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Archive for work life balance

Take Up A Hobby With Your Kids

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Friday, April 13th, 2012
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Take up a BRAND NEW hobby that you have always wanted to try with one or all of your children.

Not only do you get to learn something new - your kids get the same opportunity.

Plus, you won't have any guilt about doing something you love and having it take time away from the kids. You'll be spending quality time with them and learning something new!

Take it a step further and pick a hobby that doesn't involve the computer or technology.

You probably sit at your computer all day and getting the kids away from technology will make the time together a better break for both of you.

Here is an article with a list of hobby ideas that you could do with your kids that don't involve technology. 

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How to Overcome Overcapacity

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Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
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By Craig Ballantyne

Back when I was 13 years old, working away for $3.10 per hour at the local garden center, one of my tasks was to take the empty flats (the plastic container in which you get your petunias) and stack them up in an old warehouse until they were needed again the next spring.

Of course, the old warehouse (that we called, ‘the barn’) was already overflowing with flats, pots, boxes of Christmas decorations, soil, tools, and even tractors. It was already over capacity. Somehow, I still managed to cram in another stack of flats in a dark corner. But it was far from optimal.

This is also how we treat our minds, and as a result our work and relationships suffer.

We cram our mental faculties full of information, appointments, deadlines, commitments, ideas, and even “bucket lists”. We end up giving half-hearted attention to a laundry list of activities instead of sustained, quality attention to fewer, more important objectives. Our careers, stress levels, relationships, and health all suffer.

As I discovered back when I was 13, the real problem wasn’t trying to cram more stuff into an already disorganized space. Oh no, the real problem came later when you tried to find things and extract them efficiently.

Likewise, the real problems in our minds arise when it comes to giving focus and attention to problems that matter. When we have half-heartedly committed to a dozen people, activity, committees, events, fundraisers, and groups, all of them suffer, particularly the projects that demand our greatest focus.

It’s time for a politically incorrect solution to dealing with the overcapacity in our lives.

Recently two friends and business colleagues emailed me to set up a phone call to explain his their new businesses and how I could partner with them.

I thought about scheduling calls with each of them as both opportunities were interesting and each could be successful for us and beneficial for the people we would help. But each call would need to fit between my deadlines for ETR, Financial Independence Monthly, my fitness business, and the Underground Online seminar, without cutting into the time I have dedicated for my family or health and fitness routine. The call would also need to revolve around my travel schedule.

As I thought about finding space in my schedule and in my mind for the extra responsibilities that these new opportunities would bring, my head exploded.

Boom.

Maple syrup-glazed Canadian brains everywhere. Have mercy on my poor assistant who will need to scrape out my grey matter from between the keys on my laptop.

Okay, my head didn’t explode. But it FELT like it was going to explode. My anxiety and blood pressure rose just thinking about trying to shove another opportunity into my already full to the brim mental warehouse.

So I said, “No, thank you, I’m sorry.” I went on to explain why I just could not get involved in any additional projects right now. Here’s what I wrote.

“I apologize, but I don’t have the mental capacity to give this conversation and your opportunity my full attention and preparation. As a business owner, I’m sure you’ll understand how we are being pulled in many directions, so you know where I’m coming from. I appreciate your interest in sharing this with me, however at this time I am fully committed to other projects and people.”

It felt great to say this. It felt even better to know that the strained attention I have for my current list of projects would not be diluted any further. And while there’s still a lot of work to do on cutting out more unnecessary tasks from my day, saying “No” to random opportunities that come my way is a start to reducing mental clutter.

The politically incorrect truth is this: You have to stand up for yourself. Listen, you don’t have time to talk to everyone about every single one of their problems. You can’t fix the world. Of course, you should certainly decline the invitations politely, but at some point you have to say no.

As much as you want to help everyone, as much as you want to jump into every new project and opportunity that comes along, you must remember that you have a limit on your mental capacity for quality work, meeting deadlines, and dealing with people.

All of these decisions are to be made with a big picture goal in mind. You want to unclutter your brain so that it able to deliver focused attention on major projects. Avoid having your attention diluted by multi-tasking or chasing every shiny new object that comes your way.

On an even bigger scale, remember that every decision you make to get involved in a new project takes time away from other aspects of your life.

With each new opportunity, ask yourself this: What are you willing to sacrifice from your current life in order to insert this new opportunity into your limited mental capacity?

Each time I am tempted to overindulge my desire to be involved in every exciting new opportunity that comes my way, I remind myself to review Kekich Credo #2 that states:

“Cherish time, your most valuable resource. You can never make up the time you lose. It’s the most important value for any productive happy individual and is the only limitation to all accomplishment. To waste time is to waste your life. The most important choices you’ll ever make are how you use your time.”

For all of us, no matter how much we want to take on everything that comes our way, eventually something has to give. We can either take control and choose what gets cut, or we can find out the hard way through experience as to what part of our lives ends up suffering.

Make the choice. Reduce capacity. Do fewer things well rather than a lot of things half-heartedly. Eliminate the demand on your already strained systems, and give more focus and attention to the priority projects in your life that will make the biggest difference.

