Beginning Stages for the Solopreneur Microbusiness Professional

It's rather funny, to be at the beginning stages of a home-based microbusiness which helps others do the same. However, I've accumulated knowledge and understanding, through the years, which I now want to impart. I believe it's the moment for me to not just pass on free advice, but to apply my know-how to help a significant group of individuals and watch as lives are affected.
Considering the fact that each individual is distinct and every situation and experience in life is distinct it's impossible for me to speak into all situations, however I can develop a positive starting position. I would like to see folks be successful, not just offer a service and earn money. Additionally, if I don't help others then why would they refer others? It's unlikely. You typically really need to value others before they will care about you or your business.

Creating a healthy and fit framework:
In order to really advance in your life you need to have a well-balanced framework. A well-balanced cornerstone comes along with: a diet program, engaging in physical activity, having a team and meeting heart and soul needs.

Diet system
Our bodies are machines. Therefore we need to care for the body right. We all need to put the very best foods in and always keep the bad stuff away. Yes, it's unfortunate the wrong things taste so darn great! Regardless, to be on top of our game we all should put the good energy in to keep the machine running properly. Our bodies were purposely designed for work and action. So we need to put the correct food in to be certain to use the body for what it was designed for. Because most of us don't have a ton of physical activity daily we will need to imitate physical labor with frequent exercise.
Now at this moment I'm not the most healthy man, therefore I can't recommend you stay on my routine to a T, unless you feel it's healthier than your existing routine:
I begin the day with a cup of fresh juiced up vegetables and fruit. I put in:
2-3 stalks of Kale
Chunk of a beet (about the size of something you could easily fit into your palm)
Baseball size bunch of spinach, parsley and cilantro
1 carrot
Ball size section of cucumber
2 celery stalks
1 apple
1 orange
Nickel size part of ginger
Breville Juicer
Then I'll enjoy a small bowl of oatmeal or cream of wheat or a waffle or yogurt with granola and fruit or bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee. For lunch I might have a peanut butter sandwich or salad and/or smoothie and for dinner a steak or fish or chicken and potatoes or rice or mac n cheese. Then dessert.
For a workout I go to the gym for an hour or ride my bike 12 to 30 miles about 3 times a week.

Psychological Health and well-being
To keep your thinking healthy you will need to find healthy reassuring friends and avoid the critical individuals. For sure it's always good to have frank individuals in your world who able to point out areas of improvement. You want to figure out if you're the "I require a kick in the butt to get moving" or not sort of man or woman. In either case, we ought to look at the people in our lives and get rid of those bringing us down and keep those who lift us up.

Likewise we should fill our heads with pleasant, uplifting, yet logical ideas. While it's important to keep it positive and surround ourselves with positive folks, we must stay anchored in reality. It's a balance, be sure you're reinforcing positive and self-assurance generating feelings. You can do whatever you focus on, but the real issue is: what do you want to do?
Lastly, we need to give some thought to the spiritual piece. Myself? I'm a Christian. Meaning I keep to the instruction of Jesus Christ as stated in the Holy Bible. We need to trust in something, a cause, bigger than ourselves, which can assist or meets the needs of others.
Holy Bible
So an average day begins with a healthy and balanced breakfast, time reading the bible and supplication (which consists of thinking of not only myself and my personal necessities but the concerns of others as well). Which ever way you start your day it should be on a good note. Or else our chance of loss will drastically increase. It's not a matter of if, but when you run into those toxic and negative people who want to drain and pull you down. You need to be prepared. Each day has its own battles. A balanced mind, body and heart are necessary to proceed in life.

Read more »

I Forgot That Person's Name! - 3 Strategies to Subtly Ask for One's Name

I've been teaching for more than 20 years, which means I have met many people over that time. As much as I try, it's tough to remember people's names. I've tried memory tricks, such as associating the person with an object, another person, a city, and so on. I'm better at remembering names today than before, but I have plenty of room for improvement.
 

Learning names is both a skill and an art. I remember a trip to Hawaii where a tourist guide blew everyone away with his ability to remember all the guests' names – about 60 of us. On the early morning bus trip to the excursion, he went from the front of the bus to the back, asking for everyone's first name. Around 5 pm later that day, we boarded the bus to return to the hotel, with most of us sitting in different seats. After more than 8 hours, and even though we sat in different places, the tour guide navigated through the bus and called everyone by their first name. Impressive!

