Five Key Ways a Prophet Creates Meaning in Your Life:

 

1. A Prophet Pushes Personal Growth - A prophet is the instrument that God uses to speak to your potential. Therefore you are always being propositioned to grow beyond measure through the word of the Lord that is spoken over your life. 
   
   
2. A Prophet Advises You to Use Your Strengths To Grow Your Future - A prophet can reveal your weaknesses as well as your strengths. As the word of the Lord is spoken into your life, you can begin to see how your strengths will help your word come into fruition and grow you in more ways than you can imagine.
   
   
3. A Prophet Entices You to Be Curious and Look for Novelty - You can find something new in everything you do when you have the word of the Lord at the helm.  This keeps you more engaged and will result in you getting more out of your word. You are going to move in one direction or another.  You are going to spiral upwards or downwards. You have the power to decide what it's going to be.
   
   
4. A Prophet Challenges You - The Prophet Elijah took all that the widow had... and it was just enough to save her son's life as well as her own. A prophet will always challenge you... well more so your comfort zone. You know the potential to prosper in the most unimaginable way is always in full effect when you accept the challenge of a prophet.
   
5. A Prophet Can Connect You With People - A prophet can speak divine direction into your life that can lead you into making divine connections that will lead you into divine succession.
   

5 Easy Steps for Maximum All-Day Energy

By Isabel De Los Rios


I often hear people say…

“I just wish there were more hours in the day so I could get more done.”

But I don’t think more time is what most people need.

I think what many people could really use to get more accomplished each and every day is… ENERGY

Often I talk to people who really do have more than enough hours in the day; they just don’t have enough energy to accomplish all of life’s constant To Do’s.

As a busy mom of 2 small children and owner of my own business, having enough energy to accomplish the many tasks required of me each day is “mission critical”. Without energy, there’s no way I’m going to be able to exercise, work all day, take care of my children and my home, and still find some time for activities like reading and outdoor play.

Here are the 5 things I do DAILY to ensure that I am always functioning at top speed. And no that does not mean I’m constantly running. But it does mean that I’m maximizing the time I have each and every day by keeping my energy levels high all day.

1. Include a healthy protein source into every one of your meals (this includes snacks as well).

Healthy sources of protein and good fat slow down the conversion of carbohydrates into glucose (sugar) in your blood stream, keeping your blood sugar stable throughout the day. Many times the “crash” people feel after lunch or breakfast is their blood sugar spiking high and then “crashing” real low because they ate a meal that was carbohydrate dense and not balanced with enough protein.

Adding in a healthy protein source like organic eggs, natural meats or poultry, wild fish and raw nuts can ensure your blood sugar doesn’t go on a rollercoaster ride every time you eat. So instead of grabbing pretzels from the vending machine in the afternoon, go for some raw almonds and a fruit and that will keep your energy levels sustained for the rest of the afternoon.

2. Stay hydrated all day.

Most people know they should be drinking water, but what they don’t know is that it directly affects their energy levels throughout the day. Consider this: your brain is approximately 80% water. Staying hydrated helps you maintain mental energy while avoiding fatigue and headaches. Water also plays a vital role in your body’s ability to flush toxins. Organs have to work harder when you don’t have enough water, thus, causing fatigue.

3. Be cautious with caffeine intake.

I am not suggesting you completely eliminate your morning java or your breakfast tea. But many people take their “cup of joe” and turn it into “way too many cups of joe”. Yes, caffeine will give you a quick boost in energy, but will almost always send you crashing just a few hours later.

Caffeinated beverages will also dehydrate your body, and dehydration will cause you to feel fatigued (tip #2). Try to keep your caffeine beverages to a maximum of 1-2 per day. I would also suggest drinking those before 1pm as drinking caffeine any later than that can disrupt your ability to fall asleep that night.

4. Beware of “white” carbs.

“White Carbs”(breads, pastas, cereals, baked goods) break down quickly causing a fast spike in blood sugar. You’ll feel a quick rush of energy, but then a big drop…causing your energy (and your mood) to drop along with it. Also, when too much sugar floods the system all at once, your body can’t use it all for energy and converts it to stored fat.

While it is correct that carbs give you energy, too many carbs at once will actually lead to fatigue and lethargy. I would highly suggest keeping the “white carbs” to a minimum and eating healthier, fibrous carbs like oats, quinoa, sweet potatoes and a variety of fruits and vegetables. And always be sure to eat those carbs alongside a healthy protein (tip #1).

5. Do a quick 5-minute mini-exercise circuit at any point during the day.

Yes, even a quick 5-minute exercise routine is enough to get your blood circulating, sending more oxygen to your muscles and brain and giving you a boost in energy. Quick bursts of exercise will also increase your metabolism, not only helping you keep the excess pounds off, but giving you a burst of energy as well.

If I start to feel the “afternoon energy crash”, I will get up from my office chair and do 1 minute of body weight squats, 1 minute of pushups over my desk, 1 minute of jumping jacks, and 2 minutes of lower and upper body stretches. It may not sound like very much, but I assure you that in less than 5 minutes, I am “pumped” and ready to get back to work.

Give the above 5 suggestions a try and you will see firsthand that you do have more than enough hours in each day when you energy levels are at their maximum all day long.