About the author:

Craig Ballantyne is the author of Financial Independence Monthly, a complete blueprint to helping you take control of your financial future with a web–based business that you can operate from anywhere in the world – including a coffee shop, your kitchen table, or anywhere around the world where there is Internet access. Discover how you can achieve the American Dream and your financial independence here.  You've never seen anything like this before.

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3 Simple Steps to Living a Superwoman Lifestyle in Business, Beauty & Balance

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Thursday, June 30th, 2011
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By Vicki Irvin

After having my son and taking some time off from work to be with him, I found myself completely overwhelmed and disillusioned at the end of each day.  Having a baby was supposed to be a joyous occasion. However, I was trying to do way too much. I had just moved into a gorgeous new home and was adamant that I could manage the house, a baby and anything else that came my way.  Yup, it was the superwoman syndrome rearing its ugly head again.

With my newborn napping, I remember sweeping my brand new shiny hardwood floors. I was so proud.  Suddenly, I broke down in tears.  It came from nowhere and hit me like a ton of bricks. I was crying for no apparent reason with a broom in my hand and couldn't figure out why. At that very moment, I knew I couldn't handle it all alone.

After the effects of sleep deprivation began to wear off, I decided to take some time to reflect on what I was doing wrong. With some serious soul searching and being completely honest with myself, it hit me. I realized that I was running a race. I was desperately trying to catch up to other women who I perceived to be living a Superwoman Lifestyle to perfection.

We all have those friends who are supermoms that we admire from a far. You know the ones. They run their businesses. They whip up great meals and never miss a single soccer game. Meanwhile, we are lucky if we manage a TV dinner.

While there is nothing wrong with admiring other people, we must be careful. We get ourselves into trouble when we expect to have the exact same results or experiences as these women.  After all, we don't know the details of how they got there or how long it took them to get their life on a system.

We often forget that most people don't have overnight success.  It is typically a long process of ups and downs, failures and struggles.  We only see them when they "appear" on the scene all polished and shiny. Sadly, we are left feeling inadequate.

My reflections helped me to realize that women are born with a natural inherent instinct to multi-task and manage.  We have been doing this since the beginning of time as the matriarchs of our families.  To fight or go against this is unnatural. That is why I believe telling us to give up the superwoman mentality is a lost cause. It's just not going to happen.

Instead of going against it, I say embrace it.  Celebrate the fact that we are able to wear so many different hats. Let's use it to our advantage not only in life, but in business as well.

The superwoman lifestyle truly is attainable once we define what that means to us individually. It's attainable when we stop trying to be someone we are not.  The dynamics of our lives are all different and we can only operate within the realm of our own existence.

Once we acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses we are free to be authentic. We will be better equipped to leverage the knowledge and expertise of others as well as use the power of systems.

After the complete meltdown I had as a result of being off balance, I quickly hired a housekeeper to assist me with running the house. I enlisted the help of others when needed. I found a system for my life and the results were immediate. Problem solved.

Waking up each day without a plan of action or system in place is like running around on a wild goose chase. It is certainly no way to build, grow or sustain a healthy thriving life or business. And that is something that we all deserve.  Without systems, you will indeed feel burnt out and frustrated. Frustration leads to self-doubt and soon the self-sabotage will follow.

I figured if I could put my life on a system to help me do the heavy lifting, I could and should do the same in my business. Employing similar concepts, I was able to design a basic process to grow a list of qualified prospects. It was on auto-pilot and working for me every day. The wild goose chase was over and the opt ins were rolling in!

So before giving up or pulling your hair out, make sure you put some basic proven systems in place that will work consistently for you in your business.

Here are three simple ways to systemize your business that will give you a core foundation and assist you in continued growth and profit:

#1. Make sure you conduct market research and hone in on who your target market really is. When working with my clients, I find very few who ever bother to do this step, which can be a fatal mistake. Assuming you already know is a dangerous game. There are so many sub sets and demographics of people and they all need to be drilled down to the core. Let's face it, marketing dollars are precious.  Spending time and money talking to the wrong market using the wrong medias will leave you broke.

Start by looking at your competitors who are successful to see what's working. Chances are if they are consistently spending money some place, that is a clue it is working.

Make sure you are talking to people who can afford you. Gather salary information and determine what income bracket can support your products and services. Additionally, knowing the habits and hot buttons of your ideal client will assist you in writing compelling messages that resonate. The more ammunition you gather, the better your chances of becoming a 'must have' in their eyes.

#2. Make sure you set up opt in pages that deliver a clear and concise message about how you can solve the issues and problems of prospects. At the end of the day, all your market really wants to know is what is in it for them. Your pages should offer your prospects something of value in exchange for their contact information. Your offer should be something that is congruent and in line with your product or service.  There is nothing worse than pushing a complimentary gift that has nothing at all to do with the offer. It will hurt your conversion and your reputation.

You now need a way to drive traffic to your page so that you can begin to build your list and develop rapport with your prospects. Using social media to drive traffic is a great and zero cost way to get new prospects to hop on your list. When using social media, always remember people are there to socialize first. Never be intrusive. Add some personality to it, build a relationship and give people great value. Doing so will spark their curiosity to the point they want more of you. If you do this consistently there will come a day that they will jump ship from the social media site and join your herd.

