iL Capo Habits

The 7 Failings of Really Useless Leaders (rev1)

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:25:00 +0000

“it is quicker, easier and more effective for us as managers to stop doing the things that demotivate people than it is for us to bolt on radically new techniques from acknowledged inspirational leaders…….People the world over are more likely to be disaffected, disengaged or demotivated by their managers than motivated or inspired.”

Don't Try To inspire Your People. That's Pointless.

Just Stop The Seven Things You're Doing That Demotivate People Utterly. You ll Soon Become A Better Leader Unlike other leadership books, The Seven Failings of Really Useless Leaders does NOT concentrate on good or great leadership.

We know that copying other people blindly just doesn't work.

So here it is in short if you don't want to read the book :)

* Killing enthusiasm through micromanagement, coercion and disrespect;

* Killing emotion by being aggressive, lacking empathy and not supporting work-life balance;

* Killing explanation through incomplete or inconsistent communication;

* Killing engagement with limited team goals and an insistence on managers dictating objectives;

* Killing reward by rewarding the wrong things or doing it in the wrong way, for example, by offering a cash bonus to someone who is not motivated by money;

* Killing culture, for example by ignoring differences in working cultures when managing mergers between organizations or by “punishing risk-taking” while trying to introduce a culture of innovation; and

* Killing trust by making unfair decisions when hiring or rewarding staff.

- Five Ways to Simplify Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Everywhere you look, it seems everyone and everything are moving at the speed of light (or faster). With so many commitments, roles, and obligations, it’s often hard to stay focused on what is most important to you, and your dreams fall by the wayside as a result. No matter what you do, you still need to find ways to free yourself from the chaos of daily life. Here are five simple ways to make your life less complicated right away.

1. With each potential task ask yourself, “Does this contribute to my goals?” If it doesn’t, simply don’t do it. Don’t waste time on efforts or projects (or even thoughts) that will only usurp time from your biggest priorities and dreams. You’ll be amazed when you see how much time you wasted on nonessential things.

2. Refuse to start making piles. Most of us have piles: piles of magazines; piles of mail; piles of recipes; and piles of piles. Get rid of your piles. Then, once you have, simply don’t allow yourself to create a new one. If you have anything you feel you may want to put it in a pile, either file it away or throw it away. Giving yourself only two options will free up time for more important things and free up space so you can think more clearly.

3. Keep your checkbook balanced. It only takes a few minutes every day, but the return on your investment is tremendous—you will have less stress and more confidence in yourself. If you have monetary goals, keeping your finances in focus and at-hand will make it easy for you to stay on track.

4. Say “no.” True, it is difficult for most people to say no, but it is the easiest way to simplify your life. Saying no returns authority back to you and clarifies your goals for others.

5. Give your solutions a chance. The pace of the world today may fool you into rushing into life changes when really, all you need to do is leave things alone for a little while for them to improve. It’s simpler (and smarter) to commit to a course of action in life and at work and let it fully play out—rather than panicking and changing your mind, direction, and goals constantly.

- An actor prepares

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Getting read to ‘act’ in life is just the same as getting ready to act on stage, says Michael Neill. And the methods he learned in his actors’ training, including how to put more passion into your performance, have a lot to teach us on how to get up out of your seats, get on the boards, and get things done.

An actor prepares … and so does anybody else who wants to succeed!

PROLOGUE: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the study of how certain people manage to produce exceptional results in their lives, and to isolate and share the strategies and states which allow them to do that.

But NLP is not the only discipline interested in replicating human excellence, nor is it the first. For thousands of years, actors have been exploring the human psyche in an attempt both to instruct and inspire audiences, and to gain a greater understanding of what it is to be human.

One of the most important facets of actor training is preparation: the work done before acting in a role which allows you to commit your full attention on stage or screen to the task at hand. In this article, I will be sharing with you a selection of exercises from ‘actor training’ that will enhance and enrich your ability to prepare for any major or important real life event.

In order to make this as useful to you as possible, you might want to take a moment, now, to think about an upcoming event that is important to you – whether it is an interview, a meeting, a phone call, or even a decision that you have to make. And so, without further ado …

ACT ONE: Acting on Purpose

Here’s a little experiment for you to try. Imagine that somewhere nearby is hidden a priceless collection of diamonds. Your mission (objective/intention/outcome/goal) is ‘to get the diamonds’. Begin repeating the words `to get the diamonds’ over and over in your mind, like an affirmation or a mantra.

After a few moments of silent repetition, look up from the magazine, and begin scanning the room for a possible hiding place. If there are other people around you, they might stop you from achieving your outcome. Notice any thoughts that come into your mind as you continue repeating your silent mantra, `to get the diamonds, to get the diamonds, to get the diamonds …’

You may decide to put this magazine down, get up, and walk around for a minute or two, aware of how your thoughts, and perhaps even your persona, begin to change as you continue to repeat your outcome. I’ll see you in a minute …

Whatever you discovered as you went through that little experiment, you now have a reference for one of the ways in which an actor may create for himself or herself an alternative reality. Repeating your outcome over and over again in your mind automatically begins to generate thoughts which go to support or surround this outcome.

Actors (in Stanislayski’s method of acting) must always have a clear intention (outcome) on stage. These intentions, or objectives as they are sometimes called, are then made up of actions. The purpose of the rehearsal period is to experiment with different outcomes, actions, and emotions until the ones that work best have become second nature.

In performance, the actor can then trust his `unconscious competence’, and ‘play the moment’, re-acting to whatever is going on around him- or herself, ensuring that each performance will have its own personal effectiveness. The point of the preparation has been to be able to forget about it in the moment of action, and focus your full attention on the task at hand.

Here’s the strategy, in a nutshell:

1. Choose your outcome.

2. Decide some of the actions you could take that will lead to your outcome.

3. Choose what emotional state (or combination of states) you want to be in as you pursue your outcome.

4. Put yourself in the appropriate emotional state, rehearse going after your outcome, and make adjustments to your actions and feelings, until what works has become second nature to you.

(A more complete description of how to put yourself into an emotional state and mentally rehearse an important event is contained in `Act Two’ below.)

5. When it comes time to actually do what it is you set out to do, take a moment to review your preparation. Focus briefly again on your outcome and actions, and put yourself into an appropriate state of mind.

6. Do it!

And pay attention to what is going on around you, trusting that your preparation will cause you to do and say just the right thing to create your desired outcome.

If at any point your mind starts to wander, you can repeat your outcome in your mind, over and over, until you are refocused on the task at hand.

INTERVAL:

Releasing the Emotional Hostage.

When I was a teenager, I was playing the Puerto-Rican gang member ‘Chico’ in a production of West Side Story, the musical version of Romeo and Juliet. We had been doing the show for over a month, and I tended to just ‘go into automatic mode’, a sort of pleasant, day-dreaming trance that got me through the tedium of doing the same thing day in and day out (even if that ‘tedium’ was dancing in front of 1,000 people a night).

There’s a scene early on in West Side Story called the ‘Dance at the Gym’, where the two gangs assert their national pride by attempting to out-dance each other. It was great fun to do, involving much dancing, leaping about, and in the case of my Puerto-Rican gang, the repeated shouting of ‘Ay Caramba!’ and other assorted cod-Spanish ejaculations.

Two scenes later comes ‘The Rumble’, a darker dance, where the two gangs assert their masculinity by attempting to out-kill each other.

On this particular night, one of the members of the American gang, a character named `Snowball’, came out on stage and began to make fun of the way we had been dancing, in particular, mocking the shouts of ‘Ay Caramba!’ which had filled the air so joyously only moments before.

Suddenly, I felt a surge of very real emotion swelling up inside of me. I don’t know if you’ve ever been discriminated against because of your race, your gender, or your sexuality, or your class, but I was furious and was fully prepared to kill this ‘American pendejo‘ .

Now, one of the traits that most actors share is that, no matter how intense the situation, no matter how involved they are in what’s going on, a small part of their attention remains on the outside, monitoring internal and external reactions, and storing them away for future use.

(As a friend of mine was fond of saying whenever one of us would get upset, ‘Use it in your acting, dearie!’)

So, as part of me was preparing to rumble with the Americans, the actor part of me was having a conversation with myself in that moment which went something like this.. .

SELF: That pendejo, who does he think he is?!

ACTOR: Wait a minute, wait a minute, this is cool!

SELF: What do you mean, cool? Snowball is making fun of me, and everything I stand for!

ACTOR: No, he’s not. You’re not really Puerto-Rican. His name’s not Snowball, it’s Mike Dufault. And you guys are friends – it’s only make believe!

SELF: Then why does it feel so real?!

