TipsForSuccess: "You Can Laugh about Anything"

You Can Laugh about Anything If you cannot laugh, you are in trouble. Life is not fun for you. You take things too seriously and build stress. If you cannot laugh, you set a negative example for others. People tend to dislike you. No one wants to help you get ahead. If you cannot laugh, you may not sleep well. You might need drugs or alcohol to feel good. You probably have health problems. Fortunately, everyone can laugh under any circumstances. Health Benefits of Laughter * Laughter strengthens the Immune System. According to Dr. Lee S. Berk from Loma Linda University, California, USA, laughter improves the quality of your blood. * Laughter stimulates your circulation. Per Dr. William Fry of Stanford University, one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine. * Laughing massages your internal organs. It enhances your organ efficiency, especially with intestines. Experiments also show your blood pressure decreases after 10 minutes of laughter. * Laughter increases the levels of the natural painkiller called endorphin. In Norman Cousins' book "Anatomy of an Illness," he explains how laughter relieved the intense pain of his spinal disease when no other painkiller would help him. * Younger appearance. Laughter exercises your facial muscles. When you laugh, your face becomes brighter because your blood supply increases. Laughing people look more attractive. How to Laugh An effective method to find joy and laughter in life is to make your problems seem MORE serious! "The mechanism* is to make it more and more and more serious until it becomes utterly and completely ridiculous and the person will explode the whole thing off in laughter." -- L. Ron Hubbard (*mechanism: system or process) You exaggerate your troubles or expand your complaints to such hilarious levels that you and others end up laughing. Comics get laughs when they make things extra serious. Remember Saturday Night Live television shows where John Belushi would get so upset that he would turn red, scream with anger and flop back and forth until he fell off his chair? He was so overly serious, the audience would howl with laugher. You can use the same method to make serious people start laughing. For example, you go into a bank to cash a check. The bank teller looks at you suspiciously and says, "May I see two forms of identification please?" You say, "Sure. Here's my driver's license and my credit card." The bank teller clerk examines your cards without comment. She seems unhappy. So you pull out more cards and say, "And here's Star Trek Fan Club card, my video rental card and my Yo-Yo Association card." The teller tries to stay serious, but has to laugh. As another example, a serious waitress brings your food and says, "Be careful. The plate is very hot." So you touch the plate, jerk your hand and yell, "OUCH!" The waitress realizes you are exaggerating and laughs. Make Personal Problems So Serious That You Laugh If you are feeling sorry for yourself, write or say to yourself, "Oh, oh, oh! Woe is me! I suffer so much. POOR MEEEE!!! My life is a complete mess! I'm devastated! I will never be happy ever!" If you don't start laughing, make yourself sob, even cry. Be as serious as possible until you feel ridiculous. If you aren't laughing, bawl as loud as you can. If you feel depressed, act it out. Make your frown as ugly as possible. Curl up on your bed and act more depressed than ever. When you feel afraid of something, exaggerate that fear. Make your body tremble and look terrified! Scream, wave your hands and hide in a closet. If you feel stressed, act EXTREMELY stressed out. Pretend to have a heart attack. Fall on the floor. Give an Academy Award performance. If someone gives you some alarming news, grab your collar and pretend to hang yourself. Pretend the world has come to an end until you both laugh. If you are a manager or parent, do this with serious employees and serious kids to get them to lighten up. "Man, if sane, is a child of laughter." -- L. Ron Hubbard Try it! Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. Copyright © 2008 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.

 

TipsForSuccess: "Who or What Is Causing Your Problems?"

