor speed bumps in the road kick your efforts to the curb. View failure as a positive, because it’s necessary and inevitable if you are doing anything worthwhile or challenging.

Have a fantastic weekend!

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Use Water? If so, you don’t want to miss this…

Mike — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:28:24 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

So, today I stumbled on to a really awesome website. I’ve actually barely spent any time exploring it yet and I’m already recommending it to people! The videos below make you realize how lucky we have here in the developed world. My perspective is comes from The States and I can tell you for certain – I don’t think I know a person that doesn’t take water for granted.

Like the video points out – water is as important to us as the air we breathe. This is fo’ real! And those that are fortunate, have the ability to walk to a faucet and get as much as they need, for whatever they need, whenever they need it. While, for the rest of the world (billions), clean and safe water runs on the spectrum from clean water being a chore to contaminated water being utterly fatal.

I’ve written about being grateful in the past, because it’s an exercise that truly makes you feel better – regardless of where your level of happiness presently stands. I love videos like these, that are visually exceptionally entertaining and engaging. Here is a second one – on topic with the first video…

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How You Can Be Happier

Mike — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:11:39 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

This post is meant to be very simple. Do a handful of what is listed below, and you are sure to find some new happiness in your life. I swear. Try some…

Wellness

Drink plenty of water
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar
Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants
Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
Make time to pray
Play more games
Read more books than you did in 2010
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
Sleep for at least 7 hours
Take a 10 to 30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile

Character

Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about
Don’t have negative thoughts about things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive present moment
Don’t over-do. Keep your limits
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip
Dream more while you are awake
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need
Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner about his/her past mistakes. That will ruin your present happiness
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present
No one is in charge of your happiness except you
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are
simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime
Smile and laugh more
You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree…

Society

Call your family often
Each day give something good to others
Forgive everyone for everything
Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
Try to make at least three people smile each day
What other people think of you is none of your business
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.

Life

Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful
God heals everything
However good or bad a situation is, it will change
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
The best is yet to come

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Waking Up Early

Mike — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 02:51:45 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

I’ve recently encountered a dilemma that annoys me more than it bothers me, but no one likes to be annoyed now. If you were to ask me if I am a morning person, or a night person, I would tell you that I am gladly both. I love staying up at night to get things done, catch up on quality documentaries, etc. On the other hand, I love being up really early in the morning. But that presents a problem for me. Not a serious problem, but one that aggravates me enough to write about! So what’s the problem you say? The problem is this…

I have no problem cutting my sleep way short because I have a flight to catch at 6am. But lately, I cannot get up early for the life of me, for me. Not for a flight, for me, for my life! I know it doesn’t sound serious, but it’s similar to honoring your own calendar commitments just as you honor those with others.

So, in my somewhat annoying annoyed state after I have again failed to get up when I wanted to before I closed my eyes the night before, I come to a pretty harsh conclusion…

My life isn’t as important as a random day trip to Atlanta and back for work

Now, that’s not exactly completely logical, but emotionally that’s where I go. I feel guilty for the hour or two I could utilize a few days a week in the morning to work on my projects. That could easily amount to 5 hours per week times 50 or so work weeks in the year and you come to 250 stinkin’ hours!

Back to Waking Up Early

I work out quite a bit, drink lots of water, stay away from pop, don’t drink during the week, and typically get around seven hours of sleep. I drink tons of coffee. I love coffee. I bet you’ve sensed that I enjoy coffee because of the name of the page where I accept donations – called The Bean Juice. So I consume a decent amount of caffeine, but I don’t think an unhealthy amount. At least according to the Mayo Clinic…

Though moderate caffeine intake isn’t likely to cause harm, too much can noticeably affect your health. Heavy daily caffeine use — more than 500 to 600 mg a day, or about four to seven cups of coffee — can cause:

* Insomnia
* Nervousness
* Restlessness
* Irritability
* Nausea or other gastrointestinal problems
* Fast or irregular heartbeat
* Muscle tremors
* Headaches
* Anxiety

The plan is to round out this week per the usual – morning coffee with a slight chance of an additional cup later in the afternoon or the evening. But next week, I’m going to cut coffee for three weeks and see if that has any impact on my ability to wake up when I plan to in the morning.