#3. Now that you are steadily building your list, you have to create products, services and offers according to the wants and desires of your market. Never assume you know what your prospects need. People make buying decisions based on wants and not needs.  While your intentions may be good, it's wiser to listen to what they tell you. There is nothing worse than spending time, money and energy on products that nobody buys. Survey your list.  Talk to your prospects and clients and find out what gap you can fill in the marketplace for them. Based on your findings, create your products accordingly. Handling the process this way helps to increase your conversion.

So the next time someone asks you just how you get it all done in business, beauty and balance, let them know you have figured out how to live an authentic superwoman lifestyle by leveraging the power of systems.

***

Vicki Irving is the author of The Superwoman Lifestyle Blueprint and has coached over 2,000 people on how to increase their wealth, boost their business and leverage the power of systems. Her passion is assisting women entrepreneurs profit from their expertise without burning themselves out. Vicki has been featured on Lifetime TV, CNN's HLN Prime News, USA Today, Bloomberg Radio, the Investor's Business Daily, Essence Magazine, Hearpreneur and Millionaire Blueprint Magazine.

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Categories : Health & Well Being, Issues, Work/Life balance
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Joe And MaryEllen Unplugged

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Monday, June 27th, 2011
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By MaryEllen Tribby & Joe Polish

Joe: You hang out in Florida.  You do a lot of cool stuff.  You've made millions of dollars for companies you've built, companies you've worked with and for... And there are literally god knows how many thousands and thousands of entrepreneurs who have made money as a result of your advice.  You are awesome.  I've seen you speak several times.  We hung out with Richard Branson in a private setting recently and did a brainstorm group where, you know, you and him totally hit it off.  And you're phenomenal.

I mean you just have done so many cool things... And on top of that, you teach women how to be, you know, great entrepreneurs and lead a balanced life even with so much stuff on their plate.  Plus, you've raised money for foundations and you have a lot of important causes...

To you business is more than just making money: it's about building a life and making a great contribution to the world.  And those are some of the things I want to talk to you about today.

So what else didn't I mention that people need to know about you before we teach people how to make some money?

ME: Well, for me it's all about having that balance in life.  And when you have real balance in life, there is no difference between work and fun, you know?  Like you said, when we were hanging out with Richard Branson, was that work or was that fun?  Well that was both, right?

Joe: Right.

ME: That's when you know that you've got the life you want to have... When you're doing things that are making your business money AND that's what you want to be doing. That's the key, especially with WorkingMomsOnly.com.  You know, working moms have this incredible influence and responsibility and they've got to get to a point where they've got the life they want to live.

Joe: Yeah absolutely...I think out of all of the different people in the United States and probably worldwide, the hardest working people have got to be working mothers and single mothers raising children.

ME: Absolutely.

Joe: Yeah.  So I think what you're doing is phenomenal.  What, out of all the different things that you could focus and spend your time on, AND you being a mother, why did you resonate with working moms?  I mean why has that become your core group, your core audience that you want to help and who I know you're so darned passionate about?

ME: I am.  Well I have been so blessed, you know?  I have three great kids.  And they're healthy and they're smart and they're compassionate.  They're good kids.  And I'm very fortunate.  I have a wonderful spouse.  I have a wonderful partner.  And so, when I would run companies, I'd be CEO of a $70 million company or a $30 million company but I'd also be speaking around the world and writing books.  And a lot of times working moms would come up to me and they would say, "How can you do this?  How do you do it?"  And you know what?  You can do it.  It's just that you really have to understand the tools.  And that's why I want to give working moms the tools because of the responsibility that they have in this world.

We can have it all.  You don't have to pick one or the other.  You don't have to pick between your husband, your kids, and your career.  I mean I know my kids are better off because I have a career that I'm great at and that I believe in.  My kids can do anything because of that.
space

It's just something I've always wanted to do.  I've always wanted to go out there and start this company and it's finally come to fruition and within the year, I'm going to have a community of a million working moms.

Joe: Gotcha, gotcha.  Well that's great.  Well, you know, there's just so many different things I can talk to you about but I'm going to really focus it in on making business work and doing it with the least amount of stress and work and hardship and mistakes as one can avoid.

And that's why I want to borrow your expertise and your brain for our conversation here.

So I've heard you say that the biggest entrepreneurial curse is having, let's just say, four projects halfway done. Halfway done, well, that's gonna yield zero revenue.  But if you've got one project 100% finished, that brings cash in the door.

And we live in a day and age where there are so many things vying for our attention - I mean there's even a book called The Attention Economy - peoples' attention is everywhere.  And I think that statement, you know, the biggest entrepreneurial curse which you said, four projects halfway done yield nothing, really speaks to that lack of attention.  One project 100% finished brings cash in the door.

Can you speak to that 'cause I think before we go into techniques and methods and list building and offers and copy and all of these things I'm going to talk and ask you about, what do you mean by that?

ME: Okay well, you know, this is something I've seen for years and years and years.  And a lot of people almost kind of joke about it and say "well I'm a serial entrepreneur." But that's not what a serial entrepreneur is.  I see this all the time that people get a great idea to launch a new product, whether it's an internet marketing product or a health product or a financial product or write a book or write an e-book.