How to See the Future With Meditation

By Owen Waters 
One of the great advantages of regular meditation is that it enhances your sense of intuition. The more you practice meditation, the more you gain insight into every aspect of your life. Insights can relate to present or past events, leading to a greater understanding of your life's path, or they can relate to future events.
Insights into future events can be challenging in four ways:
1. The future is not fixed. Until you experience it, the future remains as an array of possibilities with a "most likely" scenario based on what holds the greatest energy.
2. Viewing the future can change the outcome. Even a 100% accurate view of the most likely scenario will trigger questions about whether you want that scenario to manifest, and that change can influence the outcome. This can give the illusion of inaccuracy in the original prediction.
3. Inner impressions come into your awareness through your imagination. However, a fertile imagination can create images on its own, almost for pure entertainment. True impressions of a future event arrive while you are in a meditative state, or sometimes while performing a monotonous task such as driving at a constant speed. They don't fire up with the great energy of a dramatic imagination. They slip in quietly and have to be examined and unraveled to see what each impression contains.
4. When you first start scanning the future, your predictions will be less accurate than they will become later, after constant practice.
Sometimes, lack of self-esteem can be a barrier to the development of your innate abilities. In that case you need to be aware that everyone is everything that Infinite Being is. The universe is holographic by design, meaning that while the many make up the One, the One is also mirrored within each of the many. So, each person, each spark of Infinite Being, contains all of the qualities of Infinite Being.
Lack of self-esteem, therefore, is only a personality trait and not reflective of your true self.
You have a perfect sense of intuition or insight, just waiting to be developed. One of the hallmarks of the global Shift to higher consciousness is that, with each passing year, more and more people will develop more of their inner abilities.
While you are practicing your intuitive skills, it is a good idea to make written notes for later reference. Insights arrive in your consciousness while you are in an altered, meditative state, so their memory dissipates quickly just like the memory of your dreams. If you keep notes, then re-read them weeks or months later, you will be amazed at how accurate many of these insights were.
Sometimes, you will also see how insights into less than desirable scenarios caused you to make a decision to steer your life in a different direction. When faced with decisions about which direction to turn, the best barometer is always your highest joy. Ask yourself:
"What scenario would represent my highest joy?"
When you follow your highest joy, you are following the path through life which is most closely aligned with your true essence - your soul or inner self.

7 Super Ways a Prophet Helps You Build Your Relationship with God

 

1. A Prophet helps you become transparent in the eyes of the Lord - Never try to hide things from the Prophet. Refuse to have any hidden agendas when seeking God's word for your life. When you are trustworthy with God, you will begin to see others as more trustworthy too. 
   
2. A Prophet invites Your Sincerity - The Prophet speaks the sincere word of the Lord into your life. It is important to speak to the Prophet in total sincerity. Refuse to try and craft your words to manipulate the servant of the Lord. Don`t give fake answers, patronize the prophet or say something just because you think you are supposed to. When the Prophet knows that you only speak genuinely, it increases his capacity to reveal the Lord's secrets to you. 
   
3. A Prophet causes you to focus on adding value - In your relationship with God, always have the best interest of His at heart. Pray, meditate and focus on the plan that God has given to you so that you add value to your life as a faithful servant in the eyes of the Lord. 
   
4. A Prophet allows you to be in the presence of the Lord - When you are in the presence of a true Prophet, you are in the true presence of the Lord because out of his mouth comes the mind of God. Honor this presence, reverence it. It will only increase your relationship with God.
   
5. A Prophet makes you take responsibility for your relationship with God - You are accountable for your Godly interaction after a prophet speaks into your life. Will your faith waiver or will you continue to remain steadfast and prayerful. 
   
6. The Prophet forces you to set boundaries - When you have the plan of the Lord in your life from a prophet, it forces you to become clear about how you expect people to behave around you. This must be done in a mature manner:  Be sincere and respectful. When you have clear standards, people know exactly how to behave around you and that gives them certainty. This allows the Lord to send the right people into your experience where His presence can always be identified. 
   
7. The Prophet helps you to be consistent - Above all, be consistent in your relationship with God. Don't engage in the behavior once in a while when it seems convenient. Seek God daily through His prophet, the word and worship. As you do so, you will notice an increase in your ability to hear God and see his Hand clearly.

Think Great-Your Mind Is your Camera

Knowingly or unknowingly we exercise the power to produce thoughts, which produce results.

 

This creative process works day and night; It doesn’t sleep until the idea is completed.  You cannot picture thoughts of poverty and expect in return wealth; It cannot be done, anymore than a photographer can take a picture of a house and then produce a picture of an ocean.

 

This is a predictable and repeatable design --Your thoughts create your reality.

 

So what would you create?

 

Think Greatly, Think Great-Your Mind Is your Camera

Live a Full Life

1. Prophecy Helps You Keep it Simple and Quick - For some reason we tend to complicate everything. Prophecy doesn't even when we feel like God is placing us in a difficult place. You may sometimes, disagree with God's strategy, yet it is always the simplest route to moving forward in Him.
2. Prophecy Reduces Your Choices - When you seem to have too many alternatives to choose from, it can lead you to unhappiness. Prophecy destroys procrastination because you discover the real choice(s) you have to make in order to move into the fulfillment of your word.
3. Prophecy Doesn't Sweat the Small Stuff - The word of the Lord doesn't nitpick. It provides answers and solutions. The "why" is never important as the "do". God's plan for your life doesn't need your personal opinion; it only requires your action.
4. Prophecy Identifies the Essential and Eliminates the Rest - The word of the Lord identifies what is important for you to focus on during a specific time and season and it eliminates the unnecessary inquiries that fail to apply to the plan that God has for you.
5. Prophecy Helps Eliminate the Drain People - Once you receive the word of the Lord into your life, you will encounter the enemy trying to stop it from happening. You have it within your power to eliminate from your life the people who drain your resources.  It becomes important to set yourself free from manipulative relationships.

Live a Full Life

1. Prophecy Helps You Keep it Simple and Quick - For some reason we tend to complicate everything. Prophecy doesn't even when we feel like God is placing us in a difficult place. You may sometimes, disagree with God's strategy, yet it is always the simplest route to moving forward in Him.
2. Prophecy Reduces Your Choices - When you seem to have too many alternatives to choose from, it can lead you to unhappiness. Prophecy destroys procrastination because you discover the real choice(s) you have to make in order to move into the fulfillment of your word.
3. Prophecy Doesn't Sweat the Small Stuff - The word of the Lord doesn't nitpick. It provides answers and solutions. The "why" is never important as the "do". God's plan for your life doesn't need your personal opinion; it only requires your action.
4. Prophecy Identifies the Essential and Eliminates the Rest - The word of the Lord identifies what is important for you to focus on during a specific time and season and it eliminates the unnecessary inquiries that fail to apply to the plan that God has for you.
5. Prophecy Helps Eliminate the Drain People - Once you receive the word of the Lord into your life, you will encounter the enemy trying to stop it from happening. You have it within your power to eliminate from your life the people who drain your resources.  It becomes important to set yourself free from manipulative relationships.

