Positive Attitude And The Law Of The Garbage Truck

I received a neat little note in the mail today and thought I would share it with you. Like all internet jokes and notes, it has probably gone around quite a few times. If you have seen this one before then just click away.

I thought it was pretty neat and would probably help others like me today. The author is unknown, so I don't know how to give credit where credit is due. Here it is:

The Garbage Truck Rule

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.

And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that?

This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.

They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.

As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally.

Just smile , wave, wish them well, and move on.

Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home , or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... 'Love the people who treat you right, and Pray for the ones who don't.'

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

--------------------------------------------

Have a great day. See you next time.

Al

Goal Setting Benefits - Add Clarity And Confidence To You Life

Did you know that . . .

By setting goals you can:

• Improve your self-confidence
• Achieve much more over your lifetime
• Improve your overall performances in life
• Increase your motivation to live a life of significance
• Plan and take action to eliminate attitudes that cause unhappiness
• Increase your pride and satisfaction you get from your achievements

People who use goal-setting effectively:

• concentrate and focus better
• show more self-confidence
• suffer less from stress and anxiety
• perform better in all areas of life
• Are generally happier and more satisfied with life

Goal Setting Builds Self-Confidence

- By setting goals, and measuring their achievement, you are able to see what you have done and what you are capable of.

The process of achieving goals and seeing their achievement gives you the confidence and a belief in yourself that you need to be able to achieve higher and more difficult goals.

Just something to think about if you are wondering why you need to set goals . . .

See you next time.

Goals! How To Hold Your Focus When Life Challenges Arise

Goals! What Do You Do When Life Gets in the Way?
- Dale Stuemke

Is life fighting against your goals as hard as you're working to achieve them? Sometimes it seems like it. You have an important goal and a good action plan, but you find yourself distracted, you can't focus. What's going on?

Situation One: Life Throws You a Curve Ball

This really isn't unusual, but it can certainly stop our progress. It can also cause doubts about whether we can really complete the plan and reach our goal. Let's look at this, I have a suggestion or two for you to use to defeat the distractions of life.

Have you ever had life really can get in the way of your goal achievement? I've experienced it many times. In fact, life seems to really go after me after I've set goals!

Sometimes we set work plans that turn out to be a bit too ambitious. Other times we will experience something that is just totally unexpected. Often something happens that disrupts more than just our goal plan. There can be health issues that pop up and require our total attention. There also can be other emergencies that throw themselves into our lives at the most inopportune time.

My wife and I had one of those inopportune events. We came home after being gone for a long weekend to find that a water pipe had broken and had run water into our home for three days! All of a sudden we were living in a hotel and dealing with the insurance company, contractors, and all sorts of problems we hadn't planned on. Life really did get in the way!

When something like that happens, you really need to accept the fact that your priorities have temporarily changed. Once you understand what the new priority requirements are you can make some adjustments to your work plan. This is really no different than when you find something in your work plan that doesn't produce the results you expected. You adjust the plan to fit the situation.

But remember, you are not throwing your goal out! The reason you are adjusting your plan is to keep the goal in place, even if its achievement is somewhat delayed.

Situation Two: No Curve Ball, Just Life

It's pretty easy to understand how you need to adjust to dramatic events in your life. But, what about life just taking its normal course and still distracting you from your goal? What about the more "normal" distractions? How do we deal with them? That's a little different topic and can require different tactics!

We need to learn to use specific techniques to hold our focus and overcome "daily life" distractions.

There are at least two different types of distractions. The first is where you've established your work plan, but, after diligently trying to follow it, you just can't fit it and the rest of your life into the 24 hours you get each day. You find yourself letting things that should be lower priority take time from your work plan. The second case occurs when your work plan is just too aggressive.

You need to carefully examine the situation to see which of these is the case. If lower-priority activities are the problem, you'll need to push those into their proper place. If your work plan is truly too aggressive, you'll need to carefully rework your plan so it fits into your life properly.

That sounds like an over simplification, but it really is that simple. We can try to find all kinds of reasons why our problems are different, but they probably fit into those two categories...unless...

What about the times when you are just struggling with maintaining your focus. You know what that's like as well as I do. Maybe you find yourself procrastinating instead of taking the actions you know are needed. Maybe you're starting to doubt whether you can really do it. You might be thinking "Yeah, those others did it, but can I?"

I'm going to suggest that you learn how to talk to yourself. Really!

Start by writing your goal statement onto an index card. Make sure this is a positive wording of your goal. Next, be sure you have that card with you at all times. Read your goal statement aloud, with excitement and energy.

Do this at least three times a day. Early in the morning, in the middle of the day when you're in your routine, and the end of the day are the best times. (If you really want to add power, read it seven times at each of those three times!) When you do this, you will be helping your brain keep its focus.

You will literally reprogram your brain to believe that you can achieve that goal. Your subconscious mind will be listening. It will hear your goal, and it will hear your excitement. Do this every day, and your subconscious mind will gradually keep you focused.