And they start on this project and, halfway through, something else hits them, another great idea hits them.  So they put that first project to the side and they start on the second one.  Then halfway through that the next, you know, great idea hits them.  So in the meantime they've got three, four, five projects that are almost complete... but that's doing nothing for their bottom line.

It's doing nothing for their business.  And what it is actually doing is it's frustrating everyone around them.  If they've got a team, their entire team is frustrated and miserable at this point because they know that these four other great ideas are yielding zero revenue to the bottom line of that organization.  Meanwhile they're trying to manage the entrepreneur on their next project.

So, you know what?  I'm not a big planner but I believe in a timeline.  And just putting that visual representation out there, a timeline for your projects so that you can get it done, market it, move on.  You know it doesn't mean that you can't work on multiple projects in the same time period.  But you've got to have a timeline for that project so that you know on X date it's done, it's yielding money for your company.

Joe: How do you actually come to that mindset-wise first?  Because there certainly are the mechanics and there's lot of support materials including many that you've created that assist people in their thinking.  Mindset-wise, when someone is excited about--and, let me just be very transparent here.  I mean I'm a guy that's always loved bright, shiny objects.  I mean when I hear about a new opportunity, oh my god, I get excited about it.  I think it's super cool and I see opportunities in everything.  And I see so many different options.  And the challenge is... When you have 1,000 options you don't have any options is what   a good friend of mine, Richard Rossi, says.

That's why it so resonates with me when I heard you talk about this.  And when I've seen you say this to audiences filled with hundreds of people, everyone nods their head.  This is something that everyone relates to, especially now when there are so many different things to read and look at.  How do you get to that point where you just narrow your focus and can stick with something?

ME: This is what I do.  You know, we were talking before, I'm a big believer in working out and that's the first thing I do every single day.  I work out.  And whether at the gym, on that elliptical, the tread or if I'm riding my bike or whatever I'm doing, I'm thinking.  So when I come back from working out in the morning, the first thing I do is I go to this list I have on my computer about the ideas and projects I want to work on.  And I make sure I outline what I just thought about and I get it down there.  Okay?  And so it's there for the day.  I haven't lost it.  I know what it is.  And then I continue on what I'm working on.  And then at the end of every single week I look at that list and I prioritize.  And so what may happen, while I'm creating the product that I'm working on  and that's coming to fruition, the order on which I work on the next one may change.  And that's okay because I haven't started working on it yet.

Joe: Okay I gotcha.

ME: So don't lose anything--and that's what everybody thinks, if they don't do it right now they lose it.  But you're not.  It's not gone forever.  Gosh like I said, I bought the URL WorkingMomsOnly.com, you know, two and a half years ago.  It was always on the back burner.  It was always there.  I thought about it.  I wrote things about it, you know, every day.  But I was concentrating--I had a commitment to Early to Rise and I wanted to fulfill that commitment to Early to Rise, to my team, to Michael Masterson, you know?  But I didn't lose this project.

Joe: So it's just not guilting yourself into thinking you've got to do it right now, it's just prioritizing.
ME:  Absolutely.  And that's what a balanced life comes down to.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day.  Right?  Nobody gets more hours, you know?  We all have that.  It's what we do with those hours that makes us hit our success meter.

Joe: Well out of all of the things that you've learned in hanging around some of the most successful people on the planet, having created a tremendous amount of success for yourself, what are some of the biggest attributes of successful entrepreneurs who make it and failures who may work really hard but just never get any traction, never get off the ground?

ME: Well by far, this is why most entrepreneurs fail, right?  It's not because they don't do the work, it's because they do the wrong work.  Okay?

Joe: The wrong work.

ME: And it's so funny.  Last night, I was writing  a story about how I started creating my business from scratch.  From scratch, from my house, a brand new business.  And I was saying that a friend of mine, she quit her corporate job to become a marketing consultant.  And the first thing she did was she went out and she rented office space.

And I said why are you renting office space?  And she goes, huh, the housing market, it's in the crapper.  I can get office space for $1,500 a month that would normally cost me $5,000 a month.  Okay?  So she's spent a month and a half looking for space.  Then she spent another couple of weeks decorating this space, okay.  Meanwhile, she didn't work on her website, she didn't work on a sales page.  She didn't work on cultivating clients, any of that stuff.  You know?  And those six weeks that she started that business, basically, she had an office with no revenue coming in the door.

My first six weeks... well, I have a great laptop.  I can take it anywhere. So I work by my pool.  I work in my dining room.  I work wherever I want. And what do I have?  I have a website.  I have customers.  I have a sales letter.  I have products.  Okay?  So you've got to prioritize, and in business it's the same thing, what's going to yield you money?  Michael Masterson taught me this ready, fire, aim approach.  You don't just aim, aim, aim, aim, aim... you just go, you fire. You ready, fire, aim.

So you just do it.  You see what works.  You see what sticks.  You know?  In Changing the Channel, in the book, we have a whole section on failed product launches, why they fail.  Because people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars developing a product before they even know if it's going to resonate with the market.  You know, as a marketer you have to assume that you know nothing.  The market will tell you what they want.  And of course most people market to what people think they need.  And you don't market to what people need, you market to what people want.