After the show that night, I was filled with excitement. My emotions were clearly more flexible than I had thought, because they had been so genuinely stirred by make-believecircumstances. If I could create emotional states within myself simply by repeatedly and vividly making believe that certain things were true, what would happen if I did the same thing off-stage, designing my emotional life to fit in with the circumstances I most wanted to create in my life?

One of the most fascinating of all actor skills, and probably the least understood, is the ability to create emotions ‘out of thin air’. In the sections below, I’ve laid out four of the different methods for doing this that I’ve come across in my own actor training. Again, I would encourage you to think about applying them in the context of that important event that’s coming up for you. Now …

ACT TWO: Emotional Mastery and …

There are two primary blocks to emotional mastery.

The first is physical tension. Any emotion is expressed through your physical body. When you’re tense, certain emotions find it difficult to come out and play. A good habit to get into is to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and relax. Become aware of:

- the sensations in your body, from head to toe;

- any images flashing through your mind;

- anything you might be saying to yourself, on the inside.

This ‘personal inventory’ is frequently taught on NLP courses as a means of increasing self-awareness, and has the useful side-effect of relaxing your mind and body.

The second block to experiencing emotions fully is the fear that, if you allow yourself to really feel an emotion ‘deeply’, you might get `swallowed up’ by it, and be unable to shake it off for hours, or even days.

Personally, I think this is one of the best reasons in the world to repress your feelings, and I would no more throw myself into a fit of rage. or sink myself into a morass of depression, without knowing I can get out of it easily than I would go technical rock climbing without a safety rope.

Fortunately, there is a very simple way to get yourself back from any emotional exploration. The classic NLP model for the structure of an emotional state is that it is made up of your physiology (or the way you use your body) and your internal representations (or the pictures, sounds, and words you say in your head).

In order to ‘break state’ after an emotional exploration, vigorously shake your body (changing the physiological element of the emotion), shake your head (clearing the mental screen of images), and `blurble’ your lips in a sort of a ‘raspberry’ sound, which will clear out all of your internal dialogue.

(Try telling yourself you’re a bad person while making a loud luting’ sound with your lips. It loses some of it’s emotional impact, doesn’t it?)

You might want to practise this ‘break state’ thing once or twice before reading on, and before you participate in the upcoming emotional experiments. Then again, depending on who you’re with. So, now …

.. How to Create an Emotional State

1. Affective Memory

This is one of the basic elements of so-called `Method acting’, and was one of the primary methods taught by the late Lee Strasberg, mentor to, amongst others, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, and Marilyn Monroe. It is taught on many NLP courses as ‘Contextual Hallucination’, or more prosaically, ‘Think of a time. . .

Affective memory is a naturally-occurring phenomenon that can be used consciously and unconsciously to make you happy, or to make you miserable. If you were to take a moment now to think of some past sad experience, you would probably begin to feel a little bit sad.

If, on the other hand, you think back to a funny experience, and really go right back to it in your mind, so that you’re seeing what you saw, and hearing what you heard, and feeling what you felt, you will probably begin to smile right now.

This process can be heightened by repetition, by ’stacking’ one funny memory – or `trigger’ – on top of another, and by making the images, sounds, and feelings of that memory more vivid. Involve your body in the memory, and you will find the feelings begin to intensify – for any emotion that you want to feel.

2. In the Beginning was the Word …

Another exercise for developing the facility of emotional choice is simply to notice that every word you can use to describe an emotional state has a corresponding location in the body.

So, take a deep breath and relax. Now, repeat the word ‘curiosity’ in your mind while tuning in to the sensations in your body. When you’ve got a sense of it, point to the place in your body where you most feel that word. With ‘curiosity’, most people will point to their heads, but your response will be unique to you.

Now, take a few moments with each of the following words: suspicion – anger – desire -love – joy. In my experience, most people will feel suspicion in their eyes, anger in their chests, desire in their loins, love in their hearts, and joy from their bellies through their upper body. Again, wherever you notice is the right answer for you.

Now, once you’ve tuned in to the specific location of an emotional state, you can intensify it by doing anything that raises your level of autonomic arousal, eg, by walking round the block, taking a few deep breaths, doing some push-ups, or by a couple of dynamic gestures.

With practice, you’ll be able to not only create these states at will, but to carry them around with you, to use in any situation you desire.

3. The Magic of As If’

Stanislayski, the godfather of 20th-century acting technique, considered the words ‘as if’ to be magic, and the key to unlocking the world of imagination. An application of the magic of ‘as if’ to your emotions is to act ‘as if’ you feel a certain way. This idea has been sometimes described as ‘using the tail to wag the dog’.

The following technique, long a mainstay of Stella Adler (she was Marlon Brando’s first acting teacher), is especially useful when you want to change your emotional state quickly. Simply by changing the way you sit, you can change the way you feel.

Let’s say you want to feel happy. Well, one thing you could do is to think back to a happy experience, but let’s pretend that you can’t think of any just at the moment.

So, how would you be sitting right now, if you were already happy? What kind of an expression would you have on your face?

How would you be breathing? In a nice, relaxed, gentle rhythm, or something more intense?

Answer these questions with your body -actually shift in your seat so that you are sitting and breathing, scowling or smiling, the way you imagine you would be if you were already happy.

If you want to feel even happier, go ahead and move around the room the way you think you would move if you were already feeling happy. (You can take this article with you!) How quickly or slowly do you move? What’s the feeling behind your eyes?

Go ahead and gesture in the way you imagine you would gesture if you were already feeling happy. If people are beginning to look at you strangely, what would you say to them if you were feeling ridiculously happy now? How would you say it? In a slow, low, growly voice, or a light, high, fluffy voice? Or somewhere in between? What kinds of things would you say to yourself? How would you say them?

4. Role Modelling. (A variation on the magic of ‘as if )

Sometimes, when an actor is just starting out in her or his training, she or he will find her-or himself unable to ‘let loose’ and experience emotions fully, particularly it in life, he or she is not especially expressive, a bit of a ‘low reactor’.

One useful technique for experiencing emotions beyond your normal range is to pretend that you are someone else, usually somebody famous, or a character in a book or film. (Anthony Hopkins claims to have based his Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs on Margaret Thatcher – ‘A woman,’ he said, ‘who was so confident that she was right as to be bordering on the psychopathic.’)

Let’s now go back to your important situation, the one you chose at the beginning of the article. How would you need to feel in order to best do and express whatever it is you want to do and express in that situation?

Perhaps you’d like to feel more confident, more patient, or more loving. Think about someone who, for you, epitomizes the quality or qualities you would like to embody, and who could carry off the situation with ease and aplomb. [NLP Practitioners will spot the affinity here with one step of Dilts's 'New Behaviour Generator - Ed.]

Imagine that person is in the room with you right now. How do they look? What is it about the way that they move or speak that lets you know they are the way you would like to be? Shift your body so that you are standing or sitting like them. Gesture the way they would gesture.

What expression do you (they) have on your face? How do you look around the room? What sort of things might you (they) say to yourself? If you like, walk around the room as if you were your role model.

As an extension of this exercise, imagine that you are the director of a film based on your ideal life, and you have cast in the leading role the actor you would ideally like to play you. Coming up is the scene in the film where you make that phone call, or have that meeting, or whatever your important real-life situation is.

Imagine your role model acting in the scene, and pulling it off brilliantly. The phone call is a success, the meeting has gone better than you could possibly have expected, the situation is a success. Keep adjusting the scene until it’s perfect. (Don’t worry about your actor. He or she is used to constant rewrites, and any number of re-takes!)

When you’ve got it in your mind the way you want it, it’s time for the ‘understudy’ to rehearse the scene. Imagine that it is now you in the film, doing and saying the things that your ’star’ did. Perhaps there are one or two refinements you think of that your ’star’ left out. Rehearse the scene until you are completely happy with it, either in your home, or in the privacy of your own mind.

(In case you feel in any way daunted by the prospect of actually doing what seemed so delightful when your ’star’ did it, I offer you the advice Laurence Olivier gave his understudy, the young Albert Finney, before Finney took over from Olivier’s acclaimed performance as Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.

When Finney asked what to do about his pre-show nerves, Olivier replied, ‘Do what I do, dear boy. . . amaze yourself with your own daring!’)

ACT THREE: The Performance Itself

On the day of the actual event, you can simply review your preparation, and then improvise, trusting that the rehearsal time you have put in will be sufficient for your success. As with any performance, be prepared for things to go slightly different than they did in rehearsal.

And, as every actor discovers, sooner or later, you ultimately evaluate your performance not so much by how you felt while you were doing it, but by how you made your audience feel.

(nlpconnections)

- H1N1: Just Another Flu?

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:58:00 +0000

(from recent news reports)..

