Tools, tips and education to help you live the life you choose

I spent the weekend at a Crocodile Marketing seminar on business and copywriting (that writing sales copy) as part of my continuing education.  They had a short presentation at the start talking about changing your life and the one word that it takes to make it all happen.

Now before we get to that word you need to understand a few things.  One of the first things is something Anthony Robbins says along the lines of your past is no indicator or guarantee of what your future will hold.  When you look around the place is littered with stories of rags to riches or people who have gone through major change in their life.  They may have started life in a small out of the way village or ghetto and have gone on to follow their dreams and become successful in their chosen field.  Many of our top business people in the world, say Bill Gates, did not come from successful business families, just as many actors don't come from families where everyone was acting or involved in drama.  So just remember that because no one in your circle of family and friends may have achieved what you are setting out to do it doesn't mean you can't.

Tomorrow is a result of what you do today.  If you do nothing to change your life, then guess what your life tomorrow will most likely carry on as it has today and yesterday.  Each little step you take towards your goals will keep you on the path to achieving the changes you desire.

Along your journey don't forget to enjoy your life.  Look around you and find things that you can take heart from, however small.  For me I enjoy taking the dog for a walk every mornng.  It is often around dawn, there aren't many people around and you can hear the dawn chorus from the birds interspersed with the odd rooster announcing the new day.  For me it provides a time for reflection and appreciation of the natural beauty before being dragged into the reality of the day – 'Mummy can you help me with this?', 'Could you look at this', client's requests and so on.

Take responsibility for yourself, do not blame others for your situation.  You can choose how you react and feel about your life and position.  Choose to be happy, it doesn't mean that you have achieved your goals or ideal life but why not enjoy the journey?

So what is the little word that guarantees success?  It is … decision.  What? Yes once you make a decision that you are going to achieve your goals, change your life then you will achieve.  If you just think you will try and see what happens then most likely you will give up at the first few obstacles.  Make the decision that you are starting on a journey to achieve and you can view setbacks, not as failures, but as learning experiences, mere blips on your journey.  Have you made the decision – or are you still sitting on the fence?

I am sure it has been going on for generations, the age old quest to get kids to eat more vegetables.  Occasionally you hear of one that eats everything but more commonly it is stories of eating no vegetables, only this one or that one.  I have to admit we are in the latter category, we are hard pressed to get Son to eat any vegetable that is presented as plain vegetable.  Daughter will eat some and the other day decided she liked lettuce and cucumber so lets hope that continues.

As a result of our kid's habits I was quite amazed when we visited one of my brothers at the weekend and my sister in law was saying her 4 year old son was asking for more broccoli at dinner the other night.  This is a kid who  a few months ago went through a phase where he decided he liked about four things and they were hard pressed to get him to eat much else for a period – broccoli wasn't one of those four things.  So what was the secret?

Well it turns out her mother has a vegetable garden and the head of broccoli was grown organically and picked about 4pm that afternoon and cooked a few hours later.  Apparently it tasted beautiful, very different from your standard broccoli from the local shops.  Unfortunately my nephew didn't get his wish for more as everyone else had enjoyed their piece as much as him.

This did get me thinking again about vegetable gardens.  I have grown stuff in the past and there really is nothing like freshly picked and prepared veges from the garden.  It really is worth the effort and depending on your enthusiasm and space it doesn't have to take too much effort.  It could be anything from a few pots on a balcony to full scale vegetable beds and fruit trees.  Our book Home Vegetable Gardening is a great guide, it starts with the basics of how to choose a patch, soils and so on.  It is based on the American cycle so you need to convert the months to suit where you are in the world but the basics on plot selection, growing techniques, planning and so on are still the same wherever you are.  If you need a good basic guide to get you started, grab a copy.

I think that come Spring I will try and get the kids involved and get some vegetable growing, who knows they may even eat them.  Let me know if you have had any success with kids and vegetables and have any recommendations.

I was just looking at the statistics for divorce and although it varies around the world, for the UK, US and Australia it is approaching 50 percent for first marriages. It appears that these statistics are worse for second and third marriages so it doesn't look like we necessarily learn as we go along.

What this means is that there are many people out there still looking for the right person so I thought we take some tips from our book "Happily Ever After" on finding the right person and keeping them.

Lets look at the four tips they have for finding the right person. (more…)

Over the last couple of weeks much has been written about Michael Jackson, his sudden death and his life. His life was certainly one of great contrasts from the highs of his performances on stage to the lows of court cases and controversy.

I think the one thing that is undeniable is the talent he had for dancing, entertaining and music. Even with natural talent, to perform as he did must have taken hours, days and weeks of practice and focus. Vincent Paterson, the choreographer and director who directed Michael Jackson in several videos, recalled watching him rehearse a dance sequence for four hours in front of a mirror until it felt like second nature. "That’s how he developed the moonwalk, working on it for days if not weeks until it was organic." He said, "He took an idea that he had seen some street kids doing and perfected it.”

This determination seems to have been evident from a young age. Berry Gordy, the Motown founder who helped develop the Jackson 5, told CNN that Michael Jackson, as a boy, “always wanted to be the best, and he was willing to work as hard as it took to be that. And we could all see that he was a winner at that age."

So what can we learn from this, what has it got to do with this blog.  Well we he have been talking about goal setting lately and one of the things that is required to achieve your success is focus, motivation and determination to achieve those goals.

Just as Michael Jackson didn't wake up one morning and starting moonwalking perfectly, you will not achieve your goals without effort and persistence.  Try and ensure that each and every day you are taking at least one action to keep you moving forward on your path to your goals.

That path to your goals will often take you out of your comfort zone, you need to keep your eye on the end target – the perfect moonwalk, having the money for that special holiday or achieving your change in career – whatever it is for you.  Go for it!

If you want more information or help with setting goals and achieving them, check out our self improvement ebooks.