What Super Heroes Teach Us About Personl Growth

I have always enjoyed super heroes. Spiderman, Batman, The X-Men, and many others. My favorite of all time would have to be Superman though. Superman always amazed me because he is one of the few super heroes who has to put on a costume to be normal. He also has the ability to have anything he wants, including complete rule over the earth if he so chose, but instead decided to use his powers to help people. There is one major flaw in almost every single super hero though. That one flaw is complete selflessness. Let me explain.

In our society we believe that anyone who is selfish at all is a bad person. For some reason we have picked up the idea that anytime someone does something selfish that they are commiting a sin. Now I am not saying that people should be selfish all the time and never give, however, there needs to be a balance. We should give of ourselves in any way we can to help others live better lives. However, if we don't first take care of ourselves, and if we always have others in mind with every thought, word, and deed, we will never get what we need to live a happy fulfilling life. If you only have ten dollars left until next Friday, it would be silly to give half or all of it to someone else who needs it.

It is not a bad thing to be selfish as long as that selfish is not effecting other people in a negative way emotionally, menatlly, or physically. Each and every one of us has to take care of ourselves as no one else will do so. If you give away your last meal, you will starve to death. If you are always focused on making others happy, you will never express yourself in a way that makes you happy. If you are always doing for others, when will you have the time to do for you. You need to take time to make sure you are providing for yourself on a mental, emotional, and physical level. It is the only way you will ever get closer to your goals and dreams, and hopefully you are providing for others by getting closer to your goals and dreams.

No one does anything for nothing. There is no such thing as a completely altruistic act. The return may be smaller than what is given, but nothing is done for nothing. When you donate money to a non-profit organization you don't do it completely void of emotion. You do it because it makes you feel good for one reason or another. When you stay over time at your job when you don't have to you don't do it so others can benefit. You do it because you feel a sense of duty, or you like to move forward, or for a million other reasons. Nothing we ever do is without some form of self serving reason. We tithe at church because we believe it is the right thing to do and we want to support our ministry. So be willing to be a little more selfish. Superman saved thousands of lives, but at the end of the day he had little left for himself. Often times he pushed his own happiness away so he could help other people. None of us are super heroes, but we can accomplish super hero deeds, as long as we remember to take time for ourselves.

No Matter Where You Are At In Your Life, You Can

I was reading through some statistics regarding depression and the percentage of people suffering from this has increased substantially. And I remembered what I often hear from people: 'I have failed in my life' or 'I have not achieved anything,' or 'I experienced such and such in my past and it will jeopardize my entire life,' or 'I have made a lot of mistakes,' or 'I have been feeling depressed or anxious for so many years and I can't change.'

Do you think if we have such thoughts we are going to feel good? Well, no. We actually make ourselves depressed.

Now, the truth is that no matter where you are at in your life right now, no matter what your past has been, no matter what your present circumstances are, no matter how you have been feeling for years, no matter the mistakes you have made, you can change your future. That is for sure.

The thing is that sometimes we don't know what can help us to change, so here are some ideas.

The first thing to do is to take total and full responsibility.

You are the only person responsible for your actions, for your behaviours, for your thoughts, for your emotions, for your health, wealth, happiness, inner peace, etc., for your life. You might have heard about the great movie 'The Secret' and how it shows how much power you really have. Your thoughts create. It is the Law of Attraction. Everything that has happened in your life, everything that is happening, you create. For some people it might be a little uncomfortable to take this on board, but it is the truth. Blaming or complaining is simply giving your power away. But this also means that you can change anything you want in your life by a simple shift in your awareness. Every bit is really down to you.

Now, let us consider things in order.

If you have experienced a difficult past, time line therapy is very helpful. Whatever you have experienced in the past, time line therapy does not go back into the past and analyze it; that would keep you there. Instead it gives you the power to feel free from your past and empowered to create your future. It enables you to relive it with more empowering resources and change the memory of it.

If you feel, for example, depressed or anxious, NLP and hypnosis are incredibly powerful tools to enable you to take control of your emotional state. All emotions generate from thoughts, beliefs, the meaning we give to events, self-talk, and you are the master of your own mind. But the thing is that nobody has given us a manual of how the brain works, so when we do not feel good we do not know what to do. If we buy a PC we are given a manual, and your brain is an extraordinary computer! Once you know how the conscious and subconscious mind works, you can take control of your emotional state, and so choose how to feel.

Now, another thing to say is that if we do the same things, we get the same results. So, sometimes we feel stuck in our life or our habits, but if we want to change we need to change what we do and think. So, if you are doing something that makes you feel bad or does not work, stop, right now, and do something different, and you will get different results.

