Choose to Get Over Your Past!

If you're still nursing a wound of failure ... you've got to see this!

Protecting Your Hot Button

Ever wondered how you can effectively deal with those people who like to press your hot button? Here are 4 ways to keep your sanity!

Doggone It! You're Good Enough!

Saturday Night Live is one of my all-time favorite shows. Last year's Sarah Palin spoofs were hiliarious! The thing about SNL is sometimes you can even learn something if you pay close attention.

For example, remember Al Franken's character, Stuart Smalley, looking into a mirror affirming, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me!" So many people pooh-pooh the idea of affirmations; however, I've learned that what you say to yourself matters more than what others say to you. Why? Because your voice and your opinion carry the greatest weight in your subconscious mind.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “The most influential person who will talk to you all day is you, so you should be very careful about what you say to you.” Wow! What are you saying to yourself all day? Most of us cannot answer that question. I know I couldn't until I started to pay attention. Imagine my horror to hear myself saying things like, "stupid me!" or "I'm so crazy."

To those of you who're saying, "Dr. A, I'm just playing. I don't mean those things. Girlfriend, you just need to lighten up!", did you know that Proverbs 26:18-19 says, "Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, 'Iwas only joking."' Think about this: if a lie to a friend is a deadly weapon, what about the lies you speak to yourself in the form of negative self-talk? So here's a three step process I learned from one of my mentors, Jack Canfield, that I want to share with you to help you monitor your negative self-talk:

1. Identify your negative self-talk
2. Cancel that negative self-talk
3. Replace the negative self-talk with positive self-talk (that's where affirmations come into play)

I teach this in some of my seminars when we talk about self-confidence and self-esteem. You see, it's important what we say about ourselves and think about ourselves. Yet, most of us are going around in a negative self-created cloud unable to realize our goals and dreams because we are in our own way.

To anchor this behavior, I've put together a quick little video from one of my seminars to show you how to do this. Have fun with this. (It's not the best video quality. It was jerky, but you can still get the essence of it).

And remember ... You're good enough. You're smart enough, and doggone it, people like ya!

"Life with no purpose is no life at all!"
Dr. A
http://www.lifeonpurposellc.com/

C+I+A=S

One of my new favorite authors is Stuart Wilde. I've been reading his book The Trick to Money Is Having Some and my inspiration for this post comes from Stuart. Stuart said on page 167, "I know that in old religions it is popular to think that God is up there pulling strings, deciding who's going to make it and who isn't. But that idea is tribal and childlike. The fact is, the Great Spirit is impartial and allows us to be as silly as we want to be for as long as we want. It does not decide for us. People who have clarity and intention make it in life, those who lack those qualities usually don't make it. It is as simple as that."

Clarity defined is being clear about something. If we are to achieve any level of success in our personal and professional lives, it's going to take clarity. Are you clear about your life and the kind of legacy you'd like to leave behind? What will you be remembered for? It's going to depend on the clarity you have right now ... or the lack thereof!

Intention is just as important as clarity. I think Stuart put those two words together to emphasize the importance of determination. And that makes good sense to me! Think about it, you can be crystal clear about what you want, but if you lack the determination to take action you're no different than the famous frogs on the lily pad story I often hear in seminars. It goes like this: 3 frogs were sitting on a lily pad. 1 decided to jump. How many were left on the lily pad? The answer? Three! You see, deciding and jumping are two different things.

The last part of this equation is action. Unfortunately, that's where many of us fizzle out! I know I do, sometimes! Like the frog, I'm still deciding instead of doing. Too afraid to just do something! But to overcome this, we simply have to do it afraid! In the words of Nike: "Just Do It!" Because I'm a big fan, my next read to help in this area is Do it Afraid!: Obeying God in the Face of Fear. I'll give you my thoughts on it after I read it.

Do you want real, tangible success? Follow this simple equation and watch your life explode with success: C (Clarity) + I (Intention) + A (Action) = S (Success).

Until next post,
Dr. Angela aka "The Purpose Professor"
"Life with no purpose is no life at all"
http://www.lifeonpurposellc.com/

Get Yourself A System

I heard a very wealthy person once say that to achieve any real level of success in our lives, we needed to have a blueprint -- a system. Then he went on to say a S-Y-S-T-E-M means: Save Yourself Time Energy and Money. However, most of us are constantly reinventing the wheel and working hard not smart because we don't have a system. Consequently, we don't see the value of a good book or an audio program designed to help accelerate our personal and professional growth.

Has anyone recommended a good book to you lately? Have you gotten an invite to a seminar or been invited to listen to a informational CD? I know you have because we are constantly being exposed to ways to change our lives; sadly, most of us are too busy to realize that the help we so desperately need keeps showing up -- we just don't recognize it!

Use the acrostic S-Y-S-T-E-M to increase your awareness and to put yourself on the fast track to living a purposefully rewarding life. The next time one of those books, invites, CDs or DVDs shows up, ask yourself if I read/listen/watch this is there a remote possibility that I may learn something that can save me time, energy and/or money? If the answer is yes, buy that dang book, listen to CD, and take the time to watch the DVD. Then put whatever you learned into action and watch your personal and professional life change for the better.

Remember ... "Life with no purpose is no life at all!"

Dr. Angela aka "The Purpose Professor"

The Power of Choice

Wow! I just finished listening to one of my mentors, Jonathan Budd, talking about the concept of self-worth, value and leadership. It was powerful and it made me think about the idea of choice.

In the end, our lives will all boil down to the choices we've made -- little choices like passing on that "sure-fire-gonna-make-you-rich-now" idea of your uncle's which turned out to be a ponzie scheme. Big choices like marrying him or her because no one else caused that lump to form in your throat or your heart to skip a beat like that. Medium choices like picking up a certain book from some obscure author that has revolutionized your life. Choices!

What all this means then, my friends, is that we must be careful with our choices, because like I said... in the end our lives will all boil down to the choices we've made!

Peace,
Dr. Angela aka "The Purpose Professor"
"Life with no purpose is no life at all!"
Life On Purpose LLC

Does Silence Have A Purpose?

In a world of iPhones, video blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace -- all designed to get information to you f-a-s-t -- I think it's safe to say that we are a busy and noisy society. Plus, we are a very communicative society; we like to talk! So have you ever noticed how irritating silence can be? Or how much it bothers us when no one is talking? Or when we don't get that person on the phone immediately? Or ______ -- you just fill in the blank! It all boils down to noise. We like noise.

Is there a purpose in silence? I think so. In fact, I believe that learning to be silent is a prerequisite for learning how to listen. Because we like noise and we like to make noise, oftentimes we just flat out don't listen. To help us reframe our thoughts on silence, I offer you this tip: Cease to think of silence as irritating and start to think of silence as active listening.

Active listening defined is learning to tune in to the person speaking. An even broader definition is learning to tune in to our environment which may or may not include a person. Make a note of the five steps of active listening:

1. Ask yourself what is the real content here?
2. Ask yourself what is the real intent here?
3. Pay attention to the nonverbal cues of the person you're listening to.
4. Pay attention to your own nonverbal cues -- what vibes are you sending off?
5. Listen just to listen -- discard judgments and be emphathetic

When we learn to listen actively utilizing the five steps we will discover that silence does, indeed, have a purpose!

Until next post,

Dr. Angela aka "The Purpose Professor"
http://www.lifeonpurposellc.com"Life with no purpose is no life at all!"