How to Write Well: The World's Simplest Formula

By Mark Ford

My income is based almost entirely on writing. And it has given me a very rich life -- rich in every sense of the word. It can do the same for you.

I spend half of my working time coaching copywriters on how to write better marketing copy. I spend the other half writing memos.

The purpose of most of my memos is to persuade my clients to make business and marketing decisions that will make them more profitable. If I fail to persuade them, my ideas don't get tested. If they don't get tested, I can't help them make money. If I can't help them make money, they will stop paying me. To date, I have never lost a client. (Knock on wood.) I attribute my track record to the effectiveness of my memos.

Over the 30-odd years I've been doing this, I've developed many complicated theories about what good writing is. But now I've jettisoned them all in favor of a very brief, straightforward definition.

My definition of good writing applies to every sort of non-fiction writing that I can think of. It applies to writing books, magazine articles, and direct-mail sales letters. It applies to business correspondence, telemarketing scripts, and speeches.
Here it is:

Good writing is the skill of expressing compelling thoughts clearly.

That's it.

When I say this to copywriters, I get incredulous looks. "How could it be that simple?" I can hear them thinking.

And then I explain. And re-explain. And eventually some of them get it. And when they do, their writing gets much, much better. Their incomes get better too.

Let's go over that definition in detail. It has two parts:

(1) Compelling Thoughts and (2) Clear Expression

By compelling thoughts, I mean ideas that make the reader think, "Boy, that's interesting!" Or, "I never thought of that before!" Or, "I've got to remember this!"

Good writing, then, has nothing to do with correctness. It doesn't matter if the idea you are expressing is well reasoned or even factual. What does matter is that your writing engages your readers intellectually and emotionally and then motivates them to do or think what you want them to do or think.

Notice I said intellectually as well as emotionally. I have Don Hauptman, a living legend in the advertising business, to thank for that additional word.

After a speech I made to a group of 300 marketers and copywriters, in which I emphasized the point  that advertising had to be engaging on an emotional level because people buy for emotional reasons, he strongly objected.

"This lie," he said, "just invites the critics of advertising and capitalism to charge that consumers are being 'manipulated' by evil businesspeople who exploit their emotions and irrationality. So we're cutting our own throats if we perpetuate the 'it's all emotion' fallacy. I know you don't want to encourage that, any more than I do."

He is absolutely correct. Not including the intellect in this discussion is incorrect and potentially harmful. It invites critics of advertising to accuse persuasive writers of pandering. And it encourages writers to believe that if they pander, they are writing well.

The most successful marketers and copywriters know that good writing requires us to engage our readers on both levels simultaneously. Ezra Pound had the same theory about writing poetic images. He called them "emotional and intellectual complexes in an instant of time."

The Aha! Effect

And that is what I mean by a compelling thought: an emotionally and intellectually engaging idea expressed clearly and succinctly so the reader "gets" it in a moment. That is what produces the Aha! effect.

Malcolm Gladwell is an expert at this -- which is why he has become a multimillionaire by writing books about arcane and academic subjects. His detractors naively knock him, arguing that some of his ideas are incorrect. But as I've already said, correctness is not what makes for good writing. It is the effect it has on the mind and the heart of the reader.

If you want to be a wealthy marketer, copywriter, or businessperson, you must be able to come up with compelling ideas. You must be able to recognize ideas that are intellectually and emotionally engaging, ideas that will arrest and charge up your readers and make them think, "That's good! I never thought of that before!"

How do you find intellectually and emotionally compelling ideas?
In all the years I've been struggling to answer this question, I've found only one answer: You must read.

Successful writers are all voracious readers. Their ideas don't spring fully formed from the thigh of Zeus, they come from hours of reading -- reading vertically and horizontally about the subject at hand. They read and read until they come across something that gives them an Aha! experience.

I'd like to tell you there is an easier way. Some copywriting gurus will tell you that you can swipe good ideas from successful advertisements, past and present. This is horseshit, plain and simple. Stolen ideas are like luxury cars. They lose 40 percent of their value the moment you take them out of the showroom
The reason my number one client is the dominant publisher in the information publishing industry is precisely because their 100+ writers have had my definition of good writing drummed into their heads. They know that they can't expect to write blockbuster promotions consistently without compelling ideas. And they know how to find those ideas.

Ask them how they come up with their great ideas and they will tell you: "I read and read until I find one."

Where to Place the Compelling Idea

The compelling idea must be in the lead. It cannot be lingering on page three or 33. It must be up front so the reader can have his Aha! moment before he tosses the copy away.

It is the same for writing essays or memos. Present your most compelling idea very early in the piece and your readers (prospects, clients, whatever) will be excited. If they are excited, they will read on with enthusiasm. If not, you will lose them.

If you have the good fortune to discover several compelling ideas, put the best one first and let the others follow as soon as possible.
Don't make the mistake of "leaving the best for last." You don't have the liberty to do that. Hit 'em quick and hit 'em hard with your best stuff and spend the rest of the ad/essay/memo proving your points.

You must prove your points, because people tend to be skeptical of new ideas -- no matter how compelling they may be. Your reader's subconscious tells him: "You have just been seduced by an intellectually and emotionally compelling idea. Before you act on it, make sure it makes sense."

So the good writer knows he must support his compelling ideas rationally by providing compelling proof that they are "true."
Truth, of course, comes in many shapes and sizes. And so does proof.

The Three Faces of Proof

There is factual proof. There is anecdotal proof. And there is social proof.

• Factual proof is easy to come by if your idea has been well researched. Anyone with an Internet connection can find all the factual proof he needs on most any topic. And if you don't know how to do online research, don't worry. American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) is developing a product that will teach you.
• Anecdotal proof includes stories -- factual and non-factual -- that support an idea by "showing it" instead of "telling it." Anecdotal proof is very powerful, because it appeals so immediately to the emotions. People are not skeptical when they are reading a story. Their purpose is to be entertained. This gives the writer a strong advantage.
• Social proof refers to the influence that other people have on our opinions and behavior. A good way for a writer to support ideas with social proof is to use testimonials and expert endorsements.

