All of the evidence suggests that testosterone is the agent responsible for the deepening of male voices. A ‘normal’ man’s voice is typically an octave lower than a woman’s voice. That deep male pitch is beacon, a broadcast, stating unequivocally, there’s testosterone in the room, so pay attention! Fortunately, there are options available for deepening your voice. Thyroplasty is a surgery that some may recommend. It’s really only meant to be used to repair damaged vocal chords, but an increasing amount of men are undergoing this risky surgery to lower the pitch of their voice. Personally, I think that’s unwise. Mistakes can be made, and your voice can be really screwed up. An alternative is to have fat injected into your vocal chords. This is also risky though, and it’s only a temporary solution.

Try this technique instead – when you speak, slowly exhale instead of holding in your breath. Try this as an experiment; first speak while holding your breath, then immediately repeat the words while exhaling slowly. Notice a difference? You want to avoid speaking ‘through your nose’. Instead, bring the sound up from deep within your throat. Try speaking both ways right now, and you’ll notice a big difference. Don’t rush your words when you speak. Do a little test by saying the same phrase quickly, and then very slowly. You’ll see that fast speech raises the pitch, while slow speech lowers it. The good news is that you can train your vocal chords to sound how you want them to sound. You can do this at home on yourself, or you can work with a vocal coach. Using a vocal coach will bring you the quickest results, but if you can’t afford one just yet, then do this exercise for 10-15 minutes every day…

Count from 1 to 30 in your normal speaking voice. Next, count from 1 to 100 in the lowest pitch that you can that doesn’t put a strain on your vocal chords. While counting, be mindful of all the suggestions above. Breath out slowly, speak softly, and bring the sound up from deep down in your throat. The key is relaxation. The more you push and strain, and try to speed up the process, the less swift your progress will be. It might takes weeks or months to achieve your goal, but you’ll get there in the end, so long as you’re motivated.

Boost-Your-Low-Testosterone.com is a site dedicated to drug free solutions to help men overcome low testosterone levels, decreased sex drive, and erectile dysfunction. There you’ll learn about affordable, over the counter testosterone boosters.

It’s understandable. We all go through bouts with it from time to time, since we have a lot of responsibilities and big problems to handle. So it’s natural that we’d have stress to go along with that. But we don’t need to field as much stress as we do every day.

You see, a lot of us tend to make things much harder on ourselves by doing – or not doing, as the case may be – some things wrong that can be easily fixed. So we keep adding extra stress for no reason.

So I made a short list of some simple things that cause unnecessary stress, and what you can do to relieve it. Here it is in no particular order:

1. Get enough sleep

I’ve gone through bouts of insomnia in the past. I can tell you first hand that not getting enough sleep is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. You’ll spend every day as a big bundle on nerves and stress. You become forgetful. You’re on edge. And it can lead to depression, obesity and even cardiovascular problems.

I’m not saying that I have a cure for insomnia. But whenever possible, I recommend planning ahead, figuring out how much sleep you’re going to need (the Center for Disease Control recommends 7-9 hours for adults), and making sure that you get it. You’ll find that every day will be much easier to get through.

2. Leave early

Sure, we all run late from time to time. Here in New York City, we’re left with little choice but to rely on mass transit most of the time, and that can be a bit unpredictable. So I’ve learned to give myself plenty of time to get somewhere, so that I’m not left to the whims of the MTA. If there’s a problem, if it’s not too major, then I should still get there on time.

I see a lot of people on the subway who are in a big ol’ rush to get where they’re going, and they’re clearly stressing out about being late, and all of the other people in their way, and they’re pushing past you, and being rude. Not me, I’ve got plenty of time, and I’m going to take my time. Stress free. And if my commute goes off without a hitch, then I get there a little early, and I fool everyone into thinking that I’m very responsible.

By the way, the same rules apply if you’re driving, and may have to account for the traffic.

3. Practice

Things that are new can be nerve racking. Getting some practice in and getting better at it gets rid of that stress. When I first started learning kung fu, I was very nervous. When I first started teaching kung fu, I was very nervous. But eventually, I got used to doing it, and settled into it, and it turned out that I had no reason to be nervous or to stress out after all. The same is true with pretty much anything you’ll ever do.