Who or What Is Causing Your Problems? Is the economy, the banks or the stock market causing you problems? Did your parents do a bad job of raising you? Is your job or your government ruining your life? When people fail, they often blame someone else for their failure. "My parents argued all the time which is why I'm now divorced." "If I hadn't listened to my accountant's advice, I'd be rich." "This city has ruined me." People blame others when they do poorly at work. "My boss is such a jerk, I'm too stressed to get my work done." "I don't get paid enough to be nice to EVERY customer." "If everyone else wasn't so lazy, I'd be more energetic." Blame is also used for personal problems. "I'm depressed because of the tragedies on television." "I can't be faithful to my wife because I have a chemical imbalance." "I can't stop smoking because my father used to spank me." Why You Can't Win the Blame Game When you blame someone or something else, you actually make yourself weak and ineffective. You make yourself "effect" instead of being the "cause" of the situation. You give power to the person or thing you blame. "Blaming something else makes that something else cause; and as that cause takes on power, the individual in the same act loses control and becomes effect." -- L. Ron Hubbard For example, your business is failing and you blame your assistant. You are making your assistant more powerful than you. You might say, "My assistant messed up my business, " which is just another way of saying, "My assistant determines if my business succeeds or fails." If you take responsibility for your business, you would say, "I need to train my assistant so he doesn't make mistakes" or "I'd better fire my assistant so he doesn't block my business success." As another example, you might blame your parents for your stress and anxiety. This makes your parents responsible for your feelings. If you say, "My parents ruined my life," you are actually saying, "My parents are so powerful, they control my emotions. I have no control over my anxiety." How You Win Stopping the blame game and accepting responsibility for yourself gives you new hope. "My parents didn't ruin my life. I ruined my life by being lazy and unemployed. I need to improve my opinion about myself and get busy." While blaming people for your problems is silly, blaming physical objects is even sillier. "My house is so ugly, I feel depressed." "The stock market crash makes me go crazy!" "My body has a disorder which makes me fat." In these cases, you are actually saying, "My life is controlled by _______." If you wish to succeed, you have to end the blame game. You only get ahead when you become "cause" over the situation. " I'll stop watching TV and paint my house a nice color." "I'll work hard and increase my income so the stock market doesn't bother me." "I'm fat because I eat tons of junk food and don't exercise." Five Steps for Ending the Blame Game 1. Make four columns on a sheet of paper. 2. In the first column, list all of the problems or conditions you blame on others or things. Example: "I can't stop smoking because I'm addicted to nicotine." 3. In the next column, write how you are responsible for each problem or condition. Example: "I am the one who decided to become a smoker." 4. Write how you can take more responsibility for each. Example: "I could be more determined to quit smoking." 5. In the last column, write down an action step you can take for each problem or condition. Example: "Each time I want a cigarette this week, take a 15-minute walk first." Five Benefits of Taking More Responsibility * Other people and things have less control over your destiny. * Poor conditions start to improve. * You make fewer mistakes. * No one can control you without your consent. * You become the most powerful force in your life.   Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. Copyright © 2008 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.

 

FW: TipsForSuccess: "The Key to a Successful Marriage"

The Key to a Successful Marriage Life is wonderful when you have a good marriage. You can endure the difficulties at work more easily if you can go home to a happy marriage. You have more fun during your free time when you do it with your spouse. Insurance experts agree that happily married people are healthier and live longer than single people. On the other hand, life is miserable when you are trapped in a bad marriage. You and your spouse either argue or avoid communicating. You and your spouse cannot agree on things and prefer to spend your time apart from each other. The stress of a bad marriage makes your work more difficult. Your production and income suffer because you are miserable. Success in life is nearly impossible if your marriage is bad. The Important Ingredient "The successful sex relationship depends upon man and woman reaching a high degree of agreement on immediate and long-term goals . . . ." -- L. Ron Hubbard Goals are a vital factor in a happy, healthy marriage. For example, a married couple shares the goal of raising their children; to help them grow up. They have a strong agreement on this goal which keeps them happily married while the children are living at home. If after the kids are grown and on their own, the couple does not set new goals for themselves, they argue. They spend less time together. They finally get divorced for several "reasons." They never realize the real reason for the divorce is they have no goals. Some couples work hard to start a business and then divorce after the business is a big success. They say, "We were happier when we were poor and struggling." The fact is, they did not set and agree on new goals after the business took off. A personal disaster often unites a couple because they are forced to agree on a goal. For example, after five years of marriage, Jake and Sara argue every day until Sara finds out she has breast cancer. Suddenly Jake and Sara have a shared goal of beating Sara's cancer. Jake and Sara have a high degree of agreement and fall back in love to work together on this mutual goal. Another example is with newlyweds. Some new couples fight during their honeymoon. Their goal to have a wonderful wedding has been achieved. Once the party is over, they have nothing to work on as a team. So they pick on each other. If you counsel a couple before their wedding, tell them, "You need to spend your honeymoon setting goals for your marriage. You need to agree on immediate goals and long-term goals. Don't come home from your honeymoon until you have several goals worked out." If the newlyweds follow your advice, they join as a team and jump into life with a mutual direction. They are happily married as they are connected in a common cause. They accomplish a great deal in their lives rather than waste their marriage with disagreements, conflicts and fights. Disagreements, anger, upsets or "personality conflicts" are often resolved when the two people find and agree on goals. Each person can have other goals as well, but for the marriage to succeed, both parties must agree on some short- and long-term goals. Recommendations 1. Have a goal-setting session with your spouse. Agree on as many short-term and long-term goals as possible. Write each goal down so you can review them on a regular basis. The goals can be anything you and your spouse agree to set. Some examples can be: Help our son reach the top 10% of his class. Buy a big new house. Take a two-day vacation each month. Save $3 million for our retirement. Clean the house every weekend. Get Jack through medical school and Jill through law school. Improve our tennis game. Help our friend Fred win the election for mayor. Get rid of the roaches. Spend a month in China. Double the size of our computer company. Buy a horse ranch. 2. Whenever you and your spouse start to argue or avoid each other, pull out your goals list. Check your progress on each goal. Ensure you are still in agreement on the goals. You may have reached many of your old goals and must agree on several new ones. Like magic, getting back in agreement on your goals will replace your angry, hurtful feelings with admiration, respect and love. 3. If you are searching for a mate, find someone who wants to set mutual goals. Love, attraction and good communication are never enough. You must determine if you and this person can agree on some goals. 4. Help other couples by encouraging them to agree on short- and long-term goals. Like magic, because of your advice, they will enjoy a happier marriage.   Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. Copyright © 2008 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard.