So that's how you incorporate "good thinking" into your writing. Now let's talk about the second part of my definition of good writing...

Clarity of Expression

By "clarity of expression, I mean the ease with which your readers can understand your compelling idea and the proof that follows. This is very important, because the easier it is to comprehend, the more likely it is that your reader will find it to be true.

There is a new science called Cognitive Fluency that supports this assertion. Among other things, it studies the effect of language on readers. What researchers have found is that a simpler statement has more credibility than a more complex one -- even if they both mean the same thing. It appears, the scientists say, that our brains are hardwired to trust simpler (and familiar) things.

New writers don't understand this. They operate on the assumption that good writing is grandiose. They strive to make their writing intellectually and emotionally impressive or even intimidating. They have been mis-educated into believing that complexity is a sign of good thinking. And so they complicate their writing with convoluted sentences and uncommon words.

This is a big mistake -- a mistake that is obviously foolish if you think about it. After all, if you have gone to the trouble of coming up with a really good idea, why would you want to hide it from your readers?

The best tool I have found to help writers keep their language clear and uncomplicated is the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test. The FK (as it is known) looks at the length of your sentences, how many syllables there are in each word, and other data. The result is a score that indicates how easy the text is to read. At ETR, our policy is to keep the FK below 7.5 -- which means the average seventh-grader should be able to read and understand it easily.

To help writers understand what I mean by good writing, I ask them to include two things at the top of the first page when they submit an essay or advertising copy to me for review: a one-sentence explanation of the main idea and the FK score.

When I see an entire paragraph above the copy, I know -- without even reading it -- that the writer hasn't identified a truly compelling idea. And if that paragraph contains long, complex sentences, I know he's way off base. I send the piece back.

If the FK score is above 7.5, it gets rejected too. I reject it because I have found over many years that essays and advertisements that have high FK scores don't get results. I used to think it was because they don't get read. That is certainly part of the reason. But after learning about Cognitive Fluency, I now understand that it is also because they don't get believed.

Let me give you an example of what I've been talking about here. What follows is a paragraph by a seasoned financial writer. I had asked him for a brief summary of the "big idea" for his next essay. Here's what he sent me:

"Simon Properties is making good on its promise to swallow up the minnows. It's buying mall owner Prime Properties for $2.3 billion and not even using up all the cash it's been hoarding to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Simon is big and flush with cash. And it's doing what big bad companies should be doing... beating up their little brothers, grabbing the best deals out there... getting bigger... and capturing market share from other companies."

I e-mailed back, telling him that I could see, by reading between the lines, that he had a good idea in his mind. But he had failed to identify the core of it. He had failed to turn it into a "big idea" that he could base his essay on. Here's what I said in my e-mail:

"You say that Simon Properties is a good buy because it is buying up smaller, cash-starved businesses. This is a sound proposition, but it's not a compelling idea. It's really just an assertion. To make it emotionally compelling, you have to make it both more universal and more unique. You have to find the idea behind your idea.

"In short, you have to find something that would make your reader sit up and take notice. You have to give him an idea -- preferably in a single phrase -- that he could repeat that night at a dinner party, something that would launch an interesting discussion.

"For example, you might have said, 'There are companies -- I call them Sharks -- that outperform the market by three to one by gobbling up good profitable companies that are small and easy to 'eat.'

"That is an engaging idea. The reader gets it immediately. He wants to know more.

"But to make this work, you would need to prove to your reader that, in today's market, Sharks are good investments. Only after you have done that will he be interested in your assertion about Simon Properties."

So now you have my simple formula for good writing -- the skill of expressing compelling thoughts clearly. To come up with compelling ideas, you must read until you experience an Aha! moment. Then you must prove your promises and claims with clean, simple language -- language that scores 7.5 or below on the FK scale.

This discipline has saved me lots of time and has accelerated the learning curve of every writer who has worked under my direction. I recommend it to you.

We are all psychic.

By Michelle Beltran
Whether you believe it or not – you were born with this deep seated intuitiveness. Having said that, we can all learn to play the piano but we may not all reach Mozart’s level.
However, it’s not about being a medium or psychic. Rather, it is about self-actualization and your own spiritual growth and advancement. Ask yourself: “What am I learning about myself?”
The ability to talk with a spirit and/or be psychic is like a muscle. It absolutely gets stronger with time and practice. The challenge for most is not being psychic but rather believing that they are.
Connecting with the spirit world is much like tuning into a radio frequency. When tuning into the spirit world you will be raising your vibrational frequency as spirits then lower theirs – so you both meet in the middle.
Golden Rules for Tuning Into the Spirit World
1) This journey is unique and highly individual. Honor that.
2) Say what you see. Too often students are afraid to say what they are seeing or recognize it as truth. In so doing they lose valuable and meaningful information. What you are receiving always has meaning.
3) First-come, first truth. As you open this door, trust what comes first. This will be what is most accurate.
Five Steps to Connect With the Spirit World    
1) Set Your Intention
State out loud your intention to open the door to speak and receive messages from the spirit world, be it on a personal level or in a formal reading session. The Universe has heard you. There is a divine plan much greater than you in this intention. Now, let it now be brought to you.
2) Meditation
In your daily meditation be sure to quiet your logical, analyzing, left brain. Say “hello” and then “goodbye” to your left brain. Make an agreement with your left brain that you will reconvene another time. Meditation and quieting your mind will assist in quicker and clearer connection with spirit.
3) Listen
Listening for signs, symbols and messages throughout your day is the next step in this journey. These may come in your dreams, in song, in synchronistic-like events in your day that strike you as coincidence. Coincidence is non-existent. Have you ever been thinking of your loved one and reminded of the very special favorite song you two shared, then later that day you heard it on the radio? Indeed, this was your loved one.
4)  Create a Reading Screen
Let’s start with your clairvoyance ability. The reading screen is your viewing receptacle. It is where will receive images and pictures through which spirit may communicate. Using your mind’s eye, imagine a large movie screen out in front of you. Give it a grounding cord and secure it to the center of the earth. Now, ask your question. Or, ask for a message from spirit. Don’t demand, just ask. Let the answer come. Did you get black? Great! Black is a color. The first image that comes will be your answer, be it symbol or literal.
5) Use Your “Clair” Abilities
Connecting with the spirit world requires the use of all of your senses: taste, touch, smell, hear, and see. We have what is known as “clair” abilities. This involves us taking our physical senses to a higher spiritual level. I call this heightened sensing. We have seven clair abilities:
Clairvoyance – Clear seeing
Claircognizance – Clear knowing
Clairauditory – Clear hearing
Clairgustance – Clear tasting
Clairolfactory – Clear smelling
Clairsentience – Clear feeling
Clairkinesthesia – Clear touching
I highly encourage seeking out of specific meditations to assist you in opening these abilities. This will be the doorway through which your connection with spirit becomes stronger.
Some Things to Remember
As your connection to spirit grows, your dreams will be one of the best ways to receive messages. Before you go to bed at night, simply ask spirit to come. Then, expect and intend their arrival, albeit on their time. Pay attention to the last dream before you wake and notice any colors, symbols, words and people that present. You will know it is your loved one present because the dream is very colorful and vivid. You are the vehicle – the mechanism – that is making this be. It is invaluable to spend time in development with others of like-mind, learning and growing. Find qualified teachers. Learn about how