Now, obviously, not everything you do is something that you’re going to do multiple times. But a lot of things are. So remind yourself that this is just the first time you’re trying it, and that you’re going to make a few mistakes, and that it’ll come easier the more you do it. I’m a big believer in learning by doing.

4. Don’t allow yourself to get drawn into stupid arguments

I loves me a good debate, but I don’t much care for arguments. So I really only debate with people who I know will be able to chat without losing their temper or getting offended or whatever. Everyone else gets something like “that’s nice” from me, and that’s it.

Getting into stupid arguments over stupid things is a sure way to feel stupid yourself. Arguing causes you to tense up, and it puts you on edge, and makes you defensive. Plus, you get to walk away feeling like you made an ass of yourself. Why bother?

I learned this lesson the hard way.

5. Choose

Sometimes we get overloaded with too many choices, and we don’t know what decision to make. And we end up making it much harder on ourselves than it needs to be. For example, have you ever looked at a menu, and not known what to order, and gotten a little frustrated?

Well, the same is true, and probably worse, when you look at all of the stuff you have to do in any given day, or at any given moment. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated, and to end up doing nothing and then worrying about it. Being indecisive is actually pretty stressful. Making a good, well thought out decision can get rid of that stress because it will feel like you’re making progress.

And while we’re at it, be confident enough in your decision to accept that it might be the wrong one, and that you’ll have to choose differently next time.

6. Turn your phone off

Take a break once in a while when you have some time, and make yourself unavailable. Relax for a while. Unwind. You’ll find that it’s very freeing to be able to sit there and know that you can’t be disturbed.

You can always turn your phone back on later.

7. Walk away

Speaking of taking a break. Every now and then, if you’re feeling overwhelmed – for example, at work – walk away from it for a bit. Take your lunch break. Take a walk around the block. Get some fresh air. Get a glass of water. Decompress for a few minutes. Whatever it is that you prefer. And then go back to what you were doing.

Yes, you’re going to lose some time if you walk away, but it’ll be better for you in the long run. And there’s a good chance that you’ll be more productive after your break than if you worked straight through, anyway.

8. Laugh

You’ve heard the expression “Laughter is the best medicine.” Well, not too long ago, I interviewed Gerry Hopman, who is a humorist and a motivational speaker. He talks about the benefits of laughter, and I asked him what advice he has for someone who doesn’t feel much like laughing, and doesn’t think they have much to laugh about. And he said to force it.

In other words, fake a laugh. And keep faking it for a while. The more you do it, the easier it will become. The next thing you know you’ll be laughing for real, and you’ll start finding more things to laugh about.

And laughter, just by its nature, releases stress.

9. Write it down

I highly recommend keeping a pen and some paper handy whenever you can. Trying to remember everything you need to remember causes a lot of stress. It’s a lot easier to write it down and refer back to it. It’s kind of like when you make a shopping list. Well, you can apply that same principle to anything.

A few months ago, I interviewed Kathryn Watson, who’s a relaxation coach, and during our discussion she said this: “So many people think that they’re supposed to remember everything, and especially as they start to get a little bit older, and they get frustrated because they’re not remembering. You don’t have to remember everything. Leave the to do list on paper or on the computer or on whatever device you use to keep your list updated, but you don’t have to keep it all up in your head. You don’t need to remember to pick up the eggs on the way home, you just need to have it written down somewhere where you can find it.”

Well said. Actually Kathryn has a bunch of relaxation tips listed on her site. You can read them here.

OK, so there you have it. Those are just a few of the things that you can do to get rid of some unnecessary stress. There are naturally going to be plenty more, but this is a decent start.

What about you? Do you have any tips for something simple that anyone can do to relieve stress? Let’s hear it. All ideas are welcome.

Read more articles about success and self improvement, and listen to some interviews with industry experts at Mark’s website http://learntochangeyourlife.com

That suggests that the only way change will come in any activity is when we improve and do things differently. But what do you observe in people generally? They move from one deadline to another, aim at one target after another without ever pausing to fine-tune the system that’s doing all the running around-themselves!

Don’t be like that. The facts are that whether you’re happy at your present job and looking to climb the corporate ladder, or you’re unhappy and looking to change your career path, or perhaps you own a business and hope to make the most of it, none of these can be achieved without personal growth.