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Stop Breast Cancer In It’s Tracks

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Thursday, October 21st, 2010
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By Al Sears, MD

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I want to give you some natural ways to get the right nutrients to help stop breast cancer before it starts.

Better Than a Mammogram

Mammograms are the most common way to detect breast cancer. But, there’s been some controversy about how effective this prevention method really is.

In 2006, doctors in Boston introduced a new test for the detection of breast cancer. Rather than using radiation like in a mammogram, they take a urine sample.

Dr. Pories of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston shared the results of her latest study at a recent breast cancer symposium. Her team found that urinary levels of two biomarkers (MMP-9 and ADAM12) are reliable predictors of increased risk of breast cancer.

In her study, she compared levels of these markers in both women with breast cancer and women without. One hundred percent of the urine samples that tested positive for MMP-9 and ADAM12 belonged to women with breast cancer. This simple test may offer a safe, non-invasive way to accurately assess a woman’s risk of breast cancer.

Women are Saying "No" to Drugs

When Tamoxifen was first introduced, many people thought it was the answer to preventing breast cancer. But, unofficial polls suggest that women don’t want the toxic and potentially dangerous drug to prevent breast cancer.

Why?

Well, this drug is known to have very dangerous side effects. This includes deadly blood clots and other types of cancer.

So when given the option, most women want to choose safer, more natural alternatives to help avoid breast cancer. Changing eating habits, exercising and other alternative therapies were common choices.

Exercise: The Best Way to Beat Breast Cancer

It’s a fact that exercise helps prevent cancer. And women who exercise consistently throughout their lives have a 20-30 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women who don’t.

This is true for all women, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Forget Carbs

Sugar feeds cancer cells … and makes them grow like wildfire. Cancer loves sugar.

And carbs turn into sugar in your body.

A 2004 study in Cancer Epidemiology followed the eating habits of a large group of women in Mexico. The risk of breast cancer was 220 percent higher in the women who ate the most carbs.[i]

So when you go to the grocery store, you’ll want to avoid:

  • Grains, including corn
  • Potatoes and other white foods, like white rice, sugar and salt
  • Processed foods
  • Drinks and foods that contain High Fructose Corn Syrup

Banish Breast Cancer with This Super Food

When I was growing up in Kentucky, my grandparents had a grove of walnut trees. So … I ate a lot of walnuts. My grandmother cooked with them, baked with them, and we ate them by the handful for snacks. She always said they were good for you. How right she was.

A study shows that eating walnuts could reduce your risk of breast cancer. With just a handful of nuts (2 ounces) a day, mice delayed the onset of cancerous tumors.[ii]

You see, walnuts contain a trio of cancer fighters – phytosterols, omega-3s and flavonoids.

Phytosterols. Studies show that these nutrient compounds can inhibit tumors from forming in the breast and shrink them if they are already there.[iii]

In addition to walnuts, you can find phytosterols in:

  • Legumes
  • Flax seed oil
  • Peanut butter
  • Pistachios
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Almonds
  • Brussels sprouts

Omega-3s. Omega-3s have a unique ability. They are able to get absorbed into cell membranes where they help cancer cells self-destruct. They reduce a inflammatory enzyme called COX 2, which promotes breast cancer.

Plus, they keep your body’s breast cancer genes healthy. When these genes function normally, they help repair DNA and prevent cancer from developing.[iv]

You can get omega-3s in these foods:

  • Wild-caught salmon, anchovies, sardines
  • Flax seeds
  • Grass-fed beef
  • Almonds, pecans
  • Avocado
  • Sacha inchi oil
  • Olives/olive oil

Flavonoids. Walnuts also contain a flavonoid called ellagic acid. This powerful flavonoid inhibits the growth of cancer cells.[v]

Ellagic acid not only protects your healthy cells from free radical damage, but it also helps to detox would-be cancer-causing cells and helps prevent cancer cells from reproducing.

Other ellagic acid-rich foods are:

  • Berries (blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries)
  • Pecans
  • Pomegranates

Working all of these foods into your diet will help you protect your body from the dreaded “C” word. Still, walnuts are the only super food that offers all these cancer-fighting compounds in one.

To get the freshest, most nutritious walnuts, follow these tips:

  • If you’re buying walnuts in the shell, make sure the shells don’t have any defects – look for little wormholes. Give the shells a little shake. If they rattle when you shake them, they are probably old and over-dried.
  • Store shelled walnuts in an airtight package. You can store them up to about 6 months if you keep them in the refrigerator. Up to a year in the freezer.
  • If you prefer unshelled walnuts, look for a freshness date on the package. The high oil content makes them highly perishable. Heat and humidity will speed up the process. As with the shelled walnuts, keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator and they will last for several months too. Longer in the freezer.

Aside from popping a handful of walnuts in your mouth, there are many ways to enjoy them. Sprinkle a handful on your salad or yogurt, or experiment with your favorite recipes. I like to add them to chicken salad or sautéed vegetables.