Does that sound preposterous? Try it for 21 days. Then look at the results, you'll be pleasantly surprised!

by Dale Stuemke

Copyright (c) 2008 Dale Stuemke

I'm a husband, father, and grandfather. Through work in product development and marketing I've learned that goals are achieved with a good plan, focused effort, and commitment. Humans are designed to be achievers. Visualizing the future and achieving goals to make it a reality is uniquely human! I'm still dreaming my future into existence and setting goals to make it happen. Get my free report today and Launch Your Goals!

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Mission Statement Revisited - Do You Have One For Your Life?

How to Write a Mission Statement - Transform Your Core Values Into a Personal Mission Statement By Beth C. Hood and James J. Hood

You may expect your business to have a mission statement, but do you have a mission for your life? Is there something you want to accomplish, or something you care about deeply? Have you ever put it into words, into a personal mission statement?

Being able to state your own personal mission will help you clarify what your values are and what your real purpose is. Most people who have achieved greatness have been guided by a personal mission, even if they never wrote it down.

Your mission is like a T-shirt that you wear around. It tells everyone what you are about. Most important, it is a reminder of why you are here on Planet Earth.

You can keep your mission inside, but writing it out gives you better clarity and focus. A mission statement should be simple, distilled down to one sentence or, better yet, just a few words.

Your mission statement doesn't have to say anything about how you will accomplish this mission; you'll do that later, in your vision statement. Your mission may change depending on whom you are with and what you are doing, or just naturally over time as your interests evolve.

You'll likely have a different mission for each of the areas of your life that are most important to you. So that's where we'll begin, by looking at your personal core values:

1. Prioritize your personal core values Are your friends more important to you than family? Does fame seem more interesting than education? How does having fun compare with working hard? How about inspiration versus financial security? Your personal values are the things in life that mean the most to you.

Some people value inner peace, love, or family above all else, while others would put money, career, or education at the top of their list. There is no "right" list; they're like fingerprints; everyone's will be different. It's really helpful to discover what your core values are, since they will act as a compass, guiding you to what you really want in life.

You can better focus your time and energy toward achieving your goals when you begin to base your decisions and actions on your values.

Here is a shortened list of some top core values to get you started. Put the values in order, starting with the most important. Love, Health, Wealth, Comfort, Fun, Happiness, Success, Learning, Peace, Family, Adventure, Security, Friendship, Inspiration, Freedom, Service.

You can make notes next to any that may need a little more clarification. And you may want to check out more comprehensive values lists on the internet. One of our favorites is compiled by Steve Pavlina.

As an example, here is James' list of values: 1. Inspiration 2. Consciousness 3. Passion for what I do 4. Optimism 5. Love (of life and for others) 6. Marriage 7. Health 8. Family 9. Friendship 10. Empowerment (of others) 11. Sincerity 12. Generosity 13. Financial Security 14. Balance

2. Give each of your personal core values a mission Next to each life value, write out a quick mission statement. We like to begin mission statements with the phrase "to be".

Here are a few of James' mini mission statements: Inspiration -- To be inspired by life and to inspire others. Optimism -- To keep a positive outlook on life. Marriage -- To have a happy, committed, loving marriage

3. Write your primary personal mission statement Now it's time to come up with your primary mission. This is the one main mission that keeps you really jazzed about life. Here are a few different ways you can write your primary mission:

a. Pick the most important mission from those you already created.
b. Combine a few of your individual missions into one cohesive mission.
c. Come up with something completely different from your other missions that better describes your primary purpose.

As an example, here is James' primary mission: To inspire people to create the lives of their dreams.

How did he come up with it? After seeing how many areas of his life his value of inspiration affected, James decided to use that as his primary mission and build on it. He took a look at his other values and saw that empowering others and having a positive outlook on life were in the top ten as well.

Ultimately he chose a primary mission based on his passion-- a feeling that resonated in his heart-- which is what we want to encourage you to do too. We have found many approaches on how to write a mission statement, but through our experience, this method of turning your life values into your personal mission statement has proven to be the most effective and easy way.

You are never too old or too young to have a personal mission statement, and we'd like to encourage everyone to write one. It is ensured to give you clarity on your sense of purpose, and greater success in achieving your future goals and dreams.

Want to find out how to put your mission statement into action by turning it into a personal vision statement? Download a free e-chapter with fill-able pdf forms which walks you through the process step by step.

Beth C. and James J. Hood are the authors of Where's the Map? Create Your OWN Guide to Life after Graduation, the first of a series of interactive guidebooks designed to help you and your kids find, focus on, and achieve your goals. Subscribe to our blog for helpful advice for students, graduates, and parents about life after graduation.

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Are You Making These Three Mistakes?

3 Mistakes That People Make in Life and How to Avoid Them

Introduction

If you are reading this article then the chances are that there are things in your life that are not as you would like them to be; the circumstances of your life aren't all that you would have hoped for; or you find that you are unhappy with the way things are.