Start Today

All year round, you’re sure to find yourself too busy because you’re trying to do too many things. Are all these activities worth it? You can’t say yes to everything. Today I want you to start a new list that might be just as important as your To-Do list.

Craig Ballantyne

“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.” – Josh Billings

---

Your Anti-To-Do List

By Craig Ballantyne

The other night I had a dream.

But it was not a good one.

Perhaps it was my restless legs and weary body from the hours of exercise video filming I had done earlier in the day that brought upon this devilish dream.

In the dream I was giving a seminar. It wasn’t a very big seminar as there were maybe one hundred people in the room, and all of the attendees were there to learn about building their business.

As I finished my presentation, the group discussion turned to heated debate on politics, and suddenly a fight broke out amongst the audience members. The dream flashed forward to a colleague informing me that a video of the seminar brawl had been posted on Youtube and that I now had a PR nightmare on my hands.

And that was it. Like I said, pretty strange, even for my weird dreams.

The morning after this dream I woke up and started thinking. In our Early to Rise business, we had been in talks to participate in a seminar in March of next year. Suddenly I realized there was no good reason for us to participate in the event. Not only did I not have a good reason to speak at the event, I quickly found five good reasons NOT to do the seminar.

And so later that day after discussing this with Matt Smith and our Chief Operations Officer, Jeff Schneider, we decided to cancel our involvement. Thank goodness that my subconscious brought this to my attention.

This decision to cancel the seminar has taken a large load of stress off my shoulders. After all, 2013 is already shaping up to be my busiest year ever with the ETR $100K Transformation Contest and other big projects in my fitness business. I didn’t need an unnecessary seminar adding to the workload – and trust me, if you’ve ever tried to fill, film, and deliver a seminar, you know that they take an extraordinary amount of work.

So I’ve added that to my NOT To-Do List.

That’s something that you should have, too.

After all, chances are that you are like me, driven and ambitious, wanting to grab the world by its tail to meet your greatest potential. But that attitude can get us into a bit of trouble sometimes. We bite off more than we can chew, as the old saying goes, and we end up more stressful than successful.

But it doesn’t need to be like that. >From big commitments to every day time wasters, our lives can become a lot more efficient and productive when we follow the rules on our Not To-Do List as strictly as our To-Do List.

Let’s start your list by eliminating time wasters that you must cut out from your daily schedule. Here the activities that have made my Not To-Do List.

First, I don’t check email before lunch. Not only does this help me get more done during my morning “magic time” hours (the period of the day when I’m most productive), but it also prevents me from having my day ruined.

When I was younger and much more addicted to email, I would often start the day by checking my email – sometimes before I even rolled out of bed. Most days the email news would be good, but on the odd occasion there would be trouble. Perhaps someone hadn’t liked an article of mine, and had written in with some negative feedback.

Listen, no matter how strong your mental make-up, it’s hard not to get riled up by criticism – particularly email criticism, because upset people can really fire off some nasty comments.

Reading that email would ruin my day. I’d be forever fuming and constantly thinking of smug replies and witty retorts (that I would never send, of course) and my brain would be taken down a rabbit hole of wasted energy and unproductive hours.

One of our Virtual Mastermind Members, Dr. Kevin, found this out the hard way recently, and posted this to the forum:

“I just realized WHY you should NOT check email first thing in the morning. Yes, part of it has to do with being productive, but there’s a much bigger reason. I made this discovery after checking my email one morning and getting a not-so-nice email. This email messed up my mental state for the rest of the morning. It was very hard to snap out of it, leaving me unproductive. You live and learn – now I know why (checking your email in the morning should be on your NOT To-Do List).”

Be very careful with what you let into your mind in the mornings. You might need to add “Checking the News,” “Answering Voice Mail,” or “Having Meetings” to your morning Not To-Do List and move those all to a later point in the day after you’ve finished a big task.

Now I understand that won’t work for everyone, but you simply must control what you can. In addition to checking email, other behaviors on my daily Not To-Do List include:

• Getting into online confrontations
• Sleeping in
• Skipping workouts
• Mindlessly surfing the Internet
• Gossiping

All of these are unacceptable behaviors and they are not to be done at any time. Since formally adding them to my Not To-Do List, I’ve managed to be much more successful at avoiding them.

