You Can Find Freedom If You Are Willing To Work For It

How much of your life have you given to your employer? I was 55 years old and I was beginning to think about retirement but I was not happy. I was working for an employer that provided a good income and good benefits but I was not happy. I had a beautiful wife, three children, eight grandchildren but I felt like a prisoner every Monday thru Friday from 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. With another 10 years before retirement, I saw "Dead End" signs everytime I went to work. I was not happy. What is the one thing that we search for in our lives? Most people would answer that it is happiness. Does happiness come through fame, wealth, success? Some people might mention one of these three or suggest something else. For me, my happiness comes through contentment and my contentment comes through my freedom. Everyday, every week, every month that I trudged to work, I kept asking myself if I wanted to spend the next 10 years of my working for someone else. I felt trapped and unhappy. I asked myself who was in control of my life. I wanted to take back my freedom and search for a better way. If you are happy with your employer, I am glad for you. I was not and I needed to find a pathway to my freedom. I decided to work from home and become MY OWN BOSS. I took my financial future out of the hands of those who were signing my checks and put the opportunity for financial freedom in MY hands. I decide how hard I want to work. I decide when I want to quit for the day. Most importantly, I decide when I want to spend time with my family. I now enjoy the freedom of being in control of my life, my future and the well being of my family. I consider my family to be my most important possession. When I was working for someone else, I had to search for the time that I wanted to spend with my family. The lawn needed mowing, the car needed washing, the plumbing needed fixing. It is very difficult to complete all of the tasks that surround us each weekend AND find the time that we need to spend with our loved ones. My home business has given me the freedom to have ALL the family time that I want. In fact, today is Wednesday afternoon and I will be taking two of my grandsons to the movies. It does not get any better than that. Do not mis-understand what I am trying to say. I have had my home business for three years and I have worked very hard to make it successful. And I will continue to work as hard as I need to make them profitable. But I have taken back the freedom in my life that I felt I was losing. Do you feel you have lost your freedom? Do you want to find it? Please consider the possibility of starting your own home business. There is work but the rewards could bring you the freedom that you desire. I found mine. "In all toil there is profit." About the Author: John Fortner is the owner of G Children Adventures with online stores that focus on children's computer accessories and room decor. To learn more about this topic please visit: < http://www.Best-IncomeOpportunities.com To visit his stores please go to: http://www.toddler-computergames.com http://childrensdecorativegrowthcharts.com Read more articles by: John Fortner Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Break Your Bad Habits

Having just looked at a list of bad habits posted on the internet, I can honestly say that whilst they are habitual repetitive behaviours, many of them are also disgusting! One site listed nail biting, throat clearing, lying, interrupting, chewing the end of a pen, smoking and swearing in its top 20 list of bad habits. And that’s not to mention knuckle cracking and thumb sucking. Habits are formed when a behaviour is consistently repeated. Eventually, it becomes an unconscious behaviour, that is, that you can do it without thinking about it. In just the way your unconscious controls you blinking, breathing and walking without you having to remember to make it happen, it also takes over responsibility for activating the habit. In a sense, the levels of competency goes some way to explaining how this unconscious activity is created: Unconscious Incompetence- Not knowing about it and not doing it. (Ignorant) Conscious Incompetence- Knowing what needs to be done but unable to do it, lack of skill required. Conscious Competence- Knowing what needs to be done and have to think about how to do it, in order to do it. Unconscious Competence- Knowing what you need to do, and being able to do it without consciously thinking about how it is done. We can see by looking at the levels of competency process, how a positive behaviour such as learning to drive for example, is taken through the above stages so that it shifts from a conscious activity, into an unconscious one. The problem with this process is that the unconscious mind will not distinguish between a good habit, and a bad one. When learning to drive, this is generally a beneficial habit to master, and biting your nails for example is not. However the unconscious simply responds to the programming it is given. It does make a distinction about whether it is right for you or not. The more times you repeat the behaviour, the more hard wired the behaviour becomes, good or bad. This means that in order to break a bad habit, the automatic function of it, needs to be bought back into the awareness of the conscious mind, in order to give the conscious a choice about whether to continue with the action. This could be enough for some to break their pattern, yet for other, even though when they are conscious of the habit, may continue to pursue it. For example, many people who smoke and know that they should give up, are aware of the cigarettes they light up and inhale. Worse than that, they are even conscious of what they are doing to their depleting immune system as they do it- and still they continue- why?! The answer is that they get some sort of a pay off. An opportunity to be destructive and release some tension by biting your nails, or a moment to drift off and take a break from the busyness of work when having a fag. In the great scheme of things it’s important to note that these payoffs are of course only temporary. They only alleviate pressures for a short amount of time and usually come with a down side, such as ultimately damaging your health, the way you look, the way you feel, or the way people respond to you. NLP techniques are great for helping to get “leverage” for applying pain to the unwanted problem and pleasure to the solution. Anchoring techniques can provide an instant desired state to relieve tension for example, so that it is no longer achieved from performing the habit. A Hypnotherapist can be consulted to reprogram the unconscious part of the mind, linking unsavoury feelings to the unwanted behaviour (for example feeling sick if you go to put your fingers in your mouth to bite your nails) and forming new habits to deal with stressful/ boredom situations in a new empowering way. A Hypnotherapist in Hertfordshire can help you to achieve a state of well being and to be rid of bad habits. Hypnosis works because of the clients ability to focus on the hypnotherapists voice. Hertfordshire Hypnosis teaches hypnotherapists how to use their voices to create the best level of trance possible. About the Author: Gemma Bailey is a qualified Hypnotherapist and NLP Master practitioner based in Hertfordshire. http://www.gemmabailey.co.uk Read more articles by: Gemma Bailey Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Lifelong Learning