As an employee, you’ll need to be better and faster than the best prepared to stand any chance of scaling through that job interview. And as an entrepreneur you’ll have to be better than the competition to win the trust and loyalty of customers. The winners in this world are those who invest in their personal growth.

Look at it this way, when we invest in stocks or property, the money brings rewards by way of interests or dividends, everything being equal. Would there be any expectation of reward when we haven’t even invested in the first place? Of course not!

Similarly, when we work hard and conscientiously at a job, our time and efforts are rewarded with regular salary and other pecks, again, CETERIS PARIBUS (everything being equal!).

This principle is also true when it comes to investing in our personal growth. The more you invest in developing yourself-your abilities and personality-the greater the benefits you’ll reap. Yes some of the rewards will be financial, but really there are several other rewards that result from personal growth and self-improvement.

It could mean better relationships, a more physically fit and healthier you, a better manager of time and other resources, etc. The gains are virtually endless.

Now what are some ways you can invest in your personal growth? Personal growth can actually refer to a long list of different aspects of you. The aim should be for you to be aware of your current performance or abilities, and to become determined to work on improving at them over time. View every experience you encounter as an opportunity to improve on what you are.

For example, if you are a network marketer, have you observed that you are naturally shy when approaching a client on phone or when you have to address a large audience? That could affect the growth of your MLM business. So don’t surrender to this weakness. Instead, seek opportunities to speak at parties and other gatherings.

If you do that, the fear and anxiety will be reduced at the next opportunity. If you do that often, you’ll soon conquer your fears and begin to impress friends, colleagues, and clients.

But if you accept your failures and do nothing about it, the weakness will live with you and continue to rob you of business opportunities.

Even unfortunate incidents can be turned into opportunities to reflect and improve ourselves.

Generally you should train your mind to always be alert to opportunities to do things better. And rather than leaving it to chance, you can actually go out of your way to get some specific training and mentoring in the areas you wish to improve.

Books are also great sources of inspiration and lessons. In the same vein, you could also join business associations or take coaching classes.

The efforts you put into developing yourself will pay off handsomely. You’ll become better at whatever you’re doing; you’ll be ahead of the pack. Improving yourself will easily reflect on your general outlook and confidence level, which will attract people to you. And if you’re a network marketer, you know how important this last thought is!

As a Network Marketing Business Builder being able to attract daily targeted MLM leads to your business is the key to your MLM Success. How would you like to attract 50-100 leads to your MLM business daily?

Learning these MLM Marketing Skills will help you build your MLM business downline. You can visit my blog and website uniquemillionaires.com to find out more complete information on Lead Generation Training.

Learning these MLM Marketing Secrets can help you Explode your MLM business. Sandra Essex is a TOP Producing Internet Marketer. She enjoys helping new people learn how to Build Their MLM Business by using the internet. If you are tired of failing in your present Company then you need to learn these skills! Visit this Blog for more MLM Lead Generation Tips .

A self Miracle must be unstated

as an achievement. It is reached by you and established. Your understanding, works without thinking and equivalent with your ingenious.

Change your time and it is doable the results may not be observed by you at all, as you are already enjoying the life-changing moments.

Your “Survival Kit” Is BrainPower and Is What Drives You

Creative visualizationand enthusiasmis a key in understanding and are included in what I call “survival kit” for the heart and soul.

I show You what is in the “survival kit” and are shaping Your Self Miracle

1.Know that you are always loved.

2.Lend a hand to others and you will find help yourself.

3.Let everything you want have its time to come to you.

When all the 3 parts mentioned above are doing fine as one your Self Miracle will be yours when looked-for.

Know That You Are Always Loved

No one can live without being loved. You can open your wits to others only to get the contact and learn for yourself.

Adore is, when studying it, a condition when everything is neutral. Nothing is hurting you; your spirit, not your body or your mind is hurt, in this neutralstate. You are feeling very calm. The real life is you.

This is when the energy, surrounding you, is steady and firm and has no and has no power on you.

Now when the whole thing is “comfortable” the real you can make the life-changing decision – you are neutral! The right and exact information’s comes to you and you are living and approaching your “Self Miracle.”