Situation #1: Walking Down the Hallway
You are walking down the hallway, and you see someone you know. You've met this person before, and you should know her name. It's hard to avoid eye contact, and she is waiting for you to take the lead. Woah!

Hi, I know we've met before. Do you remember me? My name is Mark.
By being proactive, you reduce the tension, and she will immediately respond with her name. Make sure to pay attention, and use her name in the conversation. By doing so, you are more likely to remember it in the future.

Situation #2: At the Company Training Session
You are seated next to a colleague that you met at a previous meeting. Today, you are both getting ready for a mandatory ethics training session. Unfortunately, the name tents are late in arriving, and you strike up a conversation. It's obvious you know each other, but the names escape both of you.
Hey! It's good to see you again. Another training session! They never seem to end. Forgive me … but can you remind me of your name?

By greeting the person, and discussing the training session, you change the dynamics. In essence, you are breaking the ice. You can even joke around that you were waiting for the name tents. The point here is to get beyond the name issue. Once you do that, you can have an excellent conversation.

Situation #3: Use the "Introduce a Friend" Trick – Company Party
We've all done it. You are at the company party, and waiting in line to select your drink. Sure enough … the person behind is someone familiar. Too familiar, perhaps! Your lifeline is your friend, who is waiting in line with you. Your tactic is to introduce your friend with the hope of learning the name of the familiar person. It worked!

Social events can be tough for us. We are often caught off-guard. However, the advantage here is that people are having a good time. You can try the following approach:
We know each other, right? What department?
[Pause]
Right! Got it! Based on the numbers, you guys are doing excellent work. Your name escapes me right now.
[Pause]
Jacquelyn! I should have remembered. How are you, Jacquelyn? It's great to see you again.
We will not remember the names of everyone we meet. The strategies mentioned will help you get back on track. If you are genuine in your approach, others will not mind that you asked them their name. In short, we can expect those we meet to be friendlier if we take the time to call them by name.

Read more »

A Few Great Ways To Help Personal Development

Self-help is a field that is all too easy to overlook until you need it. Whether you are a forward-thinking person looking to prepare for any possibility or if you already have a problem you need to overcome, learning a bit about self-help is a fine idea. This article will give you a few useful guide lines on the topic.

Categorize your daily activities you have to do each day based on how much you like to do them, then finish the worst ones first. For example, if you absolutely HATE exercising, try to get it over with right away in the morning. When you do this with your daily objectives you will get more accomplished. Not only will you waste time making excuses all day, but in the end you will end up not accomplishing the least like activities after all. Then the next day the weight of doing what you dislike will even be heavier.

Personal development always starts from within. If you are trying to improve yourself for a friend or loved one you are almost certainly doomed to failure. Everything you are doing should be first and foremost for yourself. If you can remind yourself of this it will be much easier to stay motivated in the difficult times.

Practice going the extra mile in your routine. Every week, pick one specific project that must be completed, then go above and beyond to deliver results far better than what you would otherwise strive for. This will help you to develop yourself as a thorough and fastidious person with a reputation for going the distance and then some.

We usually undertake some effort towards personal development in the arts, in a sport, or in studies, as something outside our everyday job. However, we may be able to merge the professional and personal. If we become good enough at our new skill, we may be able to turn it into a rewarding career. This is a path to happiness.

Stop lying to yourself. Everybody makes bad decisions and mistakes. Most people try covering them up by telling themselves and others that it was the only solution possible at the time. Be honest with yourself: recognize and accept your failures and mistakes so that you do not keep on repeating them.
You need to stop procrastinating if you want to have a less stressful life. If you procrastinate often it means that you carry a lot of stress because you are constantly feeling as though you have to hurry up and get something done. It can be easy to stop procrastinating if you schedule your day properly.

Learning more about personal development can steer you away from pitfalls and dead-ends on your own path to success. The copious amounts of books and other materials available on the subject are valuable resources. If they provide nothing else, they will illustrate negative examples: Dangerous practices that the committed personal development enthusiast can learn to avoid.

Try to maintain a positive outlook. An upbeat attitude can do wonders for your mood. Consciously try your hardest not to let yourself get too overwhelmed, anxious, or depressed - no matter what the problem. Just telling yourself that things will be alright can sometimes keep you feeling upbeat long enough to succeed in making that true.

When trying to stay positive through your self help process, take the time to look at your surroundings and admire everything that is great about life. For example, the sun provides the entire world (and more) with energy, you should take simple things like this to provide you with positive reinforcement.