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." Chinese Proverb How does education promote success? In Keys to Success: How to Achieve your Goals, by Carter, Bishop and Kravits, the authors write: Education is more than the process of going to school and earning a degree or certificate. It is a choice to improve your mind and your skills. Education is what you make of it. If you make the most of your mind, your time, and your educational opportunities, you will realize your potential. Education gives you tools for lifelong learning. 1. You not only learn facts while studying, but also how to think -- an ability that will always be useful. Education improves your quality of life. 2. The Digest of Education Statistics 1996 reports that income levels rise as educational levels rise. Education expands your self-concept. 3. As your abilities grow, so do opportunities to learn. As you rise to the challenges of education, you will discover that your capacity for knowledge and personal growth is greater than you imagined. Education enlarges your possibilities. 4. First, through different courses of study, it introduces you to more choices of career and life goals. Second, through the training you receive, it gives you more power to achieve the goals you choose. Education improves your employability and earning potential. 5. Many studies have shown that education increases not only a person's employability and earning potential but also their self-esteem. Education makes you a well-rounded person. 6. As it widens your understanding about what is possible in the world, education increases your awareness and appreciation of areas that affect and enrich human lives. Education affects both community involvement and personal health. 7. Education helps to 1) prepare individuals for community activism by helping them understand political, economic and social conditions, and 2) increase knowledge about health behaviors and preventive care. About the Author: Kenneth Kee email: kwk481@gmail.com website: http://www.kennethkee.com http://kennethkee.blogspot.com http://dotkee.110mb.com http://mirage800.110mb.com http://success.myweb.io http://mirage.myweb.io Profile: A newbie to world of internet marketing. At the age of 59 years, I am struggling to learn the in and outs of online marketing. I am a educator,part-time healthcare worker,computer hardware hobbyist,now ebook writer and internet marketer. I am also a full time lifelong learner. Graduated in 1972, did my Masters in 1991 and doctorate in 1993. Read more articles by: Kenneth Kee Wee Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Top Five Tips For College Freshmen And Sophmores

