TipsForSuccess: May 2007

TipsForSuccess: Happiness is Power

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How Do You Handle Life's Roadblocks?

When you are stopped while trying to accomplish something, how do you respond? How do you handle the frustration?

For example, you want to be a professional piano player. You take piano lessons, practice for two hours every day and learn as many songs as possible. You play at a friend's wedding and feel ignored. You audition to play at your church services, but do not get selected. Your mother even says, "Maybe you should take up water colors." What do you do?

Some people cry and feel sorry for themselves. "Boo-hoo! I feel so bad!"

Others respond by blaming others. "My education was so bad that I'll never succeed."

Still others blame themselves. "I'm such an idiot! Supid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Many people like to drown their sorrows. "To heck with it! I'm getting drunk."

Some prefer depression or apathy. "Life isn't worth living. I'm going to watch TV all day."

Coming up with excuses is popular. "My fingers are sore today. Maybe I'll practice tomorrow."

However, most people just give up. "I'm not going to play the stupid piano. In fact, piano players are losers."

How do you handle life's roadblocks?

Intention

"Intention is like a landmark.

"If you were traveling through unfamiliar country toward a snow-capped mountain, you would find that you sometimes took a wrong turn, but as long as you could see the mountain, you would make progress toward it. Sometimes obstacles would get in your way. Sometimes they would even hide the mountain from you. But there is one thing that would not happen. You would not forget to look for the mountain. You would know that you could not reach the mountain by forgetting its existence. You would laugh at the idea of forgetting to look for the mountain."

"Naturally, we cannot accomplish anything if we do not intend to accomplish anything. And intending is a continuous process." -- L. Ron Hubbard

When you decide to accomplish something, the only way to make it is to keep your eye on the mountain.

For example, despite the obstacles, you do not lose sight of your goal to be a piano player. You ignore the losses and stay focused on the goal. "I will become a fabulous pianist! I'm going to take 200 lessons and practice for four hours a day until I make it!"

Luckily, using intention is not difficult. Constantly looking for the mountain is easy. You just look! Your feet then follow your eyes.

As another example, you own a restaurant and have the goal of $10,000 profit per month. You figure out you will need 200 happy, satisfied customers per day to reach your goal. You keep this mountain in mind at all times.

One day, your chef calls and says, "I got a better job in New York and I'm leaving today. Good luck to you."

You realize you'll be cooking a lot of food today and feel like closing the doors and going to a movie instead. Yet you look for your mountain. You see 200 happy customers. You intend to reach the goal.

You suddenly remember your mother is a great cook. She has been offering to help out, so you ask her to take over the kitchen for a few days. She agrees and doesn't even want any pay!

You run an ad and hire a new chef by the weekend. You continue hiking up the mountain.

Recommendations

1. Write down your top three goals. If you do not have three top goals, write down three big things you really want.

2. Put the goals where you will see them several times each day. For example, a note taped on your car's dashboard. A screen saver for your computer. A postcard in your shirt pocket. A sticker on the inside of your wallet. Anywhere you will constantly see the goal.

3. Every time you get stopped by life's roadblocks, do not get sad. Do not give up. Do not look for excuses. Instead, just look at your goals. Never forget to look for the mountain.

If you constantly look for the mountain, you will persist. You will work to reach it, day and night. You will find the time and energy it takes to reach the top.

No obstacle will be big enough nor strong enough to stop you.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

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TipsForSuccess: What Have You Done For Your Parents Lately?

Happiness is Power

Why do some people seem so lucky? Everything they do seems to magically turn out well.

What makes you perform at your peak? What makes you happiest? When are you at your best?

Here's a power tip you won't learn from any of the motivational "experts."

"Happiness is power and power is being able to do what one is doing when one is doing it." -- L. Ron Hubbard

When you drive a car while thinking about other things, your reaction time is slower. You fail to see potential problems. According to police, inattention is the primary cause of auto accidents.

Daydreams and distractions ruin your job performance. You go on automatic and make mistakes. Because you are not giving your best, you produce less.

The ability to devote 100% of your attention to a task is difficult, at first. Yet when you start to live your life in the immediate present, in this exact moment of time, with little or no attention on the past or future, you feel more alive.

Concentrate on the period at the end of this sentence and nothing else.

Can you do it for five seconds? Fifteen? Can you do it with absolutely no other thoughts? Imagine being able to focus all of your attention on everything you do as you do it. This is power!

Staying in present time unleashes extra amounts of natural ability. For example, just before you leave on a vacation, you zero in on specific accomplishments and quickly get them done. When you only daydream about a vacation, you slow down and become less effective.

You handle conversations much better if you stay in the present. People feel you understand them when you are doing nothing but listening, with no other thought in mind.

When you are fully in the present, you think better, react faster and make better decisions.

The stronger your focus, the greater your power.

Five Tips For Your Success

Practice doing what you are doing when you are doing it in all your activities.

1. Do a simple task at your desk such as clear off some paper or write a note. Do this right now. Do absolutely nothing else when doing it. Practice this until your attention is more in the present than ever before.