Help others and you will get help yourself

When helping others, you use your understanding to get things quicker and easier done for eternity helping others. Your friends, your coworkers make days easier to live and get through when helping others.

If you do your work helping others, you will be respected and “highly ranked.” You are going to feel better and you find that every day is your Self Miracle.

Let Everything You Want, Have Its Time to Come to You

“It is time for this to happen!” I believe that you have heard that before sometime. In my studies and doing psychic readings I see that we are in so great hurry in letting everything happen before it is at all a option.

I say: “You have your own schedule for everything in life.” If you rush yourself and push your life, then you overlook the opportunity to live.

Is this easy and obvious enough?

If you want your Self Miracle to come to you and expand -

-”Enjoy your steps in life.”

-”Be the witness of life.”

-”Find the very small signal of progress that you get every day, and in real life that confirms your dreams or goals”

If you are very decisive knowing what you want, then life gives you everything.

Best of wishes

Anders Jacobsson

Go to: http://www.anders-video-review.com/selfmiracle.html and then “Self-Miracle.” Anders Jacobsson works as Business Manager and software developer. Anders experiences has manage more than 230 corporations most of them in Scandinavia. Anders is in addition a Reverend at BPI, Berkeley Psychic Institute and the Institute for Spiritual Foundation, Berkley has also widened Anders knowledge in Self Improvement.

Perfectionism is a personal philosophy of demanding perfection from yourself and accepting nothing less. In most cases, a goal of perfection is unrealistic at best and impossible at worst. This is because perfection often can not be concretely defined and is subjective. For instance, can the perfect body be defined? Ask ten random people to define the perfect body and you will most likely get different answers from every one of them. While there are scientifically supported methods of determining attractiveness and health (such as waist to hip ratio, body mass index, and features like strong jawlines in men), you would be hard-pressed to find universal agreement as to what would constitute the perfect body.

There are exceptions to every rule, and in this case it is no different. In a few specific situations the pursuit of perfection is feasible and almost a requirement. At very high levels of competition where the slightest advantage can be the determining factor, those who are able to hone their craft to perfection are often victorious. An example of this would be Olympic athletes who have a set routine to perform. If they are able to pull off a flawless performance, a medal is pretty much guaranteed.

Another situation when someone should strive for perfection is if there are other people’s lives at stake. A definite example that comes to mind would be surgeons that perform major operations. One mistake could not only cost the surgeon his career, but also the life of his patient.

What it all boils down to is making efficient use of your time. Let’s say you are writing an article or creating a website. Is it better to spend tons of time trying to make it perfect, or does it make more sense to make it excellent and then move onto other projects? Let me be clear, I’m not saying you should churn out lots of low quality work. The fact is you can only edit and polish your creation so much until you hit the point of diminishing returns.

The biggest downfall perfectionists experience is all of the good things they miss out on by neglecting the other parts of life. This is seen many times in men who spend all of their time and effort on their careers; they find it very difficult to meet and date women because they neglected their social skills. Life is so much more enjoyable and fulfilling as a well-rounded individual that is excellent in multiple areas of life.

To attain excellence in multiple areas of your life, it is necessary to find the methods and strategies that produce the best results for you. What has worked best for me is focusing intensely on one area of my life until I achieve the degree of excellence I desire, and then move on to my next goal. This approach works best for me because I thrive when focusing on one thing, whereas someone that is better at multitasking might find a different approach to be best.

Life is way too short to waste it by striving to be perfect in just one small facet of your existence. Choose to live a full and rich life. Choose excellence.

Roy Eakes is dedicated to helping you live a happier and more successful life. Visit his Life Lessons blog to read more inspiring and motivational articles.

The subject of these articles will be “intuition”. So first let’s look at a definition of intuition: Intuition definition: 1- immediate apprehension by the mind without reasoning, 2- immediate apprehension by a sense.

Now if we examine these two definitions we can see that they are self-contradictory. The first says intuition occurs “without reasoning” yet the second definition says “by a sense”.

So, which is it? Because if intuition begins with a (sense) as in the # 2 definition, then the assertion here is that we have some ’sensory capacity’ to be ‘intuitive’.

However, sensory data needs processing to be used.