Maybe I’ll just do this! – that links you to an article on Steve Pavlina’s popular personal development blog. He’s got few others on waking up early as well.

The Trick to Being a Morning Person and a Night Person

Now this is going to knock your socks off, so brace yourself! Do you know how to become the ultimate morning person and the ultimate night person? It’s actually a very easy answer.

…HAPPINESS…

I hope I didn’t disappoint you! I’ve certainly have a long, long way to go before I’m anywhere close to where I want to be in certain areas of my life, but I love having a general energy for life. I don’t want to go to bed at night because I’d rather be up enjoying something, doing something interesting, being relaxed, etc. Just as well, I don’t want to sleep in the morning because the morning is a time to reflect on the day ahead of you, it’s a time to be productive when the rest of the unproductive world is sleeping!

Tomorrow morning is the first morning that will buck the trend for me. I mean, I’ve posted about it. So, it’s safe to say I’m serious this time! Morning or night, keep doing your thing!

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Destroy Any Challenge…in Ten Pages [ebook]

Mike — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 05:51:21 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

Download Destroy Any Challenge…In Ten Pages.

Going into 2011, I wanted to get motivated and post at least one ebook per month for free. During this time, I’ll also be posting regularly and will be working on larger projects for the blog. More importantly, this one is in the books. I enjoy and have a certain energy for everyday – and I strive to bring that out. In the ebook, you’ll find some of these things that I guarantee you’ll benefit from…

In fact, here are 5 spectacular reasons you should check it out!

Explore the 10 Essentials for destroying any challenge.

Digest short Motivation Quotes. Some I’d consider life changing quotes.

Learn simple ways to propel yourself through any challenge.

See why you need a few speed bumps along the way.

Get motivated. Get inspired.

Oh yea, didn’t I mention that it’s free!

Have a great day.
Mike

Download Destroy Any Challenge…In Ten Pages.

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Capture Significance in One Place

Mike — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:08:16 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

It’s typically around the New Year when people take a step back to reflect on the year, life, and generalities of what might lie ahead in the future. I certainly do. By reflecting on the things you deem uniquely important to your life – you are doing a great and positive thing for yourself.

So, this blog is all about getting inspired to do better. Life has it’s ups and downs – and on f.i.t. – that’s not something I try and avoid, but conquer. And by reflecting on the things that are important to you – mixed with a little consistency – some of those downs are going to be ups by this time next year. When you are in a rut, you’re going to handle it better and have the ability to turn it into a positive.

So what the hell am I getting at? Reflect on your life. What are the things you want to stop doing? What are the things you want to get better at? And what are the things you want to start doing? Whatever those things are – find something you can commit to relative to tracking your progress.

For me, I’ve been using Google Docs. I have a spreadsheet that I use to track all kinds of things – I have over ten worksheets in one document that I update about once per day. Some of my sheets are in regards to such things like finances, birthdays to remember, books to read, car maintenance, working out, etc. Sometimes only one gets updated, sometimes several, or sometimes life gets in the way and a couple days might go by before I have a chance to update.

Let’s face it. If you don’t track what it is that is important to you – how do you know if you are closing in on a goal, or doing what it is that you’ve placed importance upon?

From personal experience, I’ve learned that capturing all of the information that is important to you in one place can increase your capacity to do more and gain vision. I’ve always been good at expressing my desire to do this or do that, but too often I say it and then I don’t do anything about it. So, creating a means of fulfilling my word and being able to tangibly see my progress has been a big plus for me.

It’s given me great momentum for 2011. What can you do to give yourself great momentum in this New Year?

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Build a Foundation & Create Momentum for Your Unique Mission

Mike — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:32:16 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them make them.” -George Bernard Shaw

Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.” -Charles J. Givens

I am now 27. One more year is behind me with another one smack dab in front of me. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal development in general, and more specifically how it has impacted my life in the last year or so. I began reading several books on the subject and put myself in an environment where I was able to meet people with similar ambitions and interests. I asked myself questions about where I wanted to go in life – laid a foundation and now I know that I have momentum on my side. Before I get on with talking about building momentum for yourself – I want to touch on the subject of personal development first.