Just important as the daily Not To-Do List are the long-term Not To-Dos. For me, these include:

• Entering into unprofitable, time-consuming projects and relationships
• Scheduling unnecessary travel
• Getting involved in the technological work on my websites
• Hanging around negative, gossiping people

Once you make yourself aware of what you want to avoid, it becomes much easier to do so. Unfortunately, most people make the mistake of filling their day with wrong activities. It’s almost like an addiction. Perhaps that’s why Dan Kennedy once said, “People’s problems are their hobbies.”

But if you want to be productive and successful, you can’t let your worst behaviors become your habits. If you find yourself in a rut, doing the same wrong things over and over again, then you must take on the task of spending a good deal of time in introspection.

An hour or two of self-reflection on how you spend your time can save you months of frustration. And it often starts with building a Not To-Do List.

While you don’t have to write down a Not To-Do List every day, it sure helps to have one in your mind. That’s also why creating the “Rules for Your Life” is so important.

You need a personal philosophy to keep you on track.

By having a well thought out, clear and concise Not To-Do List, you’ll have a better chance of sticking to the right things on your To-Do list and thus making the exponential progress you are capable of.

Choose your work wisely.

Creative Thinking

We become what we think about.  There must be a constant stream of new thought, better thought, truer thought to ensure progression in our lives, so our thinking doesn’t stagnate.

 

Just as you can count on a well tended crop producing…Your life will absolutely produce the results you have planted by using your thoughts.

 

So think great thoughts!  And if you aren’t sure what that means, start by considering someone you admire.  Maybe it is a painter like Leonardo da Vinci, or perhaps a brilliant explorer like Margaret Mead.  They became great by thinking great thoughts!

 

Imagine how to use your thinking creatively today.  I know you will love the results you get.

Gratitude is an Attitude

1. Stop for a moment. Ask yourself: “Are things really that bad or am I just complaining for nothing?”  Come up with all the good things you have in your life.
2. List all the great things in your life (whether they are small or big things). Make a list of all the great things that you have in your life. Once you start a list of good things about your life, you will start to understand and appreciate of all the great things you have going for you.
3. Start writing a gratitude journal. This keeps you constantly reminded of those things that you feel grateful for. Isn’t God good?
4. Take responsibility for your current situation. Figure out a way to change the part of your life that may be holding you back. Blaming others is never going to solve your problems. Don’t you want your situation to change?
5. Change your perspective. I have noticed many times that something which may seem negative on the outside has a positive side as well. It’s all about changing your perspective to see both sides of the coin. Which side are you looking at?
6. Have a gratitude ritual. Do things that make you happy. You deserve it.
7. Say “thank you”. Gratitude is an attitude. How’s your attitude toward God? .

Four Ways a Prophet Pushes You Pass Procrastination:

1. The Prophet Causes You to Assume Responsibility - When the word of the Lord is given to you, the opportunity to act is left in your sole possession. Will you do what God has instructed or will you remain in the same wallows of stagnation and disappointment?  
2. The Prophet Stops You from Chasing Dreams and Starts Helping You Live Them - Sometimes you think: “If only I had that other thing, I would be complete”. Instead of enjoying life, you chase a vague idea of happiness. The prophet speaks the will of God into your life and the plan that unfolds is the true plan that God knows will bring you the happiness and comfort you need. You will begin to experience the fulfillment of dreams when you first seek the kingdom.
3. The Prophet Stops You from Seeking Cheap Thrills - You live in a world of endless stimulation. The word of the Lord helps you develop the ability to enjoy life in its entirety – even when the stimulation stops. Through obedience and faith you will see the value of every experience and it will give you many new reasons to be happy. Isn’t it time you become happy with life?
4. The Prophet Forces You to Take Action - Taking action is the logical consequence of assuming responsibility for your life. When the word of the Lord is spoken into your life, you can either sit on it, waiting for everything to fall into place or you can become diligent like the farmer who takes action to ensure a harvest.

The Secret to Selling Yourself

The Truth About Selling

One of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes is, "Timid salesman have skinny kids." What he meant is that we must be confident - and skilled - in our sales presentations. And everyone, like it or not, is "in sales." No matter what your career, no matter what your industry, your entire day is based around persuading other people to help you or do things for you. You are always selling. Today, Jason Leister shows you how to sell yourself.

Craig Ballantyne

"Working for someone else gives you little chance to make a fortune. By owning your own business, you only have to be good to become wealthy." - Kekich Credo 25

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By Jason Leister


I spend a lot of time helping independent professionals, who work with clients, make their businesses better.

For some, self-image is a huge issue. For others, figuring out how to effectively articulate their value is the biggest challenge. Still others have no strategy in place to generate qualified leads who might become clients.

The most serious obstacle, however, is something far worse. When you're in the business of working one-on-one with clients, you pretty much live and die by your ability to sell yourself.

Now at its core, I don't believe selling has changed all that much over the years. What's changed, with the growth of the internet and the "free content" craze, is the way selling looks from the outside.

And this is where the trouble can begin.

Selling Yourself With Free

From the outside looking in, it might seem that giving away a lot of valuable free information is all you need to position yourself as an expert and get the clients calling.

After all, once you prove you know what you're doing, then that will clear the way to getting hired by the right people. Right?

If you've ever tried that approach for any length of time, like I have, then you already know it's a great way to go broke and be miserable all at once.

Giving away free information isn't selling, it's simply a way to let people know that you're alive. But free information does very little to overcome the inertia keeping your client's money in his pocket instead of moving it to yours.

The Unique Challenges When You're Selling YOU

When you're selling products, things are a bit different. With a product, it's a whole lot easier to distance yourself from the product and sell it in a more objective way.

When you're selling YOU, things are murkier. You've got your personality, your likes, dislikes, life story, insecurities, fears, limiting beliefs, desires and more all swimming around. Those things can be great assets, or they can mess with your head.

The other unique challenge to selling yourself is that we tend to attach a story to everything that happens to us in the process. "The prospect isn't on time to the appointment, does that mean she's not coming? Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm not sure what he meant by that last phrase before we hung up. Was he saying he didn't believe me? Did I screw up the whole thing at the end?"

It's not hard to imagine how all of this can work against you in a big way. And things can get pretty messy if you let them.