***

Dr. Al Sears, MD is a board-certified clinical nutrition specialist. His practice, Dr. Sears’ Health & Wellness Center in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., specializes in alternative medicine. He is the author of seven books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation, including The Doctor’s Heart Cure. His proven anti-aging strategies for building a vibrant, disease-free life can be found at www.alsearsmd.com. You’ll learn how to stop Father Time without giving up the foods you love.


[i] Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention August 2004; Vol. 13, 1283-1289

[ii] Fox, Maggie and Simao, Paul, “Want to reduce breast cancer risk? Eat walnuts,” Reuters.com 4/21/09

[iii] Awad, A.B. et al, “β-Sitosterol activates Fas signaling in human breast cancer cells,” Phytomedicine

[iv] “Research Shows How Omega-3 Fats Prevent Breast Cancer,” The World’s Healthiest Foods

[v] Walnuts, WholehealthMND.com, LLC 2000



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I've failed before, why won't it happen again?

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Sunday, October 10th, 2010
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By PJ McClure

The biggest threat to your future is your past. Without consciously asking your mind to store memories of failed attempts, we manage to carry around bags full of the stuff. In fact, the images of failure are frequently more vivid than those of success.

Because we have all of this baggage with us, our minds have an easy time of talking us out of a new or repeat adventure. We consider a goal or possibility and begin to get excited about how our lives would change for the better if we went for it. As soon as these thoughts begin, our brain kicks into self-preservation mode and tries to save us from potential embarrassment.

“Speak in front of your entire company? You don’t really think that you can do that, do you?”

“Remember in the third grade when you tried to read your story in front of the class? You messed up a word and a couple of the kids laughed. You wouldn’t want that to happen again, would you?”

“Big opportunities like that are for other people, not you.”

The internal dialogue is brutal. We replay the failures and misses from our past and treat ourselves as if we are still the same person that didn’t make it before. It only takes an instant for a person to change and grow from an experience. Especially an experience of failing. We have to learn from our past and allow ourselves to move on.

I’m the best example I know for the perils of failure. My entire childhood and most of my adult life shows the effects of hanging on to failures and losing opportunities. It’s difficult to grasp anything new when your hands are full of the past.

Past failure is a like the potent compounds used in prescription drugs. A little can have medicinal effects and make you better. Contact with huge amounts over prolonged periods will kill you.

The medicinal qualities of failure come from awareness. We look critically at the failure and pull the lessons for future improvement. Remember how the quality management system works? This is the, evaluate and plan for improvement phase.

More importantly, we don’t just evaluate failures for improvements. We also dissect the successes to see how we can get better. To look at it properly, we shouldn’t even use failure or success as the labels. Everything in this phase is a result. We can get better from either.

Once we’ve found a way to improve, a.k.a.; the lesson from the result, we let it go and move on. That’s right. Let go of your successes too, and move on.

I can’t speak for you, but for me, I always felt like I needed to hang on to my failures. It was a defense mechanism that didn’t allow anyone to catch me off-guard and bring me down. If I kept my failures close and brought them up before anyone else could, somehow that was an advantage. Completely freaking psychotic!

Unfortunately, I’ve found that I’m not the only one. Millions of people hang on to the past as a way of keeping themselves from hurt or embarrassment. It’s as if we use them to keep us from feeling too good about ourselves and out of harm’s way. God forbid we should feel TOO good about who we are!

This is why I say, prolonged exposure will kill you. When we continue to hang on to the past, it gets in our system. It might not be noticeable at first, but eventually the effects start to surface. Our behaviors toward achieving change. The things we’re willing to attempt suffer as well.

For me, it manifested as a deluded sense of protecting an image. As a teenager, I convinced myself that it was better to look like I didn’t care what the result was than to lose while doing my best. If I could see that I wasn’t going to win, wouldn’t get an ‘A’, or the girl…I would pull up. Somewhere in that testosterone-plagued head of mine, it was better to look like I didn’t give my best effort than it was to give my all in defeat.

Why didn’t someone grab me by the shoulders and shake me?!

Giving your heart and soul to an endeavor is the only way to truly win. I have just as many stories of winning easily and not learning a thing. Regardless of the score, if you didn’t get better, you lost. However, if you are better in any way, you’ve won.

The habits created by my attitude carried into adulthood and effected everything I touched. I didn’t want to fail. My unconscious plan to prevent failure was to only engage in “sure wins” and never push the edge of what was possible. It never worked.

I was eventually outted as a closet failure. Fearing my past, I hid from my present. I held a grudge against myself for attempting and failing.

How’s that for dysfunctional? I secretly hated myself for being unwilling to risk more and despised myself for having ever risked in the first place. In order to change, I had to break that pattern. Enter forgiveness.

In the quiet of my room and the depths of my soul, I came face-to-face with every disappointment from my life.

  • The kindergartner that sometimes colored outside of the lines when his best friend never seemed to.
  • The second-grader in a new school that shrunk because he thought kids wouldn’t like him if he was in an advanced reading group.
  • The fifth-grader who missed a chance to have the prettiest girl in school as his girlfriend because people would find out he had never kissed a girl.
  • The eighth-grader, at a new school with a chance to start over, that decided to deny his true self and take on the “cool kid” persona.
  • The 16-year-old that didn’t have the guts to ask an adult for advice when his girlfriend said she was pregnant.
  • The 18-year-old that gave up baseball scholarships because he wouldn’t ask his coach for help to secure one.
  • The 22-year-old that partied himself into a hole because the resentment of his past left him empty.