I Can Write About Personal Development – Because I Said So.

So, you might ask what qualifies me to write about PD, and the answer to that question is absolutely nothing. I do it, practice it, and believe in it – as it has the power to change my life – and yours. But, again, if you want to know why I’m qualified to write about it I can’t really tell you anything special. By no means am I living a perfect life or doing exactly what I want to be doing – I am in debt (student loans ya know), I have my bad days here and there, and my life is a work in progress. So am I technically qualified? Probably not. But can I offer you value? Definitely. There are so many websites out there that give general advice about life, productivity, building personal and financial wealth, etc. – that it’s sometimes tough to discern what’s real and what’s garbage. I’ve been writing for six months or so – and while my reflections and writings have value – you may not feel like you know the person that it’s coming from. My goal now, and moving forward – is to connect with you on more of a personal level.

I definitely don’t write about PD because I think I am better than you or have more knowledge on ‘how to live a better life’. Soon on F.i.T. (I need to get around to it!), I’ll be adding a tagline somewhere near the top of the page that states “Getting better at living YOUR life – one day at a time.” That’s my goal – and I’m sure you won’t argue that in some way – you have the same goals in your life.

You and I both understand that every person has a unique story – your life is different than mine – in probably thousands and thousands of ways. You are motivated to better your life and seek growth for different reasons than I am. Our dreams aren’t the same either. Uniqueness and individuality is a beautiful thing. But there is a common thread for each and every one of us – and it’s why PD can become a positive catalyst and difference maker for many and something that once begins – never stops. When you embark on a mission – like “getting better at living YOUR life – one day at a time” – you naturally gain momentum one day at a time. Before you know it, you’re growing, you’re vision becomes clearer, and it’s something that can’t be stopped

Create Your Own Momentum and Run With It

Momentum. I need it and so do you. I believe that momentum is often present, but not so much recognized by the beholder. Have you ever began a project, a job, or anything that required you to start at ground zero – from the very bottom? I bet you have. I know I have. This blog is a perfect example. The first day I decided to start a blog, I went to the library and began learning about programming languages. I had no idea there were amazing blogging tools out there like WordPress. But I began to lay a foundation - and it lead to questions, I sought out information, and learned bits of information everyday. Now, just half a year later, I’ve built something that I’m proud of – something that is now part of my overall vision of where I’m taking my life. Personal development had it’s part in setting my mentality as I set my sights on building a website. Now, there is no quit in me – and PD is a big reason for that. The more books I read, articles I write, and mornings that I reflect on my life and the direction it’s moving – the more momentum I gain.

The point is that you have to simply get started, now – on something. Momentum will always be nonexistent if you aren’t taking consistent action. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get started. Even if it’s simply a matter of putting your thoughts, goals, frustrations, etc. on paper. That’s progress, that’s a step forward, and at the end of the day – that’s a little bit of momentum. And if you nurture that momentum by giving it as much attention that your time and lifestyle allows for – well, you’re going to take a look back some months down the road and realize just how far you’ve came along in a short period of time.

Do It Your Way – You Don’t Have to Conform to the Norm

While I have no problem telling you that I am not qualified, nor am I a recognized expert on the subject of personal development – I’ll tell you that I’m going to do it anyway. Here’s why. I believe that just about anybody, at any stage in life, can take value and learn from someone that is on a unique mission of their own – one created and manifested from their heart. So I say that I’m not qualified, but my mission is to get better at living MY life – one day at a time – and my mission will bear information that I can share along the way that will translate into something you can learn from.

I’m a firm believer, that in order to start anything of great substance and value, it must be built upon a solid foundation that leverages the power of momentum. I don’t need to reach thousands and thousands – while I certainly wouldn’t turn that many readers down – I want to be a leader and an example for my followers that feel the same way I do about life, embarking on a mission and personal development. I write with people like my brother in mind – who hasn’t really found what he truly wants to do with his life yet – but is smart and people are attracted to his personality like a freakin’ magnet. I know that one-day he is going to do something great.