 

TipsForSuccess: "Get People to Support Your Success"

 

How to Get People to Support Your Success Everything you want in life requires the support or cooperation of individuals. Your success depends on other people. Objects, the economy and governments do not make you successful. For example, if you invented a better telephone, it would not make you wealthy. Your money would come from the people who bought this telephone. A business does not succeed because it has a beautiful office space, fancy brochures or a brilliant plan. It succeeds because people buy your product or service. It also succeeds because the staff members do their work. Human relations, not things, make or break your future success. So when people ignore you, what is going on? Why do they break their agreements with you? Why won't they help you? How People Decide to Treat You "There is an interesting phenomenon* at work in human relations. When one person yells at another, the other has an impulse to yell back. One ... actually sets an example of how he should be treated. A is mean to B so B is mean to A. A is friendly to B so B is friendly to A." -- L. Ron Hubbard (* phenomenon = an observable fact.) If you are honest with people, they are honest with you. If you encourage them, they encourage you. If you give them what they need, they will give you what you need. On the other hand, if you are blunt with people, they will be blunt with you. If you try to cheat people, they will try to cheat you. If you push them down, they will push you down. If you list all the bad things people do to you, you might discover you also do these bad things. For example, you feel upset when Joe ignores you. So you think it over and realize you ignored Joe's question last week. So you corner Joe and answer his question. Joe no longer ignores you. How this Principle Can Make You Successful "When one is lucky enough to get to meet and talk to the men and women who are at the top of their professions, one is struck by an observation often made that they are just about the nicest people you ever met. That is one of the reasons they are at the top: they try, most of them, to treat others well." "Now what do you suppose would happen if one were to try to treat those around him with justness, loyalty, good sportsmanship, fairness, honesty, kindness, consideration, compassion, self-control, tolerance, forgivingness, benevolence, belief, respect, politeness, dignity, admiration, friendliness, love, and did it with integrity*? "It might take a while but don't you suppose that many others would then begin to try to treat one the same way?" -- L. Ron Hubbard from The Way to Happiness (* integrity = sticking to one's principles). If people are not giving you the support you need, do not sit and wish they would treat you better. Instead, ask yourself, "How do I like to be treated?" For example, insurance salesman John makes 150 telephone calls per day to sell insurance. Even though he leaves hundreds of messages, very few people return his calls. He does not make a living this way. So he asks himself, "If I was a customer, how would I want to be treated?" He answers himself, "Well, I hate getting sales calls and never return them myself. I would prefer a personal letter. I'd want the sales guy to take a little interest in me, to care about my real insurance needs and try to save me money. Hey! I'm going to give it a try!" John finds he enjoys writing personal letters. "Dear Chris, I thought you'd like a copy of this article about row boats. Also, if you want me to check your car insurance, I might save you some money. Yours, John." "Hi Pat! It was great seeing you at the soccer game yesterday. I thought you would like this brochure about our new flood insurance. I think we have the best prices. Also, let me know if you change your mind about helping us coach the team." Before he sends each letter, he asks himself: "Would I want to be treated this way?" Two months later, John is earning a great income by selling insurance policies. How to Improve the Way People Treat You 1. Make a list of everyone who influences you. Everyone you depend on. Everyone who can make you successful. Include your boss or employees, customers, coworkers and colleagues. 2. Write down how you want these people to treat you. For example, you want your boss to support your career. You want your spouse to patiently listen to you. You want your clients to honestly consider all of your recommendations. 3. Work out how to do these things first. For example, start giving more support to your boss. Patiently listen to your spouse. Honestly consider everything your clients say to you. 4. Persist until people are treating you the way you are treating them. Remember, if you want help on your road to success, help other people succeed first. Give it a try! Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. Copyright © 2008 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.