The Secret to Selling Yourself

So how do you overcome all of these things and sell yourself with confidence? What does "selling yourself" even mean in today's "free content" world?

When you're selling you, pretty much everything comes down to attraction. Yes, you can hunt for clients, but I've discovered that you lose certain benefits by doing that. For me, what I lose isn't worth the benefits (mainly speed) I get in exchange--it's just not my preferred model.

If attraction is priority one, that means what you do and how well you do it take a back seat to how strong your field of attraction is.

So you can stop focusing so hard on your "art" and start focusing more on the marketing of your art.

This is not a new idea, but it is one that is easily forgotten.

The "artist" in me, the part of me that says good work should sell itself (as if), fought this idea for a while. Like it or not, that seems to be the way it is.

You develop attraction by demonstrating what you know, by demonstrating who you know, by demonstrating what you are doing.

People are attracted to people who "have things going on" and to people who "know people."

Think back to the popular kids in high school. They might have been jerks, but there was something about them that people found attractive. Study that. Figure out what "that" was. Now ask yourself how you apply that principle to what you're doing.

If it's not obvious to you, the dynamics of how things worked in high school are still present today in business. We're still in high school basically. Fight it, or use it.

How to Develop Your Field of Attraction

First of all, most people need to readjust their idea of just how much action is required to produce a client.

This is what I underestimated for a very long time.

You have to talk to a lot of people... a lot of the right people. A lot more than you think is necessary.

That's what free content is for... it's a tool to increase the power of your attraction field to thousands and thousands of potential prospects.

Since a lot of online media are basically ignored (how many emails did you delete just today without reading them?), you want to branch out into multiple types of media. This is what I've found to be effective.

But that's just the very beginning. The step that comes after free content is where it starts to get real.

Selling is about engineering situations that prompt decisions. You don't care what the decision is as much as that one is made.

That means you need to setup "gates" in your "field of attraction" that require a decision.

For me, one of those gates is the "free consultation." I no longer offer them. I have enough free content, free articles, free publications (in print and online, and the number is growing all the time) that by the time someone shows up at my website, they are presented with a simple decision:

Do they pay for access to me or not?

And the process grows from there. Developing a field of attraction around you and your business is a long process. So if you're not in this for the long haul, you should probably try a different approach.

Selling Yourself Without Appearing Needy

For a long time, I had this idea that actively selling yourself might make you appear needy. So I stuck with spewing free information all over the place and waited.

Eventually, I realized that understanding was a big mistake.

In today's age of free content, with Twitter, Facebook and other places you can talk without having anyone actually listen, it's easy to get brainwashed that the way to sell things is to give everything away, lay down in the street and then HOPE that someone comes to buy something.

I've gone through periods where that Kool-Aid has been poured down my gullet. I'm not perfect (gasp!), so sometimes I actually swallow it.

I get indigestion and eventually I realize the mistake.

In the past, I've thought, "The best way to sell yourself is to not sell anything!" While that's 100% true on one level, in my experience, it's not the whole story.

You see, the point isn't to stop selling, the point is to stop appearing (and being) NEEDY.

Neediness is a turn off, especially when you're selling yourself.

It's a turnoff in grade school, high school, college and real life.

But you can sell your heart out without being needy. That's because neediness is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances.

The truth is, we're all selling something, all the time. It's just that some people don't get it or are REALLY bad at it. So understand this:

The secret isn't NOT to sell, it's to make sure they know you don't need them to buy!

WOW, it only took me 35 years to articulate that. But that's really the game, set and match right there.

If your clients treat you like garbage, then the reason is that they understand you need THEM more than they need you. And the worst part is, you taught 'em to believe it!

You're messin' with their heads! So fix it.

Now go sell your heart out. The world needs what you hav

The Dangers of E-mail

When we’re face to face with someone, our social brain is monitoring the person we’re with continually. That part of the brain is unconsciously telling us, “Well, this person is responding that way to what you just did, so what you should do next is the following to keep things on track.”
The social brain is what makes interactions go smoothly. That part of our brain, however, is crippled online. When you’re sitting in front of your screen or are on your smartphone, there is no feedback loop. All you have is the words you send. However, there is a sort of optical illusion in the mind where you assume that all of your emotional signals that go with whatever you say or do face to face, are going along with your email, but they’re not.
And there is an actual negativity bias in email where senders think that a message was positive, but that’s because they assume all the other cues were clearly received. It’s an unconscious assumption. Receivers think that positive email was more neutral. When the sender thinks it’s neutral, receivers tend to think it’s more negative. In other words, there is a general negativity skew to email.
But then there’s another problem: Very often in face-to-face interaction you get an impulse to do something or say something and your social brain says, “Uh-uh-uh! That’s not going to be effective.” But that message never comes back to you when you’re sitting writing an email, because there’s no feedback loop.
The result is what’s called flaming. Flaming has been known since the earliest days of email. It’s when you’re worked up about something, and you sit down and you furiously type up a message and hit send. And for a split second you have a feeling of satisfaction, and then this morbid sense of, “Oh no, why did I do that? Why did I say that?” comes over you. That’s a flame. It’s a disaster. And it’s a disaster that would not have occurred face to face, most likely.
When you’re tempted to hit send when angry or frustrated, try this instead.
- Save the message as a draft.
- Take three deep breaths.
- Return to your email.
- Envision yourself as the recipient of the message.
- Would they think the message has a positive or negative tone?
- Revise as you see fit.
Taking an extra few minutes to reflect on your intention and message in an email could save you a couple of hours, days, or even weeks of headache and trouble.

The Power of Habit

"Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny." - Mahatma Gandhi

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By Craig Ballantyne


My day begins each morning, when I'm home in Toronto, between 3:30 and 4 a.m. I slip stealthily from under the covers and drape my feet over the edge of the bed.

Bally the Dog, alert to my slightest of movements, takes this as his cue to get up from his mat. He wanders over from the corner of the bedroom to my side for a early morning petting. I vigorously rub his back in that one area that for some reason turns his tail wagging up to a ludicrous speed. This goes on for about a minute before he turns around, plenty satisfied. Time to return to his homemade bed for another three hours of doggy dreaming.