Part of my goal on F.i.T. – is to help as many people as I can and share my journey. And all it might take for you to get started on your mission is some initial momentum – a start. Isn’t it almost funny how we often let easy things get in way of our mission – then before you know it your momentum, if you had any, goes splat on the concrete! There are a lot of reasons why we let momentum die – lack of confidence, a phone call, giving up too way way to soon, not connecting with the right people, lack of monetary resources, etc. – the list most certainly goes on. But a mission is not something that dies easily – and if you consider yourself to be on a mission, if you wake up and stare at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself about your mission – it’s a whole lot harder to let things get in the way and squash your momentum.

The Trap

Our belief system is so often our greatest obstacle – a trap that we get ourselves into and usually we don’t even know it. You notice it a lot when you offer up ideas to someone that is in one life-state, but they desire to have another. The Trap, as I like to call it, is the ultimate killer of creativity and resourcefulness. But if you don’t believe you can do something – you have no chance. And that’s the bottom line.

I want my brother to start his own business. As I mentioned before, his personality and like-ability is a gem, a strength that would allow him to excel at a particular small business I’ve suggested that he start. I’m not calling him out (ok maybe a little bit!), but he knows it’s all good-natured and with good intention. I could use a few other people that I am close to as examples as well. The Trap usually likes to respond with the same type of answers when presented with a suggested opportunity. They all start with a little bit of…”I can’t because..”, “I don’t have..”, “But, the economy..”, “What if I start and..”. Notice a bit of a trend? Each and every response is a limiting belief. Now, I’m not suggesting that my brother drops everything and risks a loss of income to run off and start a business. I’m suggesting that he explores it, builds a foundation, and sees where his momentum takes him.

Your Mission Will be a Collective Effort

Movements, successful businesses, and well-executed plans are not conducted alone. It’s important to realize that the most successful people didn’t get successful by going at it alone. As a generality, people love helping, advising, and seeing other people find their unique successes in life. It becomes an amazing thing. If you get started on a mission – seek the help of others. I promise, you’ll be amazed at how many people are interested in helping you get to where you want to go. A common and overused phrase I hear all the time is “let’s not reinvent the wheel here.” While your mission is unique – in theory it’s been done before a thousand times. Instead of spending valuable time trying to figure everything out for yourself, extend yourself and seek the help of others. Before you know it, you are going to have a number of people that are willing to go to bat for you.

Months ago, I was reluctant to share my aspirations for this blog and how I see it playing into my future. Flat out, I’d love to be a full-time writer five years down the road. I love to travel, inspire others, experience success, immerse myself in other cultures, meet new people – and I can do all of these things if I am a full-time writer. That sounded pretty silly to me at first – so I kept those thoughts to myself. Now, after connecting with like-minded people both on and offline, it seems like much more of a reality that could come to fruition five years down the road.

Even if you don’t have a clue what your unique mission might be – share the tiniest inclinations of what you think it might be with people around you. Even if you think it might sound silly – it’s not. And if you start taking consistent action – why you might just be surprised how quickly those little inclinations and bits of thought turn into something you couldn’t have imagined.

Don’t forget that the ultimate source of energy and change lies within ourselves.

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25 Life-Changing Quotes

Mike — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:01:44 +0000

Written by Michael Weaver | Follow me on Twitter | Free updates via Email.

About six months ago when I first started F.I.T., I began a series on quotes that have had a big impact on my life. I decided to write about each quote, make an attempt to find the core meaning, and share how you can find an application for the message in your life.

Each post begins with a quote – and then you will be taken through a thought process beginning with Initial Thoughts, then Digging Deeper, and will finish with What To Walk Away With.

I hope you enjoy this series of quotes, I sure did enjoy writing about them, and find some quotes that have a lot of relevance to your life

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Find Inspiration Today » money

How to be More Successful

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Use Water? If so, you don’t want to miss this…

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How You Can Be Happier

Wellness

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Waking Up Early

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Build a Foundation & Create Momentum for Your Unique Mission

I Can Write About Personal Development – Because I Said So.

Create Your Own Momentum and Run With It

Do It Your Way – You Don’t Have to Conform to the Norm

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Your Mission Will be a Collective Effort

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