Hence, that processing is ‘reasoning’ on some level (even if it is on a sub-conscious level). So we have the apparent contradiction between definition #2 and definition #1. Because definition # 1 says intuition is “without reason”.

It seems that intuition is inherently hard to define. But consider what a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said about what was legally ‘pornography’. The judge said, “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it”.

So, in regard to our intuition, do we know it when we have experienced it? Do we recognize when “intuition” has been a factor in our behaviors, our choices or our actions?

Let me relate a personal experience here that helps expand on this thought.

About 16 years ago I was teaching a RMCAT style, scenario based self-defense class with the armored assailants at a martial arts school in Nevada. We stayed at the school owner’s house. It was almost time to turn in for the night and I saw as inviting place for meditation.

It was outside on a square tatami mat on a wooden deck. I sat down to relax and clear my mind from the day’s instructional activity. It soon was totally dark outside and I could see nothing as I sat and began to let go of all thought. Which also means that whatever thought enters my mind, to not fight it either. Well, I guess productive meditation is hard to define too

I was absorbed in this meditation when I felt a ’spiritual presence”. I casually raised my right hand to ‘block’ my ‘right high gate’. My wrist then intercepted a kick to my head (at the ‘high right gate’). I did not experience much surprise at this either.

But the person throwing the kick in the darkness was totally amazed. He knew that it was totally dark, and for me especially, as he knew me to be rather ‘night blind’. He had also moved into position very carefully, very slowly and with all his stealth.

I used the ‘immovable arm” technique from the Aikido to intercept his kick but I knew by the ‘feel’ when I caught it that it was not meant to hit me, but only to come close, but with focus and power.

I will acknowledge though that when I did this there was a small amount of surprise for me. But this was primarily at how perfectly the kick had been intercepted.

As some of you may know,’ blocking’ or arresting the enemy’s strike and absorbing its impact is not my way or style. This would be to “contest the enemy’s power”. To “contest the enemy’s power” is something to be tactically avoided as a more powerful enemy will simply defeat you.

But there is a more subtle form of ‘blocking’ a strike that arrests the forward motion and inertia (impact) of the enemy’s strike, but without your hand or wrist absorbing much of that impact. Though I had practiced it, this was the first time I had experienced it truly and ideally ‘working’ so well.

Now, the guy throwing the kick was a good friend, co-instructor and he was given to such antics as this. He was a good martial artist too. In fact, like myself he had been a ‘bouncer’ and in a very large establishment despite his being just 5 ft 5″ in stature. To him my catching his kick in the dark seemed like I had mastered some ‘mystical technique’.

Now of course I knew better than that. But I amused myself by allowing him to wonder a bit about it. We tended to play such mind games with each other from time to time.

But let’s examine this incident objectively. How did I do it? How did I intercept the kick in total darkness and silence?

I explain it to myself through the following definition of intuition # 2, “immediate apprehension by a sense”.

Therefore, the question is what ’sense’ did I employ as apparently I heard nothing and I saw nothing?

We are ‘cutting to the chase’ now on what I feel ‘intuition’ really is and how it works.

But please understand that I am not pretending to fully understand this phenomenon. I just have a working theory as to how it might operate. In the ‘Philosophy of Science’ my theory has significance because it has some ‘predictive value’.

Most importantly here, I am convinced by experience and actually beyond any question that one’s powers of intuition can be cultivated and made more powerful.

Let’s look at another intriguing definition of intuition, which, while I cannot fully agree with it, I still see some value and information in: ‘Intuition can be said to be a comprehensive grip of the principles of universality. A person who develops intuition can know anything, without the barriers of time, space and any other obstructions’.

It’s the “can know anything without the barriers of time, space and any other obstructions” that I have trouble with here. It sounds too much like “magic” to me.

So how might we define what is ‘magic”? I define magic as “events that occur in and of themselves with no antecedent cause”.

I am not convinced that magic like that exists either. And I surely do not see my intercepting the kick in the dark as ‘that kind of magic’.

Here is my theory on intuition as applied to my ‘blocking the kick’ incident, and I think it can be generalized to all forms of intuition.

First, I was meditating so my mind was sort of a ‘blank slate’. Consider the mathematical concept of “figure ground relationship”. If the ‘thing’ we are trying to perceive is in great contrast to the background it lies upon, then we perceive it much more easily.