It has been five months since the A(H1N1) influenza virus -- aka the swine flu -- climbed to the top of the global media heap, and with the start of the Northern Hemisphere's annual flu season just around the corner, the topic is worth revisiting.

If you take only one fact away from this analysis, take this: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that hospitalization rates and mortality rates for A(H1N1) are similar to or lower than they are for more traditional influenza strains. And if you take two facts away, consider this as well: Influenza data are incomplete at best and rarely cross-comparable, so any assertions of the likelihood of mass deaths are little more than scaremongering bereft of any real analysis or, more important, any actual evidence.

=====

There are a few key characteristics that differentiate this year's A(H1N1) strain from other influenza viruses. Most notable is the fact that the demographic normally associated with influenza vulnerability -- the elderly -- is considered at low risk from A(H1N1), and there has yet to be a single outbreak at any nursing home. Instead, the virus seems to have an affinity for the younger population, with higher infection rates than normal for those 24 years of age and younger, particularly those less than two years old and pregnant women. This higher incidence among the younger population could have a higher than normal disruptive impact on the labor force, when children and parents stay home from school and work. As a result of this new virus, the U.S. government has radically increased the pace of its vaccination program, and A(H1N1)-specific vaccinations will begin in October.

These differences, however, are not game changers. So, while the flu will pose a significant logistical and public relations challenge to governments seeking to prevent outbreaks and control the virus' spread, there is no indication that A(H1N1) will cause even a shadow of the disruption that the hysteria of months past suggested.

Most of that hysteria was rooted in the memory of the 1918 Spanish influenza. Although estimates vary widely -- remember that the world was in the fifth year of a grinding war when the epidemic hit, so bean-counting was not exactly high on the priority list -- most agree that between 50 million and 100 million people perished from the 1918 flu globally, including roughly 500,000 Americans.

The Spanish influenza was particularly frightening because it disproportionately struck down people in their prime -- adults in the 25-35 age cohort -- in addition to the very young and very old (the prime sufferers of traditional influenza viruses). Based on numbers reconstructed from that period, 28 percent of the American population contracted the Spanish influenza, of which 1.4 percent to 2.3 percent perished (or 0.39 percent to 0.65 percent of the population). The 1918-1920 influenza outbreak represents the only time during the 20th century when the U.S. population declined.

There are many unknowns about the A(H1N1) swine flu that are circulating around the world, but with five months of data to draw from, there are some clear manners in which A(H1N1) is not comparable to the 1918 Spanish flu.

Most notable is the mortality rate, or more to the point, the lack of a mortality rate. Global data is sketchy to say the least, but as of Sept. 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) had linked only 3,199 deaths globally to A(H1N1). In the United States, where data is more reliable, the figure is 593, a far cry from the 402,000 to 675,000 American deaths of the 1918 epidemic.

Within the United States, the data STRATFOR finds most complete comes from New York City, one of the most immediately impacted regions when A(H1N1) erupted in April. The city's health department estimates that 800,000 people -- 10 percent of the population -- contracted the virus in the early weeks of its spread. But so far only 930 required hospitalization and only 54 have died.

Bottom line: While A(H1N1) is as communicable as the traditional flu strains, it has shown no inclination to be more deadly. In fact, from what can be discerned from the New York City data, the mortality rate lingers on the edge of the statistically insignificant -- a 0.00675 percent mortality rate among those contracting the virus, translating into a 0.00064 percent mortality rate among the general population.

Reporting the statistics like this is admittedly somewhat skewed. Any death tolls attributed to the A(H1N1) flu naturally cover only the period since A(H1N1) was identified in April. They do not cover the (as yet unfinished) year and obviously do not include any data about the upcoming Northern Hemisphere's annual flu season, which will undoubtedly result in many more flu-related deaths. Nor do the statistics include data from other influenza viruses.

More infections and deaths are sure to follow -- as winter sets in, the rate will increase. And there is always the chance that A(H1N1) will mutate into a more deadly strain -- in fact, this is precisely what occurred with the 1918 Spanish influenza virus. But, at present, neither the WHO nor the CDC appears to suspect that A(H1N1) is any more deadly than any other seasonal flu.

The critical factor to bear in mind is that all strains of influenza claim thousands of lives every year. In the United States, on average, some 36,000 people die of flu every year - 1,100 in New York alone. Globally, deaths related to influenza are estimated to range from 250,000 to 500,000 people per year. So far this year, only about 3,000 people have died worldwide in relation to the A(H1N1) outbreak, and most of those deaths occurred during the flu season in the Southern Hemisphere. From a statistical perspective, at present, A(H1N1) nearly falls into the range of background noise.

(s.for)

- You Can't Always Get What You Want, But...

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:06:00 +0000

"You can't always get what you want...but if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need." The Rolling Stones had it right all these many years ago. With all the chatter about The Law of Attraction...some people are feeling frustrated...especially in this economy.

They are setting intentions for what they want and are expecting to see the results of manifestation. Some people feel impatient, some feel like they didn't do it right. Some people are just plain confused about the process and others tend to give up.

'The Secret' encourages us to put up pictures of the car or house that we want. We keep looking at the pictures envisioning ourselves driving that beautiful car or in the counting house counting all our money. But like attracts like. If our belief systems support old ideas that we really can't do it or we really aren't good enough to receive it then we have a problem.

Our conflicted energy in the present moment will not support the dynamic of manifestation.

Or just, maybe, our soul energy capacity of self-awareness is not interested in the experience of having a new car right now. We decide that we want what we want and it doesn't appear. What is up with that? When we trust in our Inner Essence or our Higher Consciousness or whatever we call it.....we trust that what we need in order to grow is what we get.

Have you ever thought that you really really wanted a certain job? You thought it was perfect for you and you dreamed about it and knew you would be happy there. You rocked the interview and just waited for your phone to ring with the good news. But your phone didn't ring... someone else got the call. It wasn't you. And you grieved and maybe whined just a little bit to your friends. Or maybe it was a relationship that didn't manifest, or a move that didn't work out, or a house deal that fell through.

Now in retrospect, as we look back on those events , we can usually see why that particular job, relationship, etc. was not in our best interest. Perhaps the job was in a location that wouldn't have allowed us to grow and meet people that were important for our development. Perhaps the coworkers or boss were not appropriate for the lessons we needed to learn in that stage of our life. Maybe the person we were so crazy over to be in relationship was not the person that would have brought us the greatest growth necessary at that time. Maybe our primary relationship needed to be with ourselves at the time. But we couldn't see it or didn't want to see it that way.

Our soul is us as our unlimited potential, our capacity for self-awareness. When we think we know more than our soul does, we are living in our egocentric self with a limited perspective that revolves around the 'me'. When we can transform that lower energy of the ego into the higher energy of the Self then we are more in tune with our higher guidance. We know the peaceful vibration of that higher energy and we instantly know what is right.

We learn, over time, to trust our soul's guidance. Every thing that appears in our lives is for our growth into a higher sense of wholeness. We may not like it but if we can learn to accept whatever it is...we create the space for growth instead of resistance. Buddha said whatever we resist, persists. Mick Jagger suggests that when we don't get what we want, we can rest assured that we will get what we need in order to grow. Everything is just as it needs to be for our evolution into the higher planes of heart space. All is well when we rest in the peace of what is. Our inner awareness guides us in the realization that we are already here.

(pdf)

- People Unable to Recognize Conversational Postulates

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +0000

I have difficulty in my communication and building rapport with an associate that seems to have the following characteristics:

1.) Unable to recognize many conversational postulates
2.) Rigid opinions and at times seems obsessive about details
3.) a very moody and anxious person

I have noticed that this individual is not able to go on with the conversation when a "confusing" postulate is used. It also results in frustration and loss of rapport whenever one is used.

Has anyone else come across someone that shares these characteristics?

I've heard of children being unable to recognize postulates but this is an adult. I am trying to not use them in conversations with that person, but this seems to also frustrate the individual and in social settings they seem to creep out others by their displays of frustration whenever this occurs.

When this occurs it tends to feed the anxiety of the individual and make the individual even more rigid and the group even more awkward. It creates a weird social dynamic for everyone around as well.

(nlpconnections)

- Green tea extract - Polyphenon E - may fight prostate cancer

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:42:00 +0000

Published June 19th, 2009 in General Interest, Health, Health News, Medical News, Nutrition, Polyphenols, Popular AACR.org - According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in a green tea extract demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression.

“The investigational agent used in the trial, Polyphenon E (provided by Polyphenon Pharma), may have the potential to lower the incidence and slow the progression of prostate cancer,” said James A. Cardelli, Ph.D., professor and director of basic and translational research in the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport.

Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world, and some epidemiological studies have shown health benefits with green tea, including a reduced incidence of prostate cancer, according to Cardelli. However, some human trials have found contradictory results. The few trials conducted to date have evaluated the clinical efficacy of green tea consumption and few studies have evaluated the change in biomarkers, which might predict disease progression.

Cardelli and colleagues conducted this open-label, single-arm, phase II clinical trial to determine the effects of short-term supplementation with green tea’s active compounds on serum biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer. The biomarkers include hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA). HGF and VEGF are good prognostic indicators of metastatic disease.
The study included 26 men, aged 41 to 72 years, diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled for radical prostatectomy. Patients consumed four capsules containing Polyphenon E until the day before surgery - four capsules are equivalent to about 12 cups of normally brewed concentrated green tea, according to Cardelli. The time of study for 25 of the 26 patients ranged from 12 days to 73 days, with a median time of 34.5 days.
Findings showed a significant reduction in serum levels of HGF, VEGF and PSA after treatment, with some patients demonstrating reductions in levels of greater than 30 percent, according to the researchers.
Cardelli and colleagues found that other biomarkers were also positively affected. There were only a few reported side effects associated with this study, and liver function remained normal.

Results of a recent year-long clinical trial conduced by researchers in Italy demonstrated that consumption of green tea polyphenols reduced the risk of developing prostate cancer in men with high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN).

“These studies are just the beginning and a lot of work remains to be done, however, we think that the use of tea polyphenols alone or in combination with other compounds currently used for cancer therapy should be explored as an approach to prevent cancer progression and recurrence,” Cardelli said.
William G. Nelson, V., M.D., Ph.D., professor of oncology, urology and pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, believes the reduced serum biomarkers of prostate cancer may be attributable to some sort of benefit relating to green tea components, most of which are catechins or polyphenols.

“Unfortunately, this trial was not a randomized trial, which would have been needed to be more sure that the observed changes were truly attributable to the green tea components and not to some other lifestyle change (better diet, taking vitamins, etc.) men undertook in preparation for surgery,” added Nelson, who is also a senior editor for Cancer Prevention Research. However, “this trial is provocative enough to consider a more substantial randomized trial.”

In collaboration with Columbia University in New York City, the researchers are currently conducting a comparable trial among patients with breast cancer. They also plan to conduct further studies to identify the factors that could explain why some patients responded more dramatically to Polyphenon E than others. Cardelli suggested that additional controlled clinical trials should be done to see if combinations of different plant polyphenols were more effective than Polyphenon E alone.

“There is reasonably good evidence that many cancers are preventable, and our studies using plant-derived substances support the idea that plant compounds found in a healthy diet can play a role in preventing cancer development and progression,” said Cardelli.

- Green tea extract (polyphenone) Phase 2, shows promise

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:42:00 +0000

Phase II management of papulopustular rosacea with 2% green tea extract (-EGCg) in a hydrophilic cream: A placebo-controlled, double-blind study, Tanweer Syed, MD, PhD, San Francisco, CA, United States; Seyed Ahmad, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States; Amit Bhakhri, University of California, San Francisco, CA, United States

Objective: We sought to evaluate the clinical efficacy, tolerability, safety, and beneficial effects of 2% polyphenone (-EGCg, epigallocatechin gallate) incorporated in a hydrophilic cream to treat and manage papulopustular rosacea.

Methods: Preselected subjects (N = 100; 37 men/63 women) aged 25 to 50 years having visible signs of papules/pustules were sequentially randomized into two parallel groups. An identical precoded tube containing 50 g (either active drug or placebo) was allocated to each subject with instructions on how to topically apply the trial cream 2 times a day for 4 weeks. Cure was defined as absence of complete clinical signs of treated inflammation. Photographic and optical techniques were used both at baseline and on a weekly basis.

Results: By the end of the study, marked beneficial improvement was observed in both groups. Breaking the code revealed that 2% polyphenone in a hydrophilic cream yielded statistically significantly higher reduction in mean inflammatory lesion count than placebo. The most frequently assessed signs of rosacea were papules/pustules (38), erythema (34), and telangiectasia (28). Using the Investigator’s Global Assessment, therapeutic success in terms of a clear, minimal, or mild result was documented in 72% of patients treated with 2% polyphenone (-EGCg) cream (P <.0001).

Conclusion: The study substantiates that 2% polyphenone (-EGCg) in a hydrophilic cream is safe, tolerable, and significantly more beneficial in contributing superior clinical efficacy than placebo in the treatment and management of papulopustular rosacea.

(rosacea-support)

- Are You Going To Finish Strong???

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:15:00 +0000

- Lowering High Cholesterol (review)

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:49:00 +0000

There are several ways to reduce your high cholesterol levels. The first step is to modify your lifestyle. Eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and losing weight are all beneficial for lowering your cholesterol. Sometimes an individual must combine lifestyle changes with medications. Medications can be prescribed by your physician and will be different for each person.

Fast Facts:

It has been suggested that herbs and dietary supplements such as niacin, soluble fiber, and artichoke leaf can help bring down high cholesterol levels.
Eating foods such as oatmeal, oat bran, walnuts, and foods high in omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for lowering cholesterol.
Reducing saturated fats in your diet helps to lower blood cholesterol levels.

Niacin (also called vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid) is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats. It also reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers harmful cholesterol while raising good cholesterol.

Fast Facts:

U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for adults is between 16 and 18 mg daily.
Good sources of niacin include salmon and tuna, eggs, leafy vegetables, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocados, nuts, whole grains, legumes and mushrooms.
Severe deficiency of niacin in the diet causes the disease pellagra.

Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals, herbs and other substances that are meant to improve your diet. Some play an important role in health, such as folate for pregnant women.

Fast Facts:

Supplements do not have to go through the testing that drugs do.
Some dietary supplements may be harmful under some conditions.
Dietary supplements aren't meant to be food substitutes.

- How To Sniff-Out a Liar!

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:25:00 +0000

There are plenty of dangerously skilled liars--... Indeed, under the right (or wrong) circumstances, we're all guilty fibbers!

According to an oft-cited 1996 University of Virginia study led by psychologist Bella DePaulo, lying is part of the human condition. Over the course of one week, DePaulo and her colleagues asked 147 participants, aged 18 to 71, to record in a diary all of their social interactions and all of the lies they told during them. On average, each person lied just over 10 times, and only seven participants claimed to have been completely honest.

To be fair, most of the time we're just trying to be nice. (When your wife asks if you enjoyed the dinner she cooked, most husbands who know what's good for them say, "It was delicious.") Such "false positive" lies are delivered 10 to 20 times more often than spurious denials of culpability, according to DePaulo's research.

Other studies show that men and women lie with equal frequency, though women are more likely to lie to make other people feel good, while men tend to lie to make themselves look better. As for who we hoodwink, "we lie less frequently to our significant others because we're more invested in those relationships," says Jeffrey Hancock, associate professor of communication at Cornell University.

Imprecise Pronouns:

There is an "I" in "lie," but often not in the lie itself. To psychologically distance themselves from the lie, people often pepper their tales with second- and third-person pronouns like "you," "we," and "they."

The question is: How to know when someone's selling you swampland in Florida?

Traditional polygraph tests, around in some form or fashion since the early 1900s, use sensors to detect fluctuations in blood pressure, pulse, respiration and sweat in response to probing questions. Two problems with polygraphs: First, they only work about 80% of the time, according to the American Polygraph Association. Second, it's not like we are going to carry all that hardware to a business meeting or a bar. And that means relying on our own very limited vigilance.

"Although there are some ways in which liars behave differently from truth-tellers, there are no perfectly reliable cues to deception," admits DePaulo, author of more than a dozen deception studies. "Cues to deception differ according to factors such as the type of lie and the motivation for getting away with it."

While there is no surefire on-the-spot way to sniff out dissemblers, there are some helpful tactics for uncovering untruths.

Liars often give short or one-word responses to questions, while truth tellers are more likely to flesh out their answers. According to a 2003 study by DePaulo, a liar provides fewer details and uses fewer words than an honest person, and talks for a smaller percentage of the conversation.

Skilled liars don't break a sweat, but the rest of us get a little fidgety. Four possible giveaways: shifty eyes, higher vocal pitch, perspiration and heavier breathing. Of course, not everyone who doesn't meet your gaze is a liar.

Heavy Hands:

When telling the truth, people often make hand gestures to the rhythm of their speech. Hands emphasize points or phrases--a natural and compelling technique when they actually believe the points they're making. The less certain will keep gesticulations in check.