Guilt is a very powerful and damaging emotion, and what I have often found with clients is that we have a strong tendency to beat ourselves up harshly. Now, everybody makes mistakes, and what we need to do is recognise them, take full responsibility, learn from them and grow. One aspect of this is taking full responsibility for our behaviour; a very different thing to feeling guilty about it. The way we treat ourselves has a very strong impact on our emotional state. And if I were to ask you: 'Would you treat another person as harshly as you treat yourself?' I am sure your answer would be no. So, please treat yourself with the same compassion as you would your best friend. Now, do you think God would want you to beat yourself up? No, no, no. Please be kind to yourself. God loves you unconditionally: forgive and love yourself. Strive for excellence, not perfection. And always remember you always do the best you can at all times with the resources you have got.

Now, one of the reasons why we do not achieve what we want in life is because we do not know what we want. Many people live a life by default, they react to what happens, but are they going to make themselves happy? Maybe, maybe not. How about if you could work more smartly? If you could know what makes you happy and create it in your life? So, establish a vision of the life that you really want, establish goals toward that vision, and actions to take. And if you know what you want and you focus on it, the Law of Attraction says it will manifest, without exception.

So, what are you going to do today to become the person you want to be and create the life you want to live?

© Copyright Piercarla Garusi 2007- All rights reserved.

How's Your Passion These Days?

If there is a fire in your gut there are bound to be a few sparked flying out of your mouth. Passion is different than enthusiasm. Passion is the fuel that drives you toward the finish line. It is the reason why you do anything. Without passion you are destined to a life of being 'average'. To a life of mediocrity.

Passion is one of life's critical behaviors if you want to achieve sustained success in any career especially sales.

Who do you know that is on fire with passion? Are you? Have you had it in the past but are losing it due to some external circumstances? Do you feel in welling up inside you or do you feeling it slowly slipping away?

Many people can be heard saying that their sales career just doesn't seem to have the same spark that it did in the past. That selling is becoming - same stuff different day - or it is just too demanding or difficult to maintain consistent high sales volume. Passion is not in a career, job or life, it is in people or it isn't.

Passion can make up for a lack of education, skill, opportunity and it can help you overcome adversity, failure and problems with ease. Yes ease, because your attitude is - I can handle it, so bring on the challenges, problems and adversity. I will overcome. I will surmount. I will find a way around, under or over it. I will not be defeated. I will not be deterred. I will never quit, never no matter what is going on around me. I have drawn a line in the sand and have made the decision to overcome, no matter what.

Here are a few words to consider when you think about how passionate you are.

Expectations


Disappointment


Struggle


Pain


Problems


Resolve


Outcomes


Enthusiasm


Adversity


Risk


Winning


Overcoming


Self- belief


Self-confidence


Self-assured

Why not rate yourself on the above words to see where you may need to re-discover or re-kindle your passion or why it has left you or is leaving.

Passion is your key to success. It assures that no matter what you know or don't know, do or don't do, believe or don't believe, feel or don't feel doesn't matter. With passion you will do "whatever it takes, learn whatever you need to learn and use what you have to the fullest. Passion gives no excuses. Passion is not what you have only when things are going well, It is a part of your cellular makeup. If you haven't got it, get it. If you have it, never let it go. If you have lost it, get it back.

Turn Ideas Into Action

Does your brain bounce with ideas? So many ideas in fact, you feel overwhelmed?

Maybe you have a unique idea for a book. Maybe you have lots of ideas stirring for a new marketing campaign. Or, maybe you have a fun idea for a family vacation.

There's a good reason why you have all of these great ideas—you're smart, creative, and talented!

So why haven't you acted on these ideas yet? Do you struggle with deciding which ideas to tackle first? Do you wonder how you'll ever find the time to see the idea through?

Whether they're for your professional life or for your personal life, don't let these ideas sit and collect dust. Rather, turn them into action!

Tips for turning your ideas into action:

1. Make a list. If you don't already have one, create a "master list of ideas." Create a separate list for work and personal life. Every time a new idea piques your interest, add it to the list.


2. Identify obstacles. Take a close look at your list and identify what has kept you from implementing the ideas. Is it lack of time, lack of resources, lack of confidence, etc.? Figure out how to break the obstacles.


3. Determine impact. From your master list, determine which idea could have an immediate positive impact on your job or your personal life. Work on this idea first.


4. Set a goal. Take the idea that you identified in #3 and set a specific goal. For example, maybe you want to implement a new training program by the end of the quarter.


5. Create a plan. Now that you have a goal in place, create a plan to achieve it. Break the plan into small, manageable tasks. The more tasks you can break it into, the quicker you can complete them. Seeing this progress will motivate you to keep plugging away!


6. Give effort. The more effort you contribute to your idea, the faster you'll accomplish it. If you contribute little effort, you'll see little accomplishment and your idea will remain just another idea.