Conversely, if the “thing” we are trying to perceive is against a background very similar to the thing itself, then it is hard to discriminate it from that background. Of course all camouflage, either by man or naturally occurring in the animal kingdom is based on this simple principle of ‘figure ground relationship’.

So since I was meditating I was in sort of a “blank slate background” mode. It was thus easier to discriminate the ‘thing”, that is the “presence” I felt and the kick.

But what was it that I perceived in that silent darkness? I do not look to the mystical here, but only to the ‘threshold subliminal’.

By this I mean while I wasn’t consciously cognizant of any noise, I think I must have subconsciously heard something at the threshold of hearing.

That morning I went out onto the deck in sunlight and walked about it normally and also in a fashion designed to make the least noise possible. I did not hear any ’squeaks’ in the deck either way.

But, when I walked on one part of the deck there was, though silent, a sight shifting between one deck board and the next. I believe this was one of the clues that I subconsciously perceived in the incident.

So I do not feel any need to attribute any ‘magical’ elements to explain this occurrence at all. I was actually using my five senses but at such a threshold level of their ability to perceive that this “perception” was occurring at a non self-aware level.

Please stay with me here as I am coming to my central point and the significance of all this in term of ‘cultivating our intuition’.

Have you ever been stopped at a traffic light and with another car beside you also waiting for the light to change?

Then, when the light turned green the car beside you ‘peeled out” rapidly with a display of ’speed and power”? Then you said to yourself “Dam, I knew that was going to happen”!

But before they actually ‘peeled out’ you were not aware that you were thinking about them “peeling out”. This mental processing of the ‘threshold of perception cues’ was occurring at the subconscious level of your mind. It only became ‘conscious’ when they did it!

My point here is that you can train yourself to consciously perceive what previously were subconscious “threshold perceptions” of your five senses.

This is one means of cultivating your intuition. This is not mystical, yet it can be developed to such a level that to others it might seem like clairvoyance.

In the next installment we will look further at the ways one cultivates intuition

It should be self-evident that developing intuition has a significant self-defense value. It would be quite an advantage to be able to perceive your enemy’s actions before he makes them.

But the strengthening of our intuition is of true value in any and every aspect of our lives.

“The Greatest excellence lies in defeating the enemy without ever having to fight him” Sun Tzu, Circa 1st century BC.

In a self-defense situation for example you might even use this foreknowledge,your intuition, to allow the enemy to realize that you perceive his intention. Thus avoiding his putting his plan into action, as his opportunity for the ambush is clearly gone. In which case ‘you win” as you saw to it that there was not a fight in the first place!.

This is not mystical either, and I can tell you for a fact it is possible because a few decades ago when I was a bouncer I did this exact thing several times. And often my communication to the ‘would be ambusher’ was done non-verbally.

This cultivation of intuition can be taken to a surprisingly high level in many arenas such that at the highest levels it can appear to be ‘mystical or clairvoyant’.

Consider the ubiquitous western movie scene where the “breed tracker” in the posse gets off his horse, looks at the tracks, picks some dirt up in his hand, smells it and then lets it fall from his hand and he observes carefully the way it falls to the ground.

Then the ‘Breed’ thinks a moment silently before he says something like:

” The tall man favors his right leg, they’re in no hurry, they think we lost them at the aurora.. they’re headed north now, but then they’ll be cutting south for Cheyenne Wells. We could go there now,… get them when they arrive at dusk tonight”.

The “breed” thus seems to have developed a ’sixth sense’. He might even appear as being in possession of mystical powers. But in reality he has only greatly cultivated his sense of intuition over the years. He has fully capitalized on all his life experience.

But there is something more. He also has confidence in his judgment, that is, in his intuition. You must develop a confidence in your intuition too, and a justified confidence for that intuition to actually serve you.

Like so many ‘great truths’ there is a cliche that sums up the fundamental idea. In this case it is “Trust your gut”.