With this, I make my way to the bathroom to get dressed and cleaned up. I put on my workout clothes for later and head down to the kitchen table. A jug of cold water from the fridge and a few daily supplements (vitamin C, a probiotic, and glucosamine chondroitin) are the only nourishment I need for the next few hours.

I grab my writing sweatshirt and put on my headphones. There's no music. Just silence. It helps me get locked in and laser-focused for the next sixty to ninety minutes.

John Carlton, the famous copywriter, recommends that all writers have rituals that signify the start and end of their work time. Wearing my big headphones and blocking all extraneous noise gets me in writing mode.It's as though I'm separated from the world by some soundless barrier. My kitchen table is my fortress. My keyboard my weapon. An eight hundred word article my prey.

Time flies by. I pause only when my throat gets dry to quench my thirst. It's still pitch black outside the 16-foot windows of my loft apartment resting high above a hill in Toronto's Beaches neighborhood. Only the headlights of an early morning garbage truck break the stillness of the night, but they don't break my concentration.

By five thirty or six o'clock I'm satisfied with my first draft. It's time for my daily inspirational quotes to be shared with our rapidly growing Early to Rise Facebook readership of over 7,500 members. These are not automated. I prefer to share what is fresh on my mind each morning. I tweet it. I post it for my Turbulence Training readers. I update it to our Transformation Contest entrants as well.

After this few minutes break I return to my writing. This time, it's email drafts. It could be the weekly Wednesday Early to Rise team email, or the Thursday Turbulence Training team email. It could be Monday's issue of Early to Rise Premium, where I share "What I Learned This Week." Or it could be one of my many Turbulence Training email articles to be sent to my list of over 90,000 fitness fanatics.

These emails come faster and much easier than the eight hundred word articles. I slay the biggest dragon first when my subconscious mind is bubbling over with ideas and my mind is clear and fresh. Then I move to the emails. Having written over three thousand fitness emails in the last twelve years, the Power of Habit has helped me achieve outlier status. There are few people in the world that have written as much on fitness as I have. I can dash off one thousand words for a fitness article almost as quickly as you could recap your dinner from last night.

My next habit is one of my favorite parts of the morning. It is my daily document review and reading time. Thirty minutes are allotted to this important thinking session. First, I read the daily entry from Dr. Gay Hendricks', "A Year of Living Consciously." I might copy down a quote to be shared later on Facebook or in an ETR essay. Next, two pages from "The Art of Living," Sharon Lebell's new translation of the works of Epictetus, are given reflection.

I move to my gratitude and achievement journal next. Split lengthwise down the page, the left hand side is for the people, activities, and the future for which I am grateful. I often record my thanks for the easy life that I live, and for the opportunity I have to coach, connect, create, and share my gifts with the world. I never forget how lucky I am to have been born in this day and age. There could be no better life for me, for my life is what I make it.

My gratitude journaling ends with the long list of people that I have connected with or been helped by in the last twenty-four hours. Many people have unknowingly made this list over and over and over again. I remind myself to send them a personal thank you email, text or card. No one gets enough appreciation these days, and it's easy to deliver.

Time to move over to the achievement side. I list the five biggest accomplishments of the past day, and reflect on ways to achieve the same or better results today. Some days it's hard to find five achievements, but even the small things, such as a good workout, a quick phone call to a friend, or getting an essay out the door belong on the list. I thank Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, for introducing the power of this habit to my day.

On I go to the many documents I've gathered over the years. There are the Kekich Credos, Yanik Silver's Maverick Business Rules, and many others. Each day I review one from the list. Like a horoscope speaks to its readers, I find the points salient to my day's activities. Sometimes one triggers a breakthrough in an essay or business strategy. Such is the power of this habit.

By now my throat is dry and water jug empty. I return to the fridge for another cold one. The dog is getting restless. I've been at this for over three hours and his belly, though always empty - at least according to him, is emptier than ever. We're almost done, there are just two more habits to go, and both of them are new.

The first new habit is reading a chapter of a book each day. With all of the other reading in my day-to-day schedule, I'd found my book reading diminished in the last year. What better way to fix this problem than with making this a daily habit. Each morning, before the dog gets walked, a chapter must be read.

Finally, it brings me to my last habit, and one that I have struggled to implement for years. Yet it is the simplest of activities. It is mediation. I've tried, always quitting, to implement the habit in the past. But this time, with some coaching from ETR's Publisher, Matt Smith, I'm making it stick. I've passed the so-called magical 21-day mark for building a new habit. I haven't missed a day, and yes, I believe it has made a difference.

This brings me to the dog walk. It's broaching 7 a.m. by this time. The winter's morning sun is starting to peek above the beach at the end of the street. Time for Bally the Dog to come downstairs, bask in a quick belly rub, and go out for his morning duties and socialization at the off-leash park. He'll also try and sneak in a swim, no matter how cold the water. If he can break through the ice, he's in.

And I watch, satisfied. I'm satisfied that my heaviest lifting of the day is done, though the city is just waking up. You can almost hear the creaks in its bones as it rolls out of bed. The CN Tower yawns and stretches high above the cityscape off in the distance.

My satisfaction comes from the Power of Habit, the strength of repetition, the backbone of success.

But the writing, the reading, the meditating, none of those come easy, save for the Facebook update. My monkey mind wants to chatter. It wants to read when I'm writing, and write when I'm reading. It wants to be on Facebook or in email all of the time. It wants to do anything else but the nothing that I want it to do during meditation. No matter what though, the chattering monkey mind, or The Resistance, as Steven Pressfield calls it, can be defeated over time, with your super human Power of Habit.

Habits are something we can all build over time. It starts with simple planning and preparation. You identify bad habits, find solutions, and implement them. You work on creating new habits, supporting them through planning and preparation.

Success is simple once you have the Power of Habit on your side.

The keys to your future are your daily habits. Start implementing new positive behaviors. Make them a habit, and take control of your future, today.