1. Let Your Major Pick You A lot of college students ask me what majors will look best on paper when it comes time to apply for a job or to graduate school. At this point in your college education, you really have no business committing to a career yet. You should be exploring – different classes, different internships and part-time jobs, different activities, different professors. Take a wide variety of classes, even if variety is not mandated by your school’s graduation requirements, and you’ll figure out pretty quickly which ones you’re passionate about. 2. Follow the Professors Find out who the best teachers are and load up on those classes. The best teachers could lecture every day on the history of Brazilian trade unions and you’d still be fascinated and learn how to think. A site like RateMyProfessors.com has its limitations, but it’s just one more resource to help you find the best ones. (And if you want to see that shoe on the other foot, check out RateYourStudents.Blogspot.com.) Start cultivating relationships with your professors – be engaged in class and talk to them during office hours. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Aside from the academic benefits, you’ll need them for graduate school recommendations in just a few years, and sometimes they have industry contacts as well. 3. Do Your Own Career Research Many professors and college administrators (including folks at the career center) haven’t spent much time outside of academia, so don’t treat them as your only resources as you explore careers and line up internships or other job opportunities. Make every summer in college a strategic part of your post-graduation career planning – many employers make permanent offers to their summer interns. 4. Be Smart About Your Financial Future Most people borrow for college, and for every dollar you spend now, you’ll be paying up to two in the future, depending on how long it takes you to pay back your loans. Check out financial planning calculators -- FinAid.org has good ones -- to figure out how much money you need to be making after graduation to make your monthly loan payments. Save your credit cards for emergencies, and don’t fall for those seductive credit card pitches on campus. Get in the habit of tracking your spending (check out Moneypants.com) – it’s a habit that will serve you well for the rest of your life. 5. If You Lose Your Bearings, Take a Breather Sometimes life gets in the way of our best intentions. You won’t be able to go back and do college over again, so make sure you can give school your undivided attention while you’re there. If external circumstances make that impossible (a recurring or serious illness, serious family difficulties, needing to work more than 20 hours per week), explore taking a semester or even a year off to get a handle on whatever that problem is. Most students in these situations try to push through the crisis, and their transcripts end up looking like train wrecks. They’ll have to explain and make excuses for their grades for a long time to come. You’re much better off showing people a transcript with great grades and having to explain why you needed to take time out in the middle. About the Author: Career Expert, Anna Ivey, is the Former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School and author of The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions. Currently, she advises young people as they navigate life after college, helping them make life path decisions - career, graduate school, etc. Visit http://www.annaivey.com or contact Anna at anna@annaivey.com. Read more articles by: Anna Ivey Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

There's No Reality, Only Perceptions

It has occurred to me lately just how the filters through which we see and read events determine how we evaluate and react to them. The phrase, "You look at the world through rose-colored glasses" is an axiom that is truer than I've ever suspected. I began seeing how people really do wear different glasses through which they see and react to things when I began writing in earnest. Sometimes this is good, I suppose, if you have on a really good pair of glasses that filter things correctly. If you are wearing a filtering pair of glasses that prompt you to react rationally to things, this is good. If you are wearing a pair that prompts you to determine everything that happens to you as a personal attack, this is bad. When I wrote in college, someone had to really be riled to sit down and bother to write a letter to the editor and send it in. Today, with email available to all, it is too easy to react first and think later. Also, in today's world some think it appropriate to kill you when you express something in your prose they don't like. Check out the story about how Chauncey Bailey was killed for writing his opinions. A fine publication for those contemplating moving overseas and starting life anew is Escape Artist. I've published several pieces for them in the past. Three more will appear over the next three months. The piece, Want to be an Expat or a Fakepat? appeared in a recent issue and has prompted readers' responses that nicely demonstrate that reality tends to be, more often than not, more about our perceptions than about objective truth. My story, Want to be an Expat or a Fakepat, brought in several emailed responses: 1.) I am a Canadian expat living in Culiacán, Sinaloa. My wife and son are natural Mexicans. I read your article about fakepats in the Escape from America Magazine. I totally agree your comments on the ignorant nature of many of the foreigners (us Canadians included) who come here expecting to find a Fantasy Island welcoming party. I don’t want to infer that adapting to life here is easy or should be; a really humble effort has to be made to assimilate into Mexico’s enduring culture. 2.) LOVED your expat/fakepat article! As a woman living in the Southwest who has visions of living in Mexico dancing in her head, this was more great info to consider. Thanks again for the great article. I've seen many Americans in this category (unfortunately), not just in Mexico, but other places as well. My thoughts are if you want to live in another country, you adjust to that country, it doesn't have to adjust to you. The third response meant the most since it came from a Hispanic cultural analyst who said this: 3.) I just read your article on living in Mexico titled expat or fakepat. I applaud you. This is the kind of advice I have been writing to authors who I think have given a less than accurate account of living in Mexico. I have spent my entire career launching fortune 100 companies through out Latin America this is the first time I have read something which was unvarnished and straightforward about living in Latin America. --Suerte, Juan-Manuel Then, in contrast, I received an email from someone identifying himself as Hispanic and who expressed total outrage. He was incensed at what I had to say in the article. How do you account for this? Perception tends to be everything. I receive favorable reviews, then comes the one who takes a look at my prose with a different set of filters in his glasses and has a melt down. Book authors get this too. My favorite travel writer, Bill Bryson, on his book Neither Here Nor There, got pelted with everything from accusations of "xenophobia" to "poor writing" and "where's the editor?" comments from readers on Amazon.com. I've read the book countless times and I am left wondering, " Just what book did these people read?" It couldn't have been the same one—those perceptions! My two books, The Plain Truth About Living in Mexico, and Guanajuato, Mexico, both projects being relocation guides and dealing with expatriation issues, were characterized by Bruce Drake, Former Vice President for News and Information with National Public Radio (NPR), this way: “But the Bowers' book has that ring of authenticity and is squarely aimed at the (for lack of a better cliché) "average Joe" who is looking for a life that is different and/or better and needs down-to-earth practical advice on how an American can make this transition,” and “I found this book to be far superior to the general run of guides on the expatriate life or retiring in Mexico. Some of the others of this genre just lack the ring of authenticity.” Here was a former editor for the Washington Bureau with NPR News giving this review of two of my books. Then these comments come along: Not worth the pesos, November 3, 2005 Truth as one sees it, June 28, 2007 Too much ranting, too little information, August 3, 2006 Where was the editor? July 19, 2006 (Every writer, even the big names gets this comment!) I guess these "reviewers" didn't quite hear the "ring of authenticity" that reviewer Bruce Drake heard. There is no reality, just perceptions. Just an axiom? I don't think so. Not any more. About the Author: Learning a New Language Has Never Been Easier Read more articles by: Douglas Bower Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Living And Working Where You Want!