 

TipsForSuccess: "How to Produce Anything"

 

How to Produce Anything No matter what happens with the economy, your success depends on your ability to produce a service, an object or a task that others want. They pay you for this production so you can buy food, shelter and so on. Let's call this service, object or task your product. The more valuable your product the more money you earn. For example, a successful heart surgery is a product that earns more pay than a cleaned pool. A hand-made mahogany desk is a product that pays more than a painted wall. But what if you cannot produce a particular product? What if you are a car salesman who cannot sell a car? A lawyer who cannot win any lawsuits? A school teacher whose students cannot apply what you teach? With the solution in this article, you can produce anything at all . . . if you can produce the smaller products or subproducts. Subproducts "Things are produced in a sequence of subproducts which result in a final valuable product." "In other words, by getting many exact minor products, you then can achieve the valuable final product." -- L. Ron Hubbard For example, a bricklayer who works for himself has decided his product is: "Completed brick projects that exceed requirements for strength and beauty at a fair price for which I earn a reasonable profit." What are the subproducts that add up to this product? He needs bricks, customers, a project design, a bid and so on. Below is a list of his ten subproducts. 1. The bricklayer finds a customer who wants a brick project 2. The bricklayer gets a list of requirements from customer 3. The bricklayer works out the costs and design 4. The bricklayer presents the fee and design to the customer 5. The customer approves the design and agrees to pay the fee 6. The bricklayer gets the bricks and mortar 7. The bricklayer builds the project 8. The customer approves the job 9. The bricklayer gets paid 10. The bricklayer pays his costs and ends with a profit Some products may have less than ten subproducts, such as a great hamburger or a haircut. Others have hundreds of subproducts, such as a legal contract or a website design. Some even have millions of subproducts, such as a jumbo jet. Five Ways to Use Your Subproduct List 1. You can figure out why you are not making money. Simply check your list to see which step you are skipping. For example, if the bricklayer does not get his customer to approve the design or the fee, the bricklayer may not get paid. 2. You can find out why your products are poor. If you do a bad job with any of the subproducts, the final product will be poor. For example, if the bricklayer does not calculate the costs properly, he may lose money on the job. 3. You can use your subproduct list to establish a routine. For example, if the bricklayer jumps around and does not get each subproduct done in the correct order or sequence, he wastes a lot of time and may not get paid. 4. If you have problems with your job or business, you can review your subproduct list to see which ones are not being done properly. For example, the bricklayer realizes he's going broke because he is not getting his first subproduct, new customers! 5. Using this single concept, you can manage or advise anyone. For example, our bricklayer can use his subproduct list to supervise many bricklayers. He could also become a bricklayer business consultant. Exercise 1. What is your product? What task, service or object do you produce? What will people pay you for? Write it down. 2. What are the subproducts that lead to this product? Ensure the list is complete and in the correct order or sequence. 3. Are you skipping any of these subproducts? Do any of these subproducts need improvement? 4. Produce your products in higher numbers and quality by getting the subproducts done. If you are not getting the final product, either your list needs improving or you are not getting the subproducts. Find out which and fix it. By creating your subproduct list, and getting each subproduct, you will get your final product, every time!   Provided by TipsForSuccess.org as a public service to introduce the technology of L. Ron Hubbard to you. Copyright © 2008 TipsForSuccess.org. All rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to L. Ron Hubbard Library for permission to reproduce selections from the copyrighted works of L. Ron Hubbard. To subscribe, buy books, contact us or learn more about TipsForSuccess.org, click here.