When it comes to personal development it is important to know your boundaries and push them only to the extent that you are not over reaching what is possible. This is important so that you do not set yourself up for failure by striving for the unattainable. Learn your range and push yourself to always be at the top of your own range.

Build your self confidence through practice! Whether you are a musician learning a new song or a child learning how to ride a bicycle, practice is a critical part of your development. Practice assures us that we can accomplish the desired task. It improves our self confidence and gives us the courage to step up on that stage.

Work on controlling your anger and your overall temper. When things get rough and you get angry, try counting to 10 and slowing your breathing. Try relaxing or even walking away from what it is that is angering you so much. By taking that "time out," you can come back with a clearer head to try to solve the problem.

A great self help tip is to make sure you're getting enough sleep every night. People that are sleep deprived tend to have low energy levels and are typically depressed. By making sure you get at least eight hours of sleep every night, you'll have more energy and you'll be in better spirits.

In conclusion you want to be all that you can be but you want it portrayed in a way that you can apply to your life. The useful information in this article provided many methods that you can use to strengthen yourself and those around you that you care most about.

Read more »

Learning How Personal Development Can Change Your Life

When it comes to you as an individual improving yourself in various areas you have to remember one thing, it is you and you only that will help you in your personal development. This article will go over some good tips that you can use to apply to your growth as an individual.
 

When it comes to personal development you need to take every opportunity to further your education whether it is self study or formal education. This is important because the wider spectrum of knowledge you have, the more ability you have to earn income and also share the knowledge with others.

Costly and unhealthy habits like smoking or over-indulging in alcohol can hinder us and cause unnecessary stress. Developing non-destructive coping skills can make us better community members, family members, and employees. With fewer bad habits to drag us down, we can improve the quality of our lives and that of everyone around us.

Sometimes finding a faith to devote oneself to is a great self-help idea. During hard times we tend to dwell on what is troubling us and lose sight of the bigger picture. A religious faith helps one focus on that bigger picture while altering the focus from hardship to a higher power.

Make flashcards from your text's glossary. Don't cut the pages from your book! Photocopy each page. Carefully cut out each term and its definition and tape them to their respective sides of miniature flashcards. If you are careful you can often fold the definitions and term in such as way they fold right around the edge of the card.

Lack of self confidence in a person can be fueled by doubt. If you doubt your abilities and skills continuously then this will only fuel your self-doubt. Celebrate the talents that you excel at and practice to improve on those ones that you do not. Your self confidence will grow as your skill base develops.

Remember to be thankful for what you have. This will help you focus on what you have instead of what you do not have. You will become more content, happy, and loving toward others. This will also help you be more generous to others. Being thankful can improve the whole outlook in your life and bring forth positive changes.

A great self help tip that can help you change your life is to start practicing yoga. Practicing yoga is a great way to get fit and it's also very therapeutic. There are even forms of yoga that aim to help you get more in touch with yourself.

If you want to better yourself, you should aim to be both gentle and strict. You should be gentle when criticizing; however, you should be strict when you are supporting your rules. A great leader knows how to be gentle and strict depending on what the circumstance is calling for.

To keep your eyes on your horizon and your dreams, make sure you see them everyday. Get a bunch of magazines no one wants anymore and just clip out any photos of anything that looks nice that you want in life at some point. Make a collage on a sheet of poster or cork board and put it up in your bedroom. Make sure you at least glance at it for a minute each morning. That is long enough for those images to become dominant thoughts during your day and you will wind up with those things.

Rule out diet and nutritional deficiencies as a cause for depression or anxiety. Systematically remove certain things from your diet and monitor how your moods change. Start with caffeine and alcohol, which can deplete serotonin. Avoid processed foods. Remove some of the foods that commonly cause allergies, such as corn, wheat and milk products. Have your hair strands analyzed to determine whether you suffer from any nutritional deficiencies.

Strive for perfection, but know that you'll never achieve it. When your goal is perfection, you are headed in the right direction. When you know that you will never get there, you will always be moving forward. While it is not possible to reach perfection, striving for it will allow you to get better, each and every day.

As you read above, it takes a lot of courage to be a better person and face the challenges of personal development. Now that you have made the decision to get started, try some of the tips in the article above to get going. You will find they make it just a little easier.

Read more »

Relationships: Why Do Some Men Need A Women's Approval?

Author: Oliver J R Cooper

While a certain amount of approval seeking is part of relationships; when it is out of control and taken to the extreme, it can create dysfunctional consequences and unnecessary pain.