Living and working any where you want, sounds like a vision come true. Others are doing it, is it your turn? We all come up with excuses that help us feel better about not going after our goals. Well isn't it time you stop making excuses and get on with your dream? Living the life of your dream, what does it mean to you? Isn't a dream just a journey of sorts? A place where we would like to be. Step by step we can live in our utopia, living where we want and working in our dream job. Could you be asking how can I continue my dream when I am stuck in my life? With bills to pay, and barely making it by. What if I tell you that, where you are is a direct result of the decisions you have made? Ouch, that one hits home.... We are where we are, as a result of what we've done or have not done. A stark reality. Do you find yourself stressed out and off your journey? Asking yourself, can I really achieve my goals? Just like being in a strange territory without a map... we would pass by on quite a few fun stuff to see and do. A squandered life. Most of us want success, so many have tried. More importantly so many are getting their dream life. Isn't it your turn? What is it, that those who are living the dream are doing, that you are not? What is their secret? How can You find out? Don't you wish you could just go and ask them to show you the way? I know I do. Spending most of my adult life studying the success and set backs of others and having had success come and go in my life, I learned a lot along the way. A essential point I learned was, when going to a new destination... set up a good plan or even better than that, get a good mentor who knows the field. Mentors will help you save time and money when pursuing your dream, living and working your way. How we select good guides and mentors is nearer than you think. They really do want to help you succeed with your ambition, working online. Creating your dream! You're About To Learn 'Secrets' That Most People Will Never Know About How To Really Succeed Online...follow me the guy with the map. About the Author: Joe Kennedy is a successful online marketer and pro skier. Certified coach. Founder Positive Impact International and a Success coach at http://tinyurl.com/zmr9h Joe can be reached at http://www.nowyoubeyou.com Read more articles by: Joe Kennedy Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Living And Working Where You Want!