On and on it went. I approached each demon, only to realize they weren’t demons at all. They were scared, uneasy pieces of me that just wanted to feel at home. Their purpose wasn’t to restrict my life or haunt me. They wanted to be forgiven, learned from, and welcomed as threads in the tapestry that is my life.

Bringing each one into the light and giving grace turned them from hidden weaknesses to conscious strengths. With every layer of forgiveness, I felt more alive. My head cleared and my heart freshened. For the first time, I could feel my soul breathe.

Your past does not equal your future. Past success does not equal future success. Past failure does not equal future failure. The lessons taken from each experience and the actions you take based on those lessons are the only real predictor.

When we look at failure, we have to learn and forgive. There is no future in resentment or guilt. Identify where you are stuck and find the block. Clear it out with whichever method of release you choose, but make sure to clear it. Your life depends on it.

***

PJ McClure is the world's foremost authority on mindset and how to build yours for optimum happiness, fulfillment, and success. He has helped more than 3,000 entrepreneurs in 54 countries to have more life by building a business that supports your ideal life instead of killing it. His Goals Guide is helping people from all walks of life to understand the difficulties of achieving goals and how to make them work for you. Get your copy of The Mindset Maven's Goals Guide here.

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It’s My Birthday: A Time to Reflect

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Monday, October 4th, 2010
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By MaryEllen Tribby

It’s amazing how differently people react to their birthdays.

Some want to party. Surround themselves with hordes of people and pay homage to themselves.

Others get depressed thinking they have not done enough with their lives.

I, like many, use my birthday as an opportunity to reflect on my life, to examine the ups and downs, and to remember the people, situations, and experiences in my life that I am so grateful for.

I attribute my success and happiness to many factors. However, gratitude is by far the largest contributor.

Because I take time to give thanks for all the good in my life, I recognize just how big a role things like family, mentors, and clients have played in my success. And this, in turn, helps me to be the very best wife, mother, friend and businesswoman I possibly can. I owe so much to the people and things that have helped push me forward. So I give as much as I can in return. And this has the happy result of helping me get even more out of life!

Gratitude goes beyond appreciation; it goes beyond the emotional state. When you learn how to become deeply aware of the feelings of gratitude, you’ll find that your body actually reflects the emotion in physical form.

If you would like to understand what I mean… And learn how to use gratitude to enhance your life… Try the following exercise:

Picture something or someone that you are sincerely grateful for. Close your eyes and fill in the picture with as much detail as possible. As you hold that object, person, event, or place in your mind, tune into what is going on with your body:

  • Is there a tingling in your arms?
  • Do you feel a little out of breath?
  • Do you have butterflies in your stomach?
  • Does your scalp tighten up slightly?
  • Do you get a chill running up your back?

Whatever it is – I guarantee that something is there. Find it. Get comfortable with its presence.

You see, these sensations are your gateway to instant happiness. In fact, they’ll provide you with a never-ending supply of joy and motivation to fuel your success machine.

Recall the physical sensations you noticed while in a state of gratitude. Spend time paying close attention to what you are feeling. What are the physical sensations you experience while seeing those things in your mind? Write them down.

Next:

1)   Envision your ideal life. This is your “big vision.” Add in all the details of what you want your ideal life to look like. Picture the colors, the sounds, and the smells.

2)   Then casually return to your picture of gratitude. Anticipate the physical sensations you recorded earlier and welcome them as they come back. Feel them deeply.

3)   Once you’ve locked in the sensations, return to your big vision. See if the sensations of gratitude stay with you even as you return to your big vision.

4)   Go back and forth. Gratitude. Vision. Gratitude. Allow the two to blend together. Your goal is to feel the physical sensations of gratitude while holding the image of your big vision.

Practice this exercise daily. It only takes a few minutes and can become one of your favorite times of the day. It is for me!

Even though this is a very personal experience, don’t be afraid to share it with others. Because you now have a new tool that can help you take your life anywhere you choose. From now on, think of success as your default setting.

And this week, as I turn 29 (again), I am honored to share my gratitude list with you.

Here are the top 10 people/things that I am most grateful for:

1)   My husband Patrick. I never question his love, loyalty, and partnership. He is a rock I cherish (and his good looks don’t hurt!).

2)   My children: Mikaela, Connor, and Delanie. They gave me the gift of motherhood and unconditional love. The compassion and respect they show to all people fills me with pride.

3)   My father (who passed away 16 years ago). He taught me the value of honesty and hard work.

4)   My best friend Jen, who always tells me the truth even when it’s not what I want to hear.

5)   The mistakes I have made in business and in life. The lessons I have learned from these missteps have made me a better wife, mother, friend, and business leader.

6)   Having lived in New York City for 15 years and experienced its wealth of theatres, museums, fine dining, and dive bars.