"Certain behavioral traits, like averting eye contact, could be cultural and not indicative of a liar," says Joseph Buckley, president of John E. Reid & Associates, which has provided interview and interrogation training to more than 500,000 law enforcement agents to date. The company is also the creator of the Reid Technique, a nine-step interrogation process employed by many U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Liars are often reluctant to admit ordinary storytelling mistakes. When honest people tell stories, they may realize partway through that they left out some details and would unselfconsciously backtrack to fill in holes. They also may realize a previous statement wasn't quite right, and go back and explain further. Liars, on the other hand, "are worried that someone might catch them in a lie and are reluctant to admit to such ordinary imperfections," says DePaulo.

Yet another clue: imprecise pronouns. To psychologically distance themselves from a lie, people often pepper their tales with second- and third-person pronouns like "you," "we" and "they," says Hancock. Liars are also more likely to ask that questions be repeated and begin responses with phrases like, "to tell you the truth," and "to be perfectly honest," says Reid.

The mode of communication matters too. Studies show that we are less likely to lie face-to-face than over the phone or the Web. In one week-long study of 30 college students, Hancock observed that the phone was the weapon of choice, enabling 37% of all the lies, versus 27% during face-to-face exchanges, 21% using Instant Messaging and just 14% via e-mail.

Will we ever come clean? Not likely. Guilty stomach knots aside, the subjects in DePaulo's study confessed that they would tell 75% of the lies again if given the opportunity. Chances are, they'd get away with it.

Curious Questions:
Liars are more likely to ask that questions be repeated and preface pronouncements with, "to tell you the truth," and "to be perfectly honest," says Buckley. Evasive answers to direct questions should raise your hackles, too.

Tongues as Long as Telephone Wires:

Something about the phone seems to bring out the liar in us. In one week-long study of 30 college students, Hancock observed that the phone was the most popular weapon of choice, enabling 37% of the lies told in this time, versus 27% during face-to-face exchanges, 21% using Web-based messaging and just 14% via e-mail. Little surprise, perhaps: Most phone calls don't leave a record behind.

Sparse Specifics:
Liars--amateur ones, anyway--may not have thought through all the particulars of their stories. If you suspect you're being lied to, gently probe for details. (You don't want the person to know you're on to him.)

Pregnant Pauses:
When a person is lying, the gaps between their words often increase, according to a 2002 study led by Robin Lickley, professor of speech and language at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland. While honest folks have the truth locked and loaded, liars tend to take more time between points--no doubt searching for which approach will be the most convincing.

Lack of Cooperation:
Used-car salesmen notwithstanding, people generally don't like to lie. It makes them uncomfortable, even surly. "While a truthful person is concerned, composed and sincere, a liar is often defensive, guarded and less cooperative," says Buckley.

Need to Be Right:
When honest people tell stories, they may realize partway through that they left out some details and unselfconsciously backtrack to fill in holes. They also may realize a previous statement wasn't quite right, and go back and explain further. Liars, on the other hand, "are worried that someone might catch them in a lie and are reluctant to admit to such ordinary imperfections," says psychologist Bella DePaulo, author of more than a dozen deception studies.

(forbes)

- How to Get Your Morning Off to a Great Start

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you woke up filled with energy and fired with enthusiasm, and got straight into your day? Chances are, you raced through a stack of work before lunch, and kept up that sense of momentum in the afternoon. In the evening, you felt happy and relaxed, pleased with what you’d accomplished.

Or … have you ever had one of those mornings where you dragged yourself out of bed, downed a mug of coffee, and pried your eyes open whilst surfing the web or watching television? Chances are, your day didn’t really pick up from there: you found yourself procrastinating, wasting time, and making mistakes. In the evening, you felt like you’d wasted the day.

Getting your morning off to a great start lets you have more good days and fewer bad ones. There are a few simple steps and routines you can put in place to maximise your chances of an energised, productive morning – and a great day to follow:

Get Enough Sleep

If you find yourself extremely reluctant to part from the duvet in the mornings, it could just be that you’re naturally lazy … but it’s more likely that you’re not getting enough sleep. Some people are fine with six or seven hours, others need nine: so don’t assume that your current sleep quota is enough for you.

Ways to maximise your chances of a good night’s sleep include:

Going to bed earlier (set an alarm to remind you to go to bed, if necessary!)
Avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening
Switching off the computer and television and reading for an hour or so before bed – bright screens can prevent you from getting sleepy

Drink Water and Eat (a Healthy) Breakfast

Many people swear that they’re not human until they’ve had their morning coffee. I’d suggest holding off on the coffee for at least a little while after waking up, and drinking a big glass of water instead: being slightly dehydrated will knock your concentration levels right down.

Don’t forget the importance of eating breakfast: your brain won’t run well without fuel. If you don’t feel hungry in the mornings, you’re probably eating too much at dinner. A healthy breakfast like baked beans on wholewheat toast, or oatmeal, will give you slow-release energy to see you through the morning.

Pray, Meditate or Write

Starting off the day with some quiet, inward-focused time really helps you to think about your priorities and goals, and to decide how this day is going to contribute towards your general purpose and aims in life. Depending on your religious beliefs, you might find prayer a helpful way to do this – or you might prefer to meditate.

If you find your mind wandering during prayer or meditation, try writing instead: taking the time to work through your thoughts in a journal will pay dividends, as it often helps you to work out solutions to problems, or to articulate worries that have been nagging unvoiced in your mind.

Get Straight Into Your Day

The first part of the morning is often spent either idling (catching up with friends on Twitter, Facebook, watching the news on television) or rushing around (finding the kids’ school books, packing lunches, hurrying to work).

Try to set up your morning so that you can get straight into the important part of your day. That might mean doing your work first and saving distractions for when you really do need a break. If your mornings are often fraught and busy, get into the habit of putting as much as you can ready the night before.

Tackle a High-Resistance Task

All of us have jobs on our “to-do” list which we really don’t feel like getting on with. Perhaps we’ve been putting off a particular phone call or email for weeks. Maybe we’re writing a book or a dissertation, but can’t ever seem to get started.

If you tackle one of these high-resistance tasks right at the start of your day, you’ll get a huge sense of achievement. It doesn’t need to be time-consuming – just something that you feel a strong reluctance to do. When you overcome this, you set yourself up for a great day when everything else feels like a downhill ride!

- Be A Motivational Leader

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Create a Big VisionTo become a motivational leader, you start with motivating yourself. You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively toward its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with you to fulfill that vision.

Set High Standards

You exhibit absolute honesty and integrity with everyone in everything you do. You are the kind of person others admire and respect and want to be like. You set a standard that others aspire to. You live in truth with yourself and others so that they feel confident giving you their support and their commitment.

Face Your Fears

You demonstrate courage in everything you do by facing doubts and uncertainties and moving forward regardless. You put up a good front even when you feel anxious about the outcome. You don't burden others with your fears and misgivings. You keep them to yourself. You constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone and in the direction of your goals. And no matter how bleak the situation might appear, you keep on keeping on with a smile.

Be Realistic About Your Situation

You are intensely realistic. You refuse to engage in mental games or self-delusion. You encourage others to be realistic and objective about their situations as well. You encourage them to realize and appreciate that there is a price to pay for everything they want. They have weaknesses that they will have to overcome, and they have standards that they will have to meet, if they want to survive and thrive in a competitive market.

Accept Responsibility

You accept complete responsibility for results. You refuse to make excuses or blame others or hold grudges against people who you feel may have wronged you. You say, "If it's to be, it's up to me." You repeat over and over the words, "I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible."

Take Vigorous Action

Finally, you take action. You know that all mental preparation and character building is merely a prelude to action. It's not what you say but what you do that counts. The mark of the true leader is that he or she leads the action. He or she is willing to go first. He or she sets the example and acts as the role model. He or she does what he or she expects others to do.

Strive For Excellence

You become a motivational leader by motivating yourself. And you motivate yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming everything you are capable of becoming. You motivate yourself by throwing your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion. You motivate yourself and others by continually looking for ways to help others to improve their lives and achieve their goals. You become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way.

Your main job is to take complete control of your personal evolution and become a leader in every area of your life. You could ask for nothing more, and you should settle for nothing less.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, see yourself as an outstanding person, parent, coworker and leader in everything you do. Pattern your behavior after the very best people you know. Set high standards and refuse to compromise them.

Second, be clear about your goals and priorities and then take action continually forward. Develop a sense of urgency. Keep moving forward and you'll automatically keep yourself and others motivated.

(pdf)

- Introducing Seishindo

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:58:00 +0000

In Seishindo we support you in honoring the feelings and intuitive wisdom emanating from your body, heart, and soul. It is through the ups and downs of life that you discover your own unique path and actively live the life you desire and deserve. When you discover and honor your unique connection to life, how you think and feel winds up matching your true heart's desire.

Your rational mind, emotions, body, and soul, are all meant to function together as one integral unit. When your whole self lives and breathes as one harmonious unit, you experience who you are as having a meaningful place in the world. By studying Seishindo, you can meld Eastern and Western models of health and well-being, to enrich your life and the lives of those you work with and care for.