And when this happens, a man's mental and emotional wellbeing is going to suffer. However, in order for a man to seek this level of approval in the first place, something within is already at fault.

Behaviour
So let's take a look at the kind of behaviour that approval seeking creates. On one side we can see that this will cause a man to be: needy, submissive, weak willed, uncertain, vulnerable and passive around women.

Here a man could be like a chameleon and adapt his behaviour to the women's needs. And whatever gains the most approval, will be the behaviour that is displayed.
The words 'This is who I am' will not be communicated in any form. They will be replaced with 'who do you want me to be?'

Sense Of Self
The approval seeking man has a sense of self that is either very weak or nonexistent. The only understanding he has of himself, is through the conclusions his ego mind has drawn from a women's approval and disapproval.

If they approve of him, he feels good, worthy and whole. And if they don't approve of him, a mild, to even an extreme bout of depression, can occur. This means that this man's sense of self is always dependent on the approval of a specific women or women in general.

Is It Possible
And one of the facts of life is that whether one of male or female, old or young and everything in between; is that it is not always possible to gain the approval from other people.
Sometimes one will get it and sometimes they want. And when approval is gained, it is fairly likely that this could soon turn to disapproval before long. This could be due to a minor difference or the end of a relationship.

Absolute Approval
And this need for approval will often be absolute; all or nothing. The ego mind works this way and it does not see that there are other options and that it is not always black and white.
Upon seeing this, it then seems completely illogical that a man would seek complete approval from a woman; especially as this is something that is not possible to gain from another adult and is more of a need that a child would have.

The Illusion
On the surface, it sounds completely ridiculous to say that a man is viewing a woman through the eyes of a child. Because physically this is not possible; the boy that the man once was, is no longer visible.
And yet, the years of one's childhood, are when one first seeks the complete approval of one's caregivers. At this time it is a matter of survival, there is no middle ground.

Emotional And Mental Age
Due to ones mental and emotional age often developing at a different rate to ones physical age, it is not much of a surprise, to see that such an illusion could be created.
This means that although a man can look like man and not a boy, emotionally and emotionally their behaviour could be childlike.

Regression
Here the ego mind causes one to regress to a different emotionally age or to what is often called the inner child. And if a man's emotional development was inhibited at a certain age, it will cause the man to regress to that age.
This could then be to an age where the man's whole sense of survival was based on a caregiver and this caregiver was more than likely a woman.

Projection
And all that has yet to be healed and integrated within the man, will then be projected onto other women. These projections could be extremely powerful and emotionally charged or fairly easy to spot, with minimal emotional intensity.
Whether these projections are on one side or the other of the spectrum, will largely depend on the quality of nurturing that this man received as a child.

Early Development
The following factors will play an important part in forming this need for approval in later years:
· A caregiver that is physically distant
· Mild to extreme abuse from caregiver
· Emotionally unavailable caregiver
· Having a caregiver that is over worked and to busy
· Emotionally and mentally undeveloped caregiver
· Absent male figure to learn from and model
Each one of these and the many other factors, will often define a man's mental and emotional growth. And when this early development has been affected in this way, unless it has been looked at and processed in some way, it will end up being projected onto women.

Emotional Regulation
So, if approval feels good and allows a man to feel a sense of wholeness and of being worthy; disapproval must create incredible pain. And this is not just the pain of being disapproved of by a certain girl; it is an accumulation of pain; pain that has built up from childhood and then through many adult years.
Through gaining the approval of a woman, this emotional pain within is being regulated. However, unless this is awareness of the original pain, it will continue to play out and to create the same patterns of behaviour and the same mental and emotionalconsequences.

Adult Relationships
The past is often defining how a man interprets women. This causes a man to seek something that cannot be given by women. To receive complete approval is something a child needs from its caregivers and this is something that is rarely possible in adult to adult relationships.
And the more that a man seeks approval from women the less chance there will be of getting it. If he does, he will be living a lie and being someone - who he is not. Although a man can look to a woman to fulfil his unmet childhood needs, the women is ultimately not his mother and is a human being with needs.
Relationships are always an exchange; so if a man is looking to take so much, what is the woman going to receive?

Awareness
To let go of the past and become more present with women, one needs to make a choice. And this could be to change ones behaviour or to reach out for some assistance.
In the information age of today, there is plenty of information and people who have answers and solutions.

Read more »