7)   Living by the ocean and being able to walk on the beach every day.

8)   My business mentors and colleagues.

9)   Music – especially U2 – which allows my creativity to flourish.

And last, but certainly NOT least…

10) My Working Moms Only community. Your letters, emails, and comments touch my heart and soul every day and make me strive to continually find more resources and tools to empower you.

To show my gratitude, I cordially invite you to a FREE teleseminar with me and my friend and colleague PJ McClure next Tuesday evening - October 12.  During this 60-minute LIVE teleseminar, PJ and I will share seven easy steps to achieving a life of success and happiness.

Following the teleseminar, we’ll host a LIVE Q&A. That’s right! PJ and I will answer your most pressing questions about how you can reach any goal and fulfill your biggest dream.

Not only will you leave the teleseminar with a newfound feeling of determination and confidence… you will also understand what it takes to fulfill your dreams. We’ll give you specific, useful, and simple techniques that you can put to work right away. In fact, PJ taught me the exercise above! That’s the kind of easy and startlingly effective strategies we’ll reveal during the teleseminar.

Space is limited, so please reserve your spot here right now. We’ll send all the details – including call-in instructions – straight to your inbox.

One last thing… When you register, please share the number one thing in your life that you are grateful for.

I hope to see you there!

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If It’s Such A Good Opportunity, Why Are You Offering It To Me?

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Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
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Five Ways To Tell Legitimate Deals From Stinkers!

By Bill Bartmann

Everyone has a story. Most people think mine is pretty unique. You see

I was a street gang member and slaughterhouse worker who later made more than a billion dollars.  Along the way I’ve been bankrupt several times, built seven businesses and been pitched countless deals.

What opportunity made me a billion bucks?  It was the debt-collection business.  Talk about an area with a bad reputation.  Yet my company took a different path, and earned the praise of Working Woman Magazine for being one of the “Top 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers”.  We broke the mold, redefined an industry, and made lots of money at the same time.

Reflecting on my successes and scars, here are five principles for how you can identify truly good opportunities of your own and quickly dump the rest:

It should be just good enough to be true.

When someone pitches you on an opportunity and there’s only good news for as far as your eye can see—that’s bad news.  Engineers have a saying:  “You can have any two of the following—fast, cheap, or good—but not all three.”  That’s as true with bakeries as it is with bridges.

Strive to work with partners who recognize that everything has tradeoffs and who are up-front about them.  It’s often still possible to profit, as long as you see the negatives and act accordingly.

Barriers are your friend.

When an opportunity seems to say: “Welcome—Come On In!”—that’s no real opportunity.

Look for conventional-wisdom barriers.  Often that “wisdom” is not wise at all.  Ken Olson founded Digital Equipment Corp and said in 1977: “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”  Other so-called experts agreed.

Try to find powerful statements which everyone seems to accept but which are not based on any factual reason why something cannot work.  In my case, the reputation of debt collectors was somewhere below politicians and scam artists.  That big “Keep Out” sign meant less competition and more profit.

Talk to actual users.

If the new opportunity is a product, use it yourself.  See if you’re impressed as a consumer.  If it relates to oil rigs, talk with a drilling crew.  You simply must get input from actual users in order to determine how great this opportunity may realistically be.

I had been poor for so much of my life that I knew exactly what the typical bill collector was like.  I treated customers with dignity and respect.  They reciprocated by paying my bill before they paid others.

Question their motives.

I know—your mother told you all about the Golden Rule.  I’m not your mother.

Remember the title of this article—why are they offering the deal to you?  Let’s put aside the baloney answers you’ll hear like “Because I want to give back.”  That’s nice.  Now why are you really showing me the deal?  Other responses:

“I already have eight deals like this and I see more good ones than I can finance.”  That may be legitimate, as long as the person can back it up with proof.

“We’ve had overwhelming requests by people to participate in this new opportunity, so we finally caved in.”  Usually hogwash.  Translated it means:

“We don’t want to risk our own money on this new venture, so we’re looking to use your dough to prove our concept.”

“It’s not part of our core business so we’re selling it off.”  That can be a very good reason, if they can back it up with proof.  It could mean the company has decided to stick to its knitting.

Look for the time horizon.

Business opportunities have a half-life, just like uranium.  Blogs and video sites are currently “in”.  If your business relies on popular trends, it pays to watch for signs of user fatigue and what may be next.

When I was buying defaulted loans in the ‘90s, I knew the opportunity would not last forever.  Sure enough, it was profitable for a few years and then dwindled.

The government bailout changed all that.  I now see an even bigger opportunity for buying defaulted loans and making an absolute fortune from them.  Still, the biggest window is only for another couple of years until the next major election.  Politicians will want this “toxic asset” problem solved before voters go to the polls.

Just as I am looking at a two-year opportunity, you should know what the horizon is for your business.

***

Bill Bartmann is the foremost expert on helping entrepreneurs profit from buying bad loans and a leading authority on entrepreneurship in America. His book Bailout Riches recently became #1 on Amazon's Best Seller List and his company , Bill Bartmann Enterprises was named #234 on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies. Bill offers free educational materials for entrepreneurs at www.bailoutrichesnow.com

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