THE GENERAL BELIEF SYSTEM OF SEISHINDO

-Nothing stays the same forever.
This can be especially comforting to understand when faced with seemingly insurmountable problems.

-We are all "perfect" as we are. Another way to say this is "We are all perfectly imperfect."

-Each person is much greater than the sum of their parts.

-Trust in your intelligence, talents, creativity, and soul, and do the same with all you come in contact with.

-Each person is capable of many great things. Strive to "recognize" and honor your own magnificence, and the magnificence of everyone you meet. We each have many gifts to share with the world.

-We each have all the resources we need to live a fulfilling, healthy life. This is especially so when we consider we each have resources available to us from our network of friends, family members, colleagues, and community at large. We hold this belief even though we're aware of people and cultures who seem to be destined to great hardship and tyranny.

-The whole world is talking to you and offering you all you need. The task is learning how to "listen" and receive.

-Each person's life is supported by an "intelligence" (Spirit) that is the generative force manifesting the universe we live in. At every given moment you can tap into this intelligence to support you in living the life your true heart desires.

-"You" are a relationship. You are not alone. We're all always in relationship with other people and our environment. We're all always in relationship with Spirit. Sensing into and appreciating our many interwoven relationships is crucial to maintaining a life affirming, compassionate experience of "self" and "other" and what is possible in the world. You can't really trust in yourself, more than you can trust in Life.

-Your body holds the answer to many puzzles your cognitive mind alone cannot express or solve.

-Life is a paradox we will never fully comprehend with our rational mind.

Your thoughts, actions, and emotions are all part of "one loop" of intelligence. It really isn't possible to separate out the physical, emotional, and rational components of "self".

-Logic and emotion are two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other.

-The body is intelligent, expressive and wise and communicates in a highly sophisticated and systematic manner.

-Your "body language" leads to the generation of your verbal language. Change the language of your body and you will change the way you think and feel.

-Pain, stress, and disease are all due to excess energy being trapped in the body. Consider your body to be like a greenhouse. When you're struggling with various challenges it's like when the sun's shining strongly, and all the windows in the greenhouse are closed. Without enough air movement the building overheats and soon all the plants will start to wilt and die. Seishindo helps you learn how to "turn down the heat" by better ventilating your system with breath and movement.

-When experiencing a challenge, staying "embodied and present in the moment" will greatly aid you in solving or dissolving the challenge.

-In order to stay embodied and present your body needs to be able to digest and assimilate your emotions. It's really a lot like when you eat. Eating too fast means your body gets stressed. Talking and thinking too fast has the same effect. When faced with challenges you need to slow down, pause often, and BREATHE.

-The meaning of our life (our reason for living), is a mystery we're all attempting to figure out.

-Everything that occurs in your life has the possibility of being transmuted into a life affirming gift.

-With humility we can realize what we don't know is much larger than what we do know.

-Every challenge you encounter has a solution.

-"Problem" and "solution" are two sides of the same coin. When experiencing a problem, do your best to find a way to flip the coin.

-Suffering, and hopefully joy as well, will visit you many times in the course of your life.

-Most of us live much of our life in the past, believing we are living in the present.

We each have the task of giving the story of our life a happy ending.

-No matter how hurtful or "wrong" we find certain people's actions to be, we'll do well to consider that each person acts from a place of "positive intention". The key in this regard is recognizing that oft times we attempt to fulfill positive intentions by implementing lousy strategies.

-We'll do well to rest easy in the knowledge that frailty and failing are part of the human condition. Few, if any of us, live our entire life adhering to the beliefs that are dear to us.

- Five Rules for Life (selection3)

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:31:00 +0000

1.) "Go as far as you can see and when you get there you will be able to see further."
This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. Like many great quotes, it gets attributed to many different people...Thomas Carlyle, J.P. Morgan, Zig Ziglar. The just of the quote - to me at least - is that you can have lofty goals without necessarily knowing how to achieve them, and you can start towards those goals without knowing exactly how you are going to get there. Just because you can't clearly define how you are going to do something does not mean you shouldn't attempt to do it. Take the steps you know need to be done now, and when you finish them you will figure out what's next.

2.) There are no shortcuts.
We all know the guy who (seemingly) made it without even trying. He got lucky, he was in the right place at the right time...whatever. But we never really know what they did to get to where they are - it is all just speculation, usually from an envious point of view. The fact is, hard work is the only input that consistently yields success. You may be younger or older, you may not have been born with a silver spoon, you may not have an expensive education - but if you work hard and apply yourself, it tends to level the playing field.

3.) Make goals and write them down.
I would like to take credit for this, but someone told me about it years ago. Take out a sheet of paper and draw a pyramid shape. Divide it into three parts. At the top write your biggest goals - what you want from life. In the middle write the major activities you need to accomplish in order to attain that (those) goal(s). At the bottom write all of the action items (daily to-do's) that you need to complete to chip away at the big activities. Work from the bottom up, always keeping your eye on the top.

4.) Step outside your comfort zone.
On a regular basis do something that makes you uncomfortable; take a risk. Are you scared of speaking in public? Force yourself to do it. Don't like planes? Get on one and go somewhere new. Scared of heights? Bungee jump off a bridge. The only way to really experience life is to do new and scary things.

5.) No one is responsible for picking up after you.
You are responsible for you. No one will make you a success or a failure. No one will clean up your mess. No one will force you to do the right thing or prevent you from doing the wrong thing. Accept 100% responsibility for yourself right here and right now, and then act like it. Take responsibility for your decisions, be accountable for your actions, take care of the environment and the Earth.

(tcarson)

- Personal Resilience

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:10:00 +0000

In tough times some people fall apart, but others bounce back -- that's personal resilience. The resilient ones don't just cope but thrive by "pushing the re-set button" on their lives.

(Covey)

- Five Rules for Life (selection2)

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:31:00 +0000

1.) Just ask.
You know the phrase "good things come to those who wait"? It’s completely untrue. Good things come to those who ask for them. Every great opportunity that has come my way has been because I asked for it. Sure, there are people who are better, smarter, and more qualified for just about everything I’m currently doing. But they’re all sitting around waiting for people to come after their spectacular talent.

If you want something, ask for it. What’s the worst that could happen? They say no, and you’re right back where you started - down only the few minutes it took to ask. Particularly in the world of Twitter and email, asking is so simple and quick that there’s no reason not to just go for it. Ask, and you shall receive.

2.) Whenever possible, quit.
I take on too many responsibilities. I’m bad at saying no, and good at overwhelming myself and then not getting anything done. It’s something I think a lot of people are guilty of, and it’s not actually beneficial to anyone. I get overwhelmed, the people I’m doing things for get at best shoddy work, and everybody’s worse off.

So here’s what I’ve learned: quit. Anything you possibly can, quit. We do so many things that don’t add any value to our lives or anyone else’s, and those things get in the way of that which is actually worthwhile. My favorite example is reading a book – if it’s bad, we still tend to finish it just because we’ve already invested time in it. Why not cut our losses, stop reading, and spend that time reading a better book? Being a quitter is not a bad thing - it’s a smart thing. Remove the things from your life that have no value, regardless of how much time you’ve invested, and put your time and energy into things that actually matter.

3.) Ready, Fire, Aim.
I didn’t invent the phrase "Ready, Fire, Aim," but I wish I did. It speaks to a different way of doing things that leads to infinitely better results. Our tendency is to wait for the perfect moment, wait for the stars to align, and for everything to be perfect before we start doing whatever it is we want to do.

Don’t do that, just start! Do it - do it terribly and then step back, take a look, and re-focus to do it better the next time. Google’s done it with a ton of products and it works; they get a decent, but imperfect, product out there and let the trial by fire help them improve it.

If you want to do something, do it. Do it now. Do it wrong. Then figure out what was wrong, and do it better the next time. Ready. Fire. Aim.

4.) Think huge.
One piece of advice everyone gives is "shoot for the moon...even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars." First of all, that is just false. The stars are SO much further away than the moon. But, despite vast astronomical inaccuracies, the point of the saying is dead on.

Dreaming big has two great advantages. First, it ensures that you don’t get bogged down in the small stuff, and that you’re always shooting for something bigger. We’ve all got the capability for huge things in us, and if you want something that’s way beyond you it will keep you running forward rather than standing still.

But the best thing about goal-setting is that it helps you figure out what to do and who to be. When you’re making important decisions, knowing what you ultimately want is critical. If, say, you want to be a fashion designer, many decisions in your life will be made easier by knowing what you want the end result to be. You’ll take certain jobs, live in certain places, meet certain people, and so on. Dream big and know what you want, and the steps to get there usually make themselves clear.