The good news is you're not alone and you are about to learn about 3 mistakes that people frequently make and how to avoid them. These things prevent you from having the life of your dreams.

Remember: Change does not happen over night! The principles and tips you will learn need to be practiced and applied in your life by You. No-one else can do any of these things for you!

1. Not Setting Goals and Not Dreaming

Top of the list of mistakes is the lack of Goals and Dreams. For many people, simply setting goals and defining their dreams for themselves is 90% of the problem. "Yes, yes, I've heard all this before..." Mmm... so how come you are reading this article?

Most people have heard somewhere that they are "supposed" to set Goals and have Dreams, but 95% of us don't bother. Is it any wonder then that only 5% of people ever achieve their goals? Well if they are the only people setting them, then isn't it pretty obvious???

So, is it as simple as setting goals? Well, yes and no. Only a fool would think that they simply had to write down a long list of things that they want and they would magically appear! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that goals need lots of hard work attached to them, we'll get to that in a little while!

There are good goals and ones that aren't any good. The following principles will help you to define a goal that you are likely to get attached to and, as such, are likely to achieve.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

* S - Simple Is it simple to convey your goal in a few words?
* M - Measurable How will you measure your progress?
* A - Achievable Can you achieve the goal?
* R - Realistic Are you being realistic about time and details?
* T - Timely Have you put a date on it?

There are other important aspects too:

* Positive goal - never use words like "not" and "don't" etc. e.g. I am not poor, instead, say "I am wealthy".
* Present tense - write the goal as if you have achieved it now, or say something like: "It is the 25th of January 2011 and I have..."
* Focus - don't dwell on the goal all the time, but leave reminders such as photos, or 'post-it notes' around that you will see every now and again to keep your focus steady but relaxed.

So, to sum up, in order to achieve something, you have to set goals...

Otherwise, what on earth are you aiming for???

2. Making a Living, Not Making a Life

The belief that you have to work hard to get anywhere in life is an extremely common one. The bottom line is that if something feels like hard work, how likely are you to be happy about it? If you are working hard at something that you really loathe to do, find boring, or doesn't satisfy you, then no amount of amazing outcome will ever make the journey worthwhile.

In order to move forward in life, you need to redefine your ideas about working hard. Think of something you really love to do, maybe golf, shopping or spending time with the kids (if you don't love doing any of those, then pick something else). Now, answer this question: "How much hard work is it to do this thing?"

It's not at all hard is it? Yet, you are spending time and energy (probably as much as you can spare) on these activities. The same applies to work, business or whatever you do to eat, clothe and shelter yourself.

If you really love doing what you are doing, then it's not hard work at all. There may be small parts of it that you don't enjoy so much, but generally you'll just skip through these and get on to the good stuff.

In my work (which I adore), I meet so many people who are slogging their guts out at work, striving to achieve more and earn more money. Really, they are slowly wasting away their time on things they really don't enjoy doing, in order to have enough money to buy something that might make them feel happy for a while.

Why not do what you enjoy, anyway?

Is this not your challenge, to find the thing you love to do and then do as much of it as you can? Ok, so it might not be easy to find, but I assure you that if you look and you are open to it, you will find it.

Think about the people who seem to skip happily through life, they appear to get all the breaks and the good stuff...

They are simply happy with what they are doing!

3. Wondering, "Why Does it Always Happen to Me?"

This is what I call 'self-entrapment'. Thinking thoughts like this keeps you trapped in a loop that you cannot easily escape from. Imagine a world where everything that is going to happen is governed by what has happened before!

In fact the only certainty we know is death - and with advances in medical science, it wouldn't surprise me if we find a way to eradicate that little problem one day!

So why do so many of us live our lives based on this unwavering belief that things always happen this way, or bad things always happen to us?

Well, your brain believes that you need to make sense of your world and so it remembers everything that ever happens to you. Then, when it perceives that you need more information, it will present you with all the evidence to suggest what might be about to happen. The problem is that it is often passed through a filter - normally a negative one.

Now this filter is trying to do something positive for you, it is trying to keep you safe, or sane. However all that it achieves is to create fear, discomfort and indecision in you. This keeps you stuck in the past - usually with the belief that if it's happened before, then it'll happen again.

In order to create lasting change in your life, you are going to need to do something different to the way you have done it previously. In order to do this, you have to believe that things can be different.

"Why does it always happen to me?" is going to need to be replaced by something like, "I have the opportunity to be different and to attract new, more positive circumstances into my life."

So, you can believe that: because the last 3 major life decisions you have made haven't worked out, that there is no point making a new one now. Alternatively, you can think:

"I have learned so much from my past choices and I can build on this learning with my next choice."

One final thought, from one of the great business philosophers: "For things to change you have to change." (Jim Rohn)

by Dan O'Neil

Dan O'Neil is a Life Coach working in the UK. He specialises in helping people create a work-life balance, improve their confidence and self-esteem, and achieve their goals in life. Dan also writes a popular personal development blog

More information on Dan's Life Coaching services. This article forms part of a free ebook download available on Dan's website.

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