I would add this parallel thought;”If there is any doubt, then there is no doubt, something is wrong”

In the next installment we will see why women have a naturally better sense of intuition than do men. And we will identify the tools and practices with which to cultivate your own intuition.

www www.rmcat.com  www.peytonquinn.com  Author: Freedom From Fear: Taking Back Control, Of Your Life and Dissolving Depression (ISBN-10: 0975999605, ISBN-13: 978-0975999608, The Science & Art of love & Romance: A Strategy for Success a Program For Healing ISBN 978-1442177482.Black Belt Hall of Fame

One of those success strategies is ‘The Expectation Of Leadership In Yourself And Others’. Think about that statement for a moment. Our whole life, in all of the various roles in which we find ourselves, we expect, and demand, leadership from those around us.

Now I know that there are many different definitions of leadership. Let me define what I mean by leadership. To lead, for me, is to be in service for other people. Leadership means service

Leadership calls for respect, and respect has nothing at all to do with ‘like’. It took me a long time to realize that ‘respect’ does not have to go hand in hand with ‘like’ and, similarly, ‘leadership’ has nothing to do with ‘telling people how to do something’. Rather, it has everything to do with inspiring people and empowering them to do things for themselves.

To be a leader, we need to first start respecting ourselves. We need to show up every day in our lives and in our businesses and give both of them the level of respect that they deserve. Quite simply, we can not expect respect from others if we don’t respect ourselves.

As a child, we naturally assume that our parents will be our leaders. At school, we look to our teachers to be leaders. As adults, every single day, there is an expectation of leadership from one person or another.

We expect our manager to make the right decisions and lead the company to success. We expect the shop assistant to ‘be in charge’ for us so that we can select and pay for our goods. We expect the bank clerk to explain the state of our finances and to lead us through our financial transactions.

Every day we expect leadership in others. But what of the leadership we expect from ourselves? If we expect those around us to be in leadership for us, shouldn’t we shoulder some of the responsibility of leadership too? Shouldn’t we expect ourselves to also be a role model?

So, the next time you are standing in line at the bank, or cussing the traffic warden for leaving a ticket on your car, ask yourself this: Do you stand in leadership for yourself and others in every area of your life?

If you fulfilling your duty as a leader, then congratulations, I have no doubts that your life and your business are thriving right now. The reason being that leaders always succeed, as there is always a need for their service.

However, if you’re not currently being the leader that you should be, before you point the finger of blame at somebody else, remember that every time we point a finger, three more are pointing back at us. You should make sure that your own life is in order before telling others how to act in theirs.

This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. Continue : Success Strategies

So, what exactly is a ‘Plan A’ person, and how can you tell if you are being one in every area of your life?

First, lets consider what a ‘Plan A’ person is. A good friend of mine, who is a perfect example of a ‘Plan A’ person, put it like this: “A ‘Plan A’ person is a person who’s plan B is that plan A works”. Simple, right? No ‘if’s’, no ‘buts’, and definitely no plan B. Plan A works. Full stop.

If you want to be a ‘Plan A’ person, then important lesson number 1 is to establish your plan A. You need to make sure that it is a good one too, after all, there will be no plan B in place.

Important lesson number 2 is to always, always stick to your plan A. Every now and then life gets a little rocky, and when you come face to face with the obstacles that will inevitably arise, some of life’s little stumbling blocks, you need to be resolute.

Having just one plan is really to your benefit here as, when you have more than one choice, you waste time weighing up the pros and cons of each instead of just going forwards. When that happens, you take your eyes off the prize, make the wrong choice, and your original intentions become diluted.

Important lesson number 3 is to not, under any circumstances, change plan A. Remember, that if you make any changes to plan A, then it becomes plan B, which are no longer allowed!

Now you know what a ‘Plan A’ is. The next thing to consider is how to change to be a ‘Plan A’ person. How do you step up to the mark if you’re currently a Plan B, C, D or even E person?

Well, success breeds success and, likewise, ‘Plan A’ people breed ‘Plan A’ people. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet, so I don’t even think there is even a proper term that describes me before I made the conscious decision to become a ‘Plan A’ person i.e I was a ‘Plan Z+’ person.

However, by making friends with, doing business with, reading the same books as, and following the same strategies as ‘Plan A’ people, it didn’t take me long to become one too. It really is as straightforward as emulating the successful people (who are invariably ‘Plan A’ people that you want to be like.