5.) Live in the details.
This sounds totally counterintuitive to the last point, but it really isn’t. Whether as a friend, family member, co-worker, or whatever, being detail-oriented is a huge skill. You’ll remember things better, know people better, and be more equipped to know what’s going on. Knowing the small steps - the "nitty-gritty" - makes you indispensable in all that you do.

To be honest, it’s a rare breed that can both dream and be in the details, but both can be worked on. Being detail-oriented comes from paying close attention, being careful to observe everything, and being present (don’t get lost in your own head). Details can be anything from knowing when your best friend is lying, to understanding a complex process at work. Be observant, be careful, and you’ll be handsomely rewarded and highly sought after.

These all boil down, at their most basic, to one thing: seek value. Get rid of things that don’t add value, find things that do, and keep evaluating everything.

(20life)

- Stop Acting Like Such a Baby

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:38:00 +0000

If we really want to be happy, why do we act like such babies?

We can claim to be proactive in our life by settings goals and going after what we want. But if we’re always whining and complaining all the time, are we really living effectively?

If you don’t believe me, count how many times you complain about something or other in one day. Whether it be being stuck in traffic, being bothered by the weather, not enough mustard on your sandwich, or whatever it is, there are endless instances where you can find a reason to complain.

But it’s not just outside circumstances that we complain about. We complain about about ourselves too. We complain that we don’t have enough time, we don’t have enough money (this one is huge because it’s often “true”), that we’re not smart enough, cool enough, or just enough.

Imagine how much happier you would be if you simply stopped complaining? Much of what you complain about is outside of your control anyway. What’s the point of brooding about something you have no power to change? Not very intelligent, if you ask me.

Simply becoming conscious of how much you complain is the first step to stopping. When you recognize that you’re complaining, stop and take notice of it. Ask yourself if you would rather complain, or be happy.

Are you ready to live a complaint-free, happier life?

The two steps to stop whining so much:

Make it a priority to notice every time you complain or unnecessarily criticize. This includes judging others. Now, every time you catch yourself complaining, just stop and notice it.

After you’ve noticed yourself complaining, ask yourself this: Is there anything I can do about what I’m complaining about, or it outside of my control? If there is something you can do about it, do it. If there is nothing you can do, let it go.

Obviously, this is a little easier said than done. Complaining is an addiction and a hard habit to break. Like any other habit to break, it will take time.

Even though it may be a long time (or possibly never) before you’re living completely complaint-free, that’s still okay. The good news is this isn’t all-or-nothing. Even 10% less complaining will have an immediate positive impact on your life. Then, once you’ve decreased your whining by 10%, you can keep bootstrapping your way down to complaining less and less.

After complaints show up less and less, something awesome starts to happen. Once your mind realizes that you won’t tolerate its moaning, it will begin to give up its efforts. (Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of complaining that you’re complaining.)

(zenh)

- Are you Positive and Proactive?

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:37:00 +0000

Sometimes, we can feel overwhelmed by life, feeling as though small problems are bigger than they should be or that we lose control of ourselves and the outcomes we wish to achieve. Whether it's based on a bad day or a bad year, the solutions are always easier than they seem and yet we fail to see them so clearly.

We often think deeply about the problems we face, try to understand its source or seek others for help and support. But what if you were told that these solutions were the wrong approach to solving the struggles we encounter? In fact, if these were the right solutions then you would be in the perfect place in life, never feeling helpless, alone, or confused without the knowledge and strength to overcome your difficulties. When we dwell on illness, debts, failure, or relationship issues, we plunge ourselves more deeply into a well of overwhelming problems. When we try to think about the root cause of our troubles, we often ignore that our minds and perspectives are biased and erroneous. And when we seek others for support, we often seek the help in those who confirm that we are in the right and ignore the fact that our own past actions are what created our current situation.

Building resentment, frustration, anger, or sadness as well as deciding not to decide or deciding not to care are all false coping mechanisms that we regularly use when we are faced with dilemmas. There is only one solution that exists and that is to find resolution, regardless of how big or small the problem is.

Resolution is the act of creating positive outcomes out of negative events by becoming proactive. Although it's true that a problem is only a problem if you see it as such, and that having a positive attitude in life generates positive circumstances, but how many times have you tried to take hold of that positive attitude only to find yourself denying the problem you need to face? The true challenge in becoming proactive is in seeing challenges in life as opportunities to learn and grow. No matter how traumatizing or mundane a problem is, there's always a purpose for encountering a roadblock and appreciating that purpose is the key to overcoming it.

So why is it that we don't all become proactive? It's because we're often focusing on the problems we have. Rather than looking beyond the problems and keeping our eyes on the goal, we focus in on the problems at hand, ultimately magnifying them till they become overwhelming.

Here are some strategies I've put together to help you get over the bumpy road you may be facing and find yourself a positive outlook.

1 - Change the way you think so you can change the way you feel.
Instead of letting all those negative thoughts run wild in your mind, think positively (or objectively at least). Once you begin to avoid thinking negatively, you will begin to act in a more positive fashion.

2 - In the moments when you can't help being angry or irritated, take a deep breath.
Taking deep breaths for a few seconds is a very well known stress-management technique and it's very effective. Consciously slow your breath down to a regular rhythm while thinking of nothing at all. This will naturally help remove all the negative thoughts.

3 - Get back to the basics and stop worrying about all those extras (like the fancy car, the brand-name clothes, your social status, etc.).
We often spend our time comparing ourselves with others, thus feeling unsatisfied with what we have and our own personal accomplishments. A great man once said: "the way to being a great man is to be better than the man you were yesterday" (or something like that).

4 - Our daily issues and concerns seem miniscule when they're a bigger picture in the way.
Think about a great project to do, a mission, something bigger than yourself or your family. Think about something that can impact a greater number of people for an extended period of time. This activity will put you higher on the 'life goal scale' and make all your other problems seem minimal. When you no longer see your problems as too big to overcome, they no longer become major challenges in your life, you develop the courage you need to face them, and you seem to magically overcome them easily!

Admittedly, these techniques will take time to cultivate but with strength and determination, your stress will be greatly reduced and the more you do it, the easier it gets!

(pdf)

- How Do You Measure Success?

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Quality of life is often measured by the amount of money you make. Success is defined by the kind of car you drive. By the neighborhood you live in. By the toys you own. After all, he who dies with the most toys wins. True or false?

Life was difficult before remote controls and automatic door locks. Skiing was so boring before the new shape skis hit the market. Fishing without a carbon-fiber rod was next to impossible. And the best part of life today is that big-screen plasma HDTV, the one with the universal remote that controls everything. It's the best escape devised yet from an otherwise dull evening.

In contrast, the people of the remote Himalayan country of Bhutan were recently rated as having the poorest quality of life of all but one other country in the world --- after all, their average annual per capita income is only $500. Ironically, however, when you visit the country, there are no beggars, only beautiful, snow-capped peaks, virgin forests, and clean air. The crime rate is extremely low, no one is in a hurry, and there is a strong sense of community. You might almost think that instead of depending on their belongings to entertain them, they've learned to enhance their lives by building relationships with each other.

Be careful to avoid the trap of, "the more you buy, the more you need". Because oftentimes then the more we think we need, the more unhappy we are with what we have. So this year, before buying those new golf clubs, stop and think. Will that $1,000 bring you more happiness through a bag of irons, compared to a few days off with your family, or as a donation to an organization, or a person who is trying to make a difference. It's your choice. It's how you measure it.

So this week count your blessings instead of your possessions. Spend more time with those you love, instead of spending more money on things you lack.

(p.d.forum)

- Five Rules For Life (selection1)

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:52:00 +0000

1.) Be a people person.
You won't go far in life if you shut yourself off from the outside world. Networking, making friends, and playing well with others will aide you in accomplishing your goals. Meet and befriend as many people as you can - you never know which ones will help you in life. And treat others well - when you least expect it they will return the favor.

2.) Your habits control you - so learn to control your habits.
We are creatures of habit, and if our habits are smoking, eating too much, and being lazy we will not accomplish much in life. Develop good habits, and see how your luck changes. Eat healthy, read a lot, rise early, work hard.

3.) Honesty is the best policy.
When you lie, you expend more time and energy trying to deal with it than if you told the truth. We have all done this - who did you tell what to, and what did you tell them? It is hard work. Just tell the truth instead.

4.) Don't spend time worrying about things you can't control.
So many things are out of our control, and there is nothing we can do about them. Instead of worrying about what other people are doing, what might happen to us next week or next year, or if the economy is going to get worse - spend your time and energy focusing on what you can control.