7. Hold yourself accountable. Accountability will help you reach your goal. For example, in the "implement a new training program" example, you could share your plan with your boss. When he asks questions such as "How is the planning coming along?" or "When will the training take place?" you may get annoyed, but he'll encourage you to keep working at it. After all, you don't want to let your boss down!


8. Stay motivated. It's not unusual to feel like you're burning out when working on a goal. If this happens, focus on the reason you thought of the idea and keep the end result in mind.


9. Take a bow! Once you've finished your goal, celebrate! What once was merely an idea is now a reality. Congratulations!


10. Start on your next idea. Your momentum is high now, so after a well-deserved break, start on your next idea!

Repeat these ten steps for each idea and they'll all become actions! So, what are you waiting for? Get started!

Consistency - Parent of Progress, Cornerstone of Success

In his book, "Awaken the Giant Within", Anthony Robbins has the following to say about achieving success:

"In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently."

Remember back down the line where someone told you that if you put a little bit of money in the bank every week or out of every paycheck, after a while you would have a large chunk of money? Made sense, right?

Or how about if you take a walk every day, or at least several times a week, you will lose weight, get fitter, go down a dress size...whatever! Do you remember that?

Okay, how about brush every day? I know you've heard that one!

So, what the heck do all these things have in common?

No peeking! You actually have to read the article.

Oh, okay. We all know and understand that simply taking the occasional swing at changing our lives or improving them or losing weight or making more money isn't going to work. It's the exercise done regularly and often over time that improves our bodies. It's the money put into the bank out of every paycheck that mounts up to enough to actually invest in something expensive. It is brushing our teeth every day that helps keep tooth decay in check and keeps the dentist off our backs.

That little Austrian kid, what's his name, probably did have some good genes going for him. However, Arnold Schwarzenegger never would have made "Pumping Iron", got discovered, made a lot more movies, married Maria Shriver, and become the governor of the state of California if he had only visited the gym once or twice and then quit...or only showed up every other Wednesday.

Like so many successful people, Ahnald (sorry, couldn't resist) visualized a goal for himself, figured out what steps were needed to get him there, and then was willing to spend the time and effort necessary to perform those steps regularly and religiously.

Raining and cold today? Got to get to the gym. Don't feel like working out? Got to get to the gym. Not only that, if something he tried wasn't working, he tried to figure out what would work and started over.

Was every step along the way perfect? Of course not. Just look at some of Arnold's movies, and you will see that some would definitely NOT remind you of the future governor of California...or of Gregory Peck, Charleton Heston, or Gabby Hayes, for that matter. What did matter was that he kept swinging...er, lifting, and did not give up.

Same with Ronald Regan, by the way.

Or how about that young black woman born in the segregated city of Birmingham, Alabama in the mid 50's? Who would have thought that she ever would have a chance to become anything. I grew up in the South of the 50's. I remember what she faced. It wasn't just two water fountains (white and colored) and three bathrooms (men, women, and colored). That's almost just an inconvenience compared to being considered by a large part of the population to be less than human and not being allowed to even dream of following the paths to achievement open to those who did not have skin the same color as hers. However, she too had a goal and never quit working at it despite the obstacles, and the almost certain times that she must have felt that her goal must be impossible to obtain.

Today, Condoleezza Rice is one of the most famous, most respected women in the world. Her name will go down in history because she had something to work towards and realized that just taking a casual swing at it once in a while would not get her where she wanted to go.

By the way, it was another person with skin the color of hers who would not give up and quit either. Partly because of the sacrifices of people like Martin Luther King, not only did the extra water fountain and bathroom go away, but so did a lot of the obstacles that little girl faced. He didn't quit trying either, until he could try no more...and that decision was not his.

Pick somebody successful. It doesn't matter if it is Tiger Woods, Thomas Edison, Donald Trump, or Tony Robbins. Heck, Edison even said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." How many of us would have quit after two or three tries?

How about that unemployed ex-secretary in Britain. Thought up some silly characters and wrote a book about them. Twelve publishing houses rejected her story before one decided to take a chance on it. Even her good friends were telling her to give it up and get a real job when the first Harry Potter book by J. K. Rowling hit the stands.

An old story I remember from a bazillion (my spell checker says "kazillion" doesn't exist) years ago was about a sports writer watching a famous golfer sink a difficult putt. A man beside him snorted and said something like, "I wish I had been lucky enough to be born with his talent." The sports writer didn't say anything at that time, but he thought to himself of all the times he had seen that same golfer practicing putting over and over between rounds when he could have been resting.

Yeah, we all have different levels of skills and talents. Our parents may or may not have been able to help us out. Our genes, or the circumstances of our birth and heritage, may or may not have made it easier for us to accomplish this or that. However, again and again we can see that the winners...those who succeed, are not always the most talented, those born rich, or those whose genes made it easy for them.

So many times in life's race, the winner is the one who simply did not quit running.