If I can do it, and lots of people I’ve met can do it, then so can you. You’ve already taken a big step in the right direction, you now just need to not look back again. Do that, and the success that you’ve always dreamed of will soon be a reality rather than a dream!

This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. Find Out More : Secrets Of Success

There is a quote by Dr. Maxwell Maltz that is worth taking note of here – “Our self image and our habits tend to go together. Change one and you will automatically change the other.” Take a minute to think about that, and also to consider your self image and your habits.

Look at your soul in a mirror. How does your self image look when it is reflected back to you? Do you radiate with inner confidence or does the mirror reflect a rather more tarnished and murky version of the ‘beautiful inner you’? Would you even dare to look in the mirror? What does your reflection say about you?

Our self image is what makes us behave ‘like us’. As such, the habits we adopt, and the way we ’see’ ourselves in our life, are a direct result of our self image and the way that our self image views ourselves. They are absolutely connected in every way, shape and form.

As you achieve success, wealth, or ’status’ in your life, if your self image gets left behind, eventually it will press the master ‘re-set’ button on your life, and you will find yourself sliding backwards, sometimes at an alarming rate. In some instances, full on self-implosion is the unfortunate consequence.

It comes down to the fundamental issue of ‘derservability’. Does the self image believe that we deserve to have all this fame/beauty/wealth/ fill-in-the-blank? If not, you will not stay there, because the self image, like all of us, has a very comfortable comfort zone.

If the self image asks “Is this really me?”, and the answer comes back “No”, the self image starts to feel out of control and will change or modify our behaviors to get us back firmly within the boundaries of our comfort zone.

Bear in mind also that you can’t fool your self image. Lying to yourself, and trying to make yourself believe that you’re something that you’re not will never work in the long run. You have to be honest with yourself at all times.

Note here that self image has nothing to do with ‘ego’, which is on the ‘outside’ and is bolstered up by ‘outside’ events, such as praise or adulation from the outside world. Your self image is the praise or adulation that you give yourself. It is the self-talk that goes on within your mind, the images you reflect outward from within.

So, to summarize, our thoughts, habits and actions may be what get us to the level that we want to be in our life but it is the self image that keeps us there. Therefore, if you want to achieve long lasting success, give your self image the time and attention that it deserves.

This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. Learn More : Secrets Of Success

On the one hand, we find change exciting. We all wish our lives to improve, after all, no positive progress can be made without change. On the other hand, the word can be viewed in a negative light, as change is as likely to be bad as it is good.

Synonyms for the word ‘changeable’ include: ‘volatile’, ‘uncertain’, ‘unstable, ‘unsettled’. All of those can make us feel ‘vulnerable’, ‘unsure’ and / or ‘insecure’.

There is a part of us that likes to feel secure and safe and change is not compatible with that. Yet, after change has taken places, we very often call it ‘evolution’, ‘progress’, ‘expansion’, ‘growth’ or ‘advancement’; words which bring out far more positive emotions from within us.

So, it seems that it is not change itself which makes us anxious so much as the transition process – that step into the unknown. We feel comfortable with the stability of things as they are ‘now’. Now is somehow comforting because we know what to expect.

Perhaps it is not change that we fear, rather it is the loss of control that we associate with it. Change inherently carries an element of risk. Sometimes that fear, that perceived risk, is so big that it keeps us where we are now despite the current discomforts.

At the other end of the scale, there are times when we have probably all been guilty of making changes just for the sake it. We change the color of our hair, we change the layout of the living room furniture, we may even change where we work.

I used to change jobs every 4 months, as no job I ever found was the ‘right job’. I believed that when I found the ‘right job’ all of my unhappiness would go away. However, someone once pointed out to me that you can move to the moon if you want but nothing will really change because you are still taking ‘You’ with you.

Why? We do it to distract ourselves from making the changes in our life that really matter. In reality, it might be our choice of career that is making us unhappy, but we will change our hair color ‘just to make ourselves feel better’, because that is an easy and manageable change for us to cope with.

Seeing as change is inevitable, why not embrace it? Use change as an opportunity to measure what is going right or wrong, and to get yourself back on track and focused. Use it as your master key to success. How else are we going to grow?

I will leave you with a quote by Charles Darwin – “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. More : Secrets Of Success