5.) Take risks.
Yes, you are bound to fail. But we all learn from our failures. I would rather take risks and fail repeatedly than reach the end of my life and look back only to say "I wish I had tried to do that...".

(fiverulesforlife)

- Planning, life

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:23:00 +0000

I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.

If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they may have planned for you? Not much.

The reason why most people face the future with apprehension instead of anticipation is because they don't have it well designed.

The guy says, "When you work where I work, by the time you get home, it's late. You've got to have a bite to eat, watch a little TV, relax and get to bed. You can't sit up half the night planning, planning, planning." And he's the same guy who is behind on his car payment!

(jrohn)

- Fitness Rules Made Simple

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:57:00 +0000

Health and fitness are usually made to seem too complex.

You’re told that eggs, butter and meat are bad for you. Then another crowd will tell you those same things are actually good. Then you’ll hear running is good for you, and the bodybuilding and primal crowds will scoff at longer-distance running. You’ll hear that lifting weights is the best way to get into shape, and others will laugh at that. You’ll hear a million variations of the best workouts, of when to time your nutrition, of how to periodize your workouts, of how to measure fitness, of what supplements you need to take … ad naseum.

It’s enough to make you want to give up.

Fortunately, fitness doesn’t have to be that complex.

In fact, you can boil it down to two simple rules:

Get your body moving on a regular basis; and eat a moderate amount of real, whole foods (with occasional indulgences).

I believe if you stuck to those two rules, and stuck with them for awhile, you’d get fit. Doing one but not the other will result in an improvement in health for many people (not all), but it would be an incomplete health. Do both most days of the week and you’re on your way to health and fitness.

But what about specific macronutrient ratios (fancy way of saying the breakdown of protein, carbs and fats)? What about meal frequency and timing? What about workout frequency, splits, timing, reps, and more? You could add all these types of rules and many more, but the truth is, all the complexities are usually a way of masking some simple truths: if you want to lose fat or weight, you have to have a calorie deficit, and if you want to build muscle, you’ve got to use exercise to get stronger. The other stuff is mostly guesswork, and while these complicated programs probably work, they usually work because they promote one or more of the principles in this post, not because of their complexities.

The two rules above are all you need … however, most of us need a little more detail, so here’s a more complete set of simple fitness rules. As always, remember that 1) I’m not an expert — this is just stuff that’s worked for me; 2) this is for healthy adults — people with health problems should seek the advice of professionals.

1. Get moving. Try to do some kind of physical activity most days of the week (4 or more days if possible). If you have an aversion to exercise, don’t think of it as exercise. Just think of it as a way to get your body moving in some fun way. It can be dance, yardwork, hiking, a nature walk, a swim, basketball, rugby, cycling, even housework if you do it vigorously enough. And it doesn’t have to be the same thing each day. I recommend, just for the sake of simplicity, that you do find a regular time slot you could do your daily activity, most days of the week. I prefer mornings but others enjoy lunchtime or after work.

2. Enjoy yourself. Whatever activity you choose, it has to be fun. If you don’t like it, move on to something else. Focus on the fun part, not the hard part. Or learn, as I have, to enjoy the hard stuff! Again, make it fun, or you won’t keep it up for very long. To make sure it’s not too hard, start easy. Focus on just getting moving and enjoying the activity. Start small, and build up with baby steps.

3. Slowly add intensity. Once you’ve been doing an activity for a little while, and you’re in decent shape, it’s good to add some intensity. But slowly — if you add intensity too quickly you’ll risk injury or burnout. So let’s say you’ve been doing some walking for a couple months — you should be ready to add a little jogging or fast-paced walking, in small little intervals. If you’ve been running, try some faster-paced intervals (take it easy at first) or hill workouts. If you’ve been strength training, be sure to add weights (safely) or decrease rest time or add more reps or sets. If you’re playing a sport, really speed things up, or focus on explosive movements. Intensity is a great way to get yourself in shape and have an effective workout in only 20-30 minutes. Here’s a great way to do bodyweight exercises with intensity: do a circuit of bodyweight exercises (such as pushups, pullups, squats, burpees, Hindu pushups, lunges or others) and do as many circuits as you can in 10 or 15 minutes. Next workout, see if you can do more circuits. It’s great!

4. Minimal equipment. There are a million different exercise gadgets out there, from ab machines to elliptical trainers to a whole slew of weight machines at the gym. My rule is: keep it simple. You can do amazing things with bodyweight exercises — in fact, if you are a relative beginner, you should start with bodyweight exercises for at least 6 months before progressing to weights. You don’t need cardio machines — just go outside and walk, run, bike, do hills, climb stairs, sprint. Even if you do weights, a barbell or dumbbells are all you need — stay away from the machines that work your body at angles it’s not meant to use (although cable machines aren’t bad). Even better, get outside and do sprints, pushups, jump over things, pick up big rocks and throw them, do pullups from a tree, climb up rocks, swim, do a crabwalk or monkeywalk, take a sledgehammer or pick and slam it into the ground, flip tractor tires, and generally get a great workout with very little equipment.

5. Just a few exercises. Bodybuilding routines will have you doing 3-4 different exercises per body part. That’s too complicated for most people. Keep it simple in the weight room: squats, deadlifts, presses, chinups or pullups, rows. You can do a lot with just those lifts. Of course, you’ll want to mix it up eventually with some variations, but no need for 10 different ab exercises or things that focus on your rear deltoids or use swiss balls. If you’re doing bodyweight exercises, I love things like pushups, burpees, squats, lunges, pullups, dips, planks. Pick a few and do some circuits with little rest.

6. Eat real foods. One of the most important rules on this list, because if you don’t eat right (most of the time), it doesn’t matter how much exercise you do — you’ll get fat and unhealthy. Aim for real, whole foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. That means stay away from processed, refined, fatty, sugary foods. Veggies, fruits, lean meats, dairy, nuts, beans, whole grains, eggs, seeds. Prepare them yourself if possible — convenience foods often have added ingredients, as well as extra salt, fat, sugar and preservatives. If you follow this diet — with the plant foods making the bulk of the diet — it’s hard to go wrong.

7. Eat less. Most people eat too much, and eventually it shows up as fat. To lose that fat, we need to eat less — it’s really that simple. Of course, if you eat the real foods mentioned above, you’ll probably consume fewer calories, but even so, it’s smart to reduce how much you eat overall, at least until you reach a healthy level of body fat (and even then, you shouldn’t let it all go). One way to do that is by eating slowly and mindfully until you’re just satiated (not stuffed). Another way is to eat smaller meals and watch the portions.

8. Give it time. This is what gets many people — they expect to see results immediately, within the first month or so, because the magazines they read make it seem so instantaneous. But real fitness rarely happens this way — it’s a process and a lifestyle change. I started out in really bad shape, really overweight, and all I did in the beginning was to quit smoking and start running. A year later, I ran a marathon and was a vegetarian — but I was still kinda fat. A year after that, I was still exercising regularly, and had made a lot of progress, but I still had a ways to go. Now, 3.5 years later, I’m in great shape — slimmer and more muscular and much healthier — but I still have a little stubborn belly fat I’m working on. I’ll get there, but I have accepted the fact that it takes time. You didn’t gain the fat overnight, and you won’t lose it that way either. Learn to enjoy the process, enjoy the activities, enjoy the healthy, real food, and you’ll get healthy and fit almost as an afterthought to this new, amazing lifestyle.

(zh)

- Fear

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:43:00 +0000

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear"
Rosa Parks

- Nothing Fails Like Success

noreply@blogger.com (BigDoggChief) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:11:00 +0000

Are you struggling to make changes or respond to changing conditions?

I know many people right now are being forced to change the way they work or live because of our turbulent environment. What we might all consider in these times is what the great historian Arnold Toynbee once said:

Nothing fails like success.

What does that mean exactly? Well, if you consider the challenges you’re facing, you might just be using an old approach that isn’t equal to the challenge. In other words, when we have a challenge and the response is equal to the challenge, that’s called success. But once we have a new challenge, the old, once successful response no longer works. That’s why it’s called a failure.

We have to examine our paradigms (our view of things), our tools, our skills to determine if we’re approaching the problem in the right way. As a first step, we may even step back and make sure we’ve correctly defined the problem. Then we need to see if, based on the evidence of results or lack of results, if we need a new approach.

As you ponder your challenges, consider if you need a new mindset, a new skillset or toolset. You may need to adjust your view, try a different perspective or a new way to think about it. Then you may need to acquire some new skills or tools to tackle the problem. What ever the case, you may need to find a new model to drive success.

This can be an exciting proposition because you will most likely find new growth and development in the process—this is success!

Remember: nothing fails like success. Be vigilant and be ready to continually learn and adapt to new challenges, which will surely come your way.

(SCovey)