Living and working any where you want, sounds like a vision come true. Others are doing it, is it your turn? We all come up with excuses that help us feel better about not going after our goals. Well isn't it time you stop making excuses and get on with your dream? Living the life of your dream, what does it mean to you? Isn't a dream just a journey of sorts? A place where we would like to be. Step by step we can live in our utopia, living where we want and working in our dream job. Could you be asking how can I continue my dream when I am stuck in my life? With bills to pay, and barely making it by. What if I tell you that, where you are is a direct result of the decisions you have made? Ouch, that one hits home.... We are where we are, as a result of what we've done or have not done. A stark reality. Do you find yourself stressed out and off your journey? Asking yourself, can I really achieve my goals? Just like being in a strange territory without a map... we would pass by on quite a few fun stuff to see and do. A squandered life. Most of us want success, so many have tried. More importantly so many are getting their dream life. Isn't it your turn? What is it, that those who are living the dream are doing, that you are not? What is their secret? How can You find out? Don't you wish you could just go and ask them to show you the way? I know I do. Spending most of my adult life studying the success and set backs of others and having had success come and go in my life, I learned a lot along the way. A essential point I learned was, when going to a new destination... set up a good plan or even better than that, get a good mentor who knows the field. Mentors will help you save time and money when pursuing your dream, living and working your way. How we select good guides and mentors is nearer than you think. They really do want to help you succeed with your ambition, working online. Creating your dream! You're About To Learn 'Secrets' That Most People Will Never Know About How To Really Succeed Online...follow me the guy with the map. About the Author: Joe Kennedy is a successful online marketer and pro skier. Certified coach. Founder Positive Impact International and a Success coach at http://tinyurl.com/zmr9h Joe can be reached at http://www.nowyoubeyou.com Read more articles by: Joe Kennedy Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit

Start To Take Control Of Your Life! 5 Simple Steps To Your Success!

Do you feel like you are running in circles with your life, and you can't seem to straighten it out? Do you feel that you are doing everything in your power to succeed, however aren’t getting the results you were hoping for? If so, you’re not alone. Many people on this earth share this feeling with you. In fact, a very large percentage of the population struggles to keep their head above water with the consistent pressures of their J.O.B., Family, Finances, and “Unfulfilled Successes”. There seems to be this unspoken force that drives people to the depths of false promises and mediocrity. An idea that we should all have to break our backs, in order to make a buck. At one point, I too felt this force pinning me down to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore. I started to search in hopes to find a better way. To find some kind of light that would show me the way to success and relieve this unbearable pressure. Through my studies and development, it appeared to me that this “force”, was nothing other than my own Mind! Beliefs that I had picked up as a youngster and held on to were holding me back in my successes of today. This has proved to be a very valuable find, for I now know that success has always been there, however “I” had to be there, in my mind, before it was revealed to me. Success is a choice, and so is failure. You have this choice everyday. Whatever is going on in your life right now is a direct result to the choices that you have made in the past. The good news is that everyday, is indeed, a new day! Are you taking the right actions to be successful? If you truly desire success, you’ll want to implement these Five simple recommendations into your daily schedule. 1. Daily Meditation/Visualization of Goals – Specific goal setting and daily review; visualize your Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (S.M.A.R.T.) goals with the emotion as if you have already have attained them. 2. Daily Income-Producing Activities – You can choose to be doing something that will produce revenue right now, if you are just thinking about it or trying to get everything lined up, you are just wasting time. 3. Study Personal Development – On a daily basis too; you can get plugged into the study of personal development, if you do not, you simply become a reflection of what you are plugged into (news media, negative friends and anything else that can bring you down) you are a product of what you allow into your mind. 4. Mastermind With Other Leaders - Have mentors and a coach; people that are having success in the area you want to succeed in. This will keep you on track and focused. 5. Cultivate the Expectation of Leadership – Leaders lead by example and do not look back and dwell on their failures. Expect excellence from yourself first and do the things you need to do on a daily basis. Then you can expect the same from others; people will become successful and contribute to your success by your influence and example. Once you start to implement these components into your daily schedule, you will find that that “force”, that was weighing you down, becomes a lot lighter, and what you desire will start to manifest. Remember, it’s your choice! About the Author: Trent Snodgrass is a home business owner that has assisted others in reaching financial success. For more information visit: http://www.livenlife.com/trentandjen or 1-888-897-4026 Read more articles by: Trent Snodgrass Article Source: www.iSnare.com Share: Del.icio.us Digg Reddit