2. The next time you are talking to someone, give him or her 100% of your attention. Really focus on what they have to say. Think of nothing outside of the conversation. Notice the person's reaction.

3. The next time you drive your car, do what you are doing when you are doing it. Don't listen to the radio, talk on your cell phone, eat a snack, think about work or do anything besides drive. Extend your focus all around your car. Notice the difference.

4. Next time you kiss or hug someone, think of nothing else besides giving the kiss or hug. Really do what you are doing and give the person 100% affection. Try this with your spouse or family member to see a great reaction.

5. At your job, spend a complete hour doing absolutely nothing but work. Do exactly what you are doing when you are doing it. Ignore other thoughts, other acts and other tasks. Take no breaks. Do nothing but work. Zero in on the job at hand and see how much you can accomplish.

You are a powerful force when you do what you're doing when you're doing it.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here.

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FW: TipsForSuccess: Five Tips for Raising Children

What Have You Done for Your Parents Lately?

"Children are indebted to their parents for their upbringing-if the parents did so. While some parents are so fiercely independent that they will accept no return on the obligation, it is nevertheless true that there often comes a time when it is the turn of the younger generation to care for their parents." -- L. Ron Hubbard from The Way to Happiness

How much did your parents pay to raise you? How much did they pay for your food, clothing, medical care, dental care, housing, child care and so on?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, raising a child currently costs from $124,800 to $249,180. That's a quarter to half a million dollars! For some of our parents, that was a very difficult amount of money to pay.

Have you repaid your parents yet?

Some children say, "I don't like how my parents raised me. They ruined my life. I owe them nothing!" Even if true, we must remember this:

"One cannot overlook the fact that almost always, parents are acting from a very strong desire to do what they believe to be best for the child. In spite of all, one must remember that they are the only parents one has. And as such, no matter what, one should honor* them and help them." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*honor: to respect; to treat with courtesy)

Because most parents do not want you to repay the quarter to half a million that you owe them, you can and should honor and help them.

Ten Ways to Honor and Help The People Who Raised You

1. Always remember Mother's Day, Father's Day and their birthdays.

2. Talk to them on a regular basis.

3. Be generous with them, when you can.

4. Share your successes.

5. Stop asking them to solve your problems.

6. Ask what they need or want from you.

7. Ensure they have any health-care insurance and long-term care arrangements they might need.

8. Get your brothers and sisters to honor and help them.

9. As they get older, help care for them.

10. Thank them for raising you.

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here.

To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.

Five Tips for Raising Children

As a parent, if you know what you are doing, your life is enriched by your children. Your son or daughter becomes a happy and productive asset to society. You create a loving relationship that lasts a lifetime.

Even if you have no children, you help the future of our society by passing on these tips to parents.

Tip 1: Owning the Child

"You're well and enjoy life because you aren't owned. Your American forefathers fought slavery twice -- 1776 and 1861. You couldn't enjoy life if you were shepherded and owned. You'd revolt. And if your revolt was quenched, you'd turn into a subversive*. That's what you make out of your child when you own, manage and control him." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*Subversive: someone who wants to ruin someone or something.)

Tip 2: Controlling the Child

"You want to raise your child in such a way that you don't have to control him, so that he is in full possession of himself at all times. Upon that depends his good behavior, his health, his sanity."

"Children are not dogs. They can't be trained like dogs are trained. They are not controllable items. They are, and let's not overlook the point, men and women. A child is not a special species of animal distinct from man. A child is a man or woman who has not attained full growth." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Tip 3: Restraining the Child

"How would you like to be pulled and hauled and ordered about and restrained from doing whatever you wanted to do? You'd resent it. The only reason a child doesn't resent it is because he's small."

"You'd half murder somebody who treated you, an adult, with the orders, contradiction and disrespect given to the average child. The child doesn't strike back because he isn't big enough. He gets your floor muddy, interrupts your nap, destroys the peace of the home instead. If he had equality with you in the matter of rights, he'd not ask for his 'revenge.' This revenge is standard child behavior."

"You say that if he is not restrained from pulling things down on himself, running into the road, etc., he'll be hurt. What are you as an adult doing to make that child live in rooms or an environment where he can be hurt? The fault is yours not his if he breaks things." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Tip 4: The Child's Most Important Goal

"Perhaps the single most important point to make clear to the parents is the importance of giving goals to a child, and that the most important goal is that of growing up to be an adult." -- L. Ron Hubbard

Tip 5: Children Rights

"A child should have responsibility and independence commensurate* with his status as a child."

"But under no circumstances should he be possessed automatically of as much right as an adult in the sphere of the home. To give him this is to remove the main goal of his life: growing up." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*commensurate: corresponding in size; proportionate)

Take better control of your life with the TipsForSuccess coaching website at www.TipsForSuccessCoaching.org.

For permission to copy, print or post this article, go to www.tipsforsuccess.org/reprint_info.htm or click here.

To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.

TipsForSuccess: How Do You Handle Life's Roadblocks?

TipsForSuccess: Happiness is Power

TipsForSuccess: What Have You Done For Your Parents Lately?

FW: TipsForSuccess: Five